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"Cowboy Express" reaches Washington, DC

Posted by Non_mooching_artist 10 years, 8 months ago to News
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These 11 ranchers and farmers rode cross country to DC, with their saddlebags stuffed with petitions collected along the way. They made stops in Utah, Nevada and Kansas and met with some tribal nations to bring these by horseback to the nation's Capitol.
They are petitioning their congressmen to address very serious concerns, stemming from abuse by BLM'S agents. These range from blocking grazing lands for which they have permits, and on privately owned land which the gov shouldn't have any say in.
It seems like they have done this with a lot of thought, and clearly a tremendous amount of time and energy. May their efforts not be in vain.

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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Likewise. :) Sometimes a little research is in order.
    Generalizations ... Accusations without sound evidence must be challenged. I do not mind being proven wrong and changing my mind. I welcome it.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Oh, I think 10 or 12 should do. If that doesn't do the trick, then they're too dim to bother with. Wait a second -- damn! Those dimwits can vote. Looks like the Idiocracy is on its way.
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  • Posted by Non_mooching_artist 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I don't think they would either. And quite frankly, private citizens would stand with them. Enough to keep the Feds at bay.
    11 days!!! I cannot begin to express my anxiety over what may transpire for the senate races...
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Hello jlc,
    This conversation reminds me of the movie "Hidalgo." I remember it as a very memorable film about an amazing and seemingly impossible long distance horse race. I remember it starred Viggo Mortenson and Omar Shariff. Very moving..
    Regards,
    O.A.
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  • Posted by $ jlc 10 years, 8 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thank you for the additional information. From the article, it seems that keeping at least some horses on the ground, and exchange trailering the rest would let them make more miles per day. I like the touch of keeping some rested horses in motion, so that even if everyone is not on horseback the whole way, the group as a whole is.

    The most concise info I found on how far horses travel under various conditions was on a cartography website! I include it below for those who are interested:

    On Roads / trails
    Level or rolling terrain: 40
    Hilly terrain: 30
    Mountainous terrain: 20

    Off-Road (or unkempt trails etc)
    Level/rolling grasslands: 30
    Hilly grasslands: 25
    Level/rolling forest/thick scrub: 20
    Very hilly forest/thick scrub: 15

    Un-blazed Mountain passes: 10
    Marshland: 10

    Assumptions
    An average quality horse, of a breed suitable for riding, conditioned for overland travel and in good condition.
    Roads and trails are in good condition and up kept by whatever local authority deals with them.
    Weather is good to fair, and travelers are riding for around ten hours a day.

    Notes
    Halve these distances for a horse pulling a cart or for a very heavily laden horse (e.g. a fully armoured knight who insists on wearing his armour all day rather than having it stowed on a second baggage horse as would be normal!).

    Add half again for specially trained horses and riders who are prepared to push hard (rangers, scouts and messangers, etc...) though do bear in mind that horses cannot be pushed like this for more than a few days at a time. You can add a bit more again to this distance if the breed of horse is exceptionally suitable for this sort of thing, but I’d say 2 to 2.5 times the base is the absolute maximum without some sort of magical assistance!

    Poor weather such as heavy rain or wind should reduce distances by about one quarter, and very poor conditions like heavy snow or gale force winds, etc.. should reduce distances by at least half if not more.

    Finding a place to ford a small river or swimming your horse across a larger river should knock a couple of miles off the day’s journey, other unique obstacles might have a similar reduction. (as a guide remember a horse walks at around 4 miles per hour (compared to a human average of around 2.5 - 3mph) so if the obstacle takes half an hour to deal with thats a couple of miles lost.

    Out of interest
    The Tevis cup is a 100-mile-in-one-day competition which goes over some quite rugged and mountainous trail terrain in the western states of USA... but they do it on very special arab horses, with little or no baggage and even the winning times are usually around 17 hours! link

    Jan
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  • Posted by $ jlc 10 years, 8 months ago
    I hate to be a wet horseblanket on this great and memorable effort, but 2,800 miles in 20 days is not plausible. That would be 140 miles per day. A good horse on a good day makes about 40-55 miles; over 2,800 miles a daily mileage (allowing for such things as hills or the horse throwing a shoe) the average is more like 25 miles per day.

    On the other hand, it is a spectacular grandstanding effort and a laudable cause.

    Jan, sometime horsewoman
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  • Posted by wiggys 10 years, 8 months ago
    i wonder if the had the bundy snipers trained on them when the arrived in dc?
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