“Cowboy pinch-rolled jeans” are about function, not fashion.

This past weekend was about all about the future. I attended a Buster McLaury clinic in the Kansas Flint Hills and had brought Zen for the colt-starting portion of the clinic. (I promise to write more about the phenomenal colt clinic later.) But as she and I worked to build our partnership, preparing for years of good rides and steady progress, I got a blast of nostalgia from the past. Read on and see if you do, too.

The afternoons were filled with cow work for older horses. Buster, who has spent his life as a ranch cowboy and as a student of Ray Hunt, has lots of experience starting horses on cattle. Look for a story in an upcoming print edition of America’s Horse magazine on this topic.

The horses’ amazing progress and the knowledge that was freely shared … well, those were the silver linings to a very literal dark cloud that hung over the clinic, pelting us with rain on Thursday, the first day, and chilling us with unseasonably cold temperatures and howling wind on the days that followed. We sought shelter at an indoor arena 30 minutes away and continued to haul over there for the remainder of the weekend.

You’ve got to love the resiliance of horse people; all the participants took the cold and dampness in stride, making adaptations as needed.

For me, it required a little wardrobe change. I normally wear my jeans on the outside of my boots, even though I have some neat boots with high pale-turquoise tops. But sloshing through mud with the pants legs out would have resulted in cold, soggy denim — a perfect prescription for misery and mess. So, I opted to stick them inside my boots. And as I made that decision, some long-forgotten muscle memory kicked in.

Sitting in the mud room of the Buchman family home (our gracious clinic hosts), I thoughtlessly grabbed my jeans, cuffed them and then wrapped the boot-cut legs tightly around my ankles so they’d fit neatly inside the boot shafts. I saw other riders — including cowboys who habitually wear their jeans that way — do the same thing. I had to laugh — we were doing a cowboy version of the pinch-roll.

Those of you who were around during the 1980s know just what I’m talking about. We wore our tight-rolled jeans with high-top Reeboks and big hair. And we were cool.

Now, I doubt any of these ranch cowboys partook in such embarrassing fads. So is it the collective unconscious at work when two unconnected cultures come up with the same idea? And, if so, does that mean that — like eating utensils and campfires — the pinch-roll is a universal good thing?

I’m not sure I’ll buy into that idea … After all, the cowboy’s version is rooted in function, not fashion. It’s not about being cool. In our case this weekend, it was about not being cold.

I will say, though, I do like those turquoise-topped buckaroo boots, so maybe the cowboy pinch-roll technique can stay in my reportoire.  But the high-top Reeboks and big hair? Those are definitely not getting a resurrection!

Happy riding!
Holly Clanahan
Editor, America’s Horse magazine

Don’t miss the fun, educational and heart-warming stories in the print version of America’s Horse! It goes to all members of the American Quarter Horse Association, and it’ll also keep you in the loop on Association news. We want you to belong!

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