Kapiolani
Community College Horizons 2001
Kapiolani
Community College
Horizons 2001
The story of the Hawaiian cowboy or paniolo began with the gift of five longhorn cattle to King Kamehameha the Great by Captain George Vancouver in 1793 (Edgy Lee video). The cattle were let loose into the lush forests and wet lands to flourish. The King then put a kapu on the cattle so that the Hawaiian people could not touch them. By 1819, the cattle population had become uncontrollable (Cowan-Smith 15). Kamehameha III sent one of his high chiefs to California, which was still a part of Mexico, with an invitation to several vaqueros (cowboys) come to Hawai’i to teach the Hawaiians how to handle large herds of cattle. But it was not until 1832 that two vaqueros were sent to Hawai’i. They brought with them fancy Spanish-rigged saddles and cow ponies.
The Hawaiians called the Mexican Vaqueros paniola which meant “Spanish” or “Spaniard.” Years later, the term, paniola, was changed to paniolo. The Spanish paniolo brought to Hawaiian culture their clothing, culture, and music, and the result was the Hawaiian paniolo (16). The paniolos of today still wear cowboy hats, bandanas, chaps, flannel-type long sleeved shirts and boots. On certain occasions like ranch parties, some of the paniolos sing and play the ukelele or guitar.
The
new Hawaiian Paniolo took to cowpunching, becoming the best and most daring,
even winning in rodeos on the mainland (Lee video). The Paniolo training not
only required that the Hawaiians learn how to ride a horse, but that they learn
to make their own braided ropes from rawhide, which they also learned to use.
The Hawaiians were also taught the art of saddle making by their Spanish teachers
(17). Today saddle making is still practiced, but there are only a few people
on Mau’i that I know who still continue this unique and wonderful art,
partly because it would take a very long time for someone to learn this skill.
Many find it easier to order one from the mainland.
After having learned the basics, the paniolo’s next task was learning to capture the wild “pipi” or cattle. The Paniolo had to become an expert with his rope, because tackling wild steers over dangerous terrain demanded split-second teamwork between horse and rider. Only the best horses were selected because of their much needed speed and stamina, for roping a wild bull was a challenge.
If the best horses were to be used, they needed to be maintained by the rider. These maintenance skills were a tradition. Shoeing and training of horses were among the important skills. First and foremost, every rider had to know how to shoe a horse because if he didn’t, he would not be able to ride on the lava. Without horseshoes, the horse’s hooves would be badly damaged, causing the horse to go lame for months. My father learned traditions like shoeing and training horses from his father. My grandfather started shoeing at the age of fifteen for Kanololu Ranch. At the age of eight my father started gaining more and more experience by accompanying my grandfather and helping him. Also, at the age of fifteen, he, like his father, shod his very first horse by himself.
My father explained how it is done:
Before I do anything I put on my leather apron and examine the feet of the horse
and how he’s standing. I start with the front hoof. I pick up the hoof
and clean it with the hoof pick, taking out all the excess dirt and stones,
whatever loose material that is stuck in there. Once that is done, I take my
nippers and cut off the excess of the hoof and the long points of the hoof (just
like your fingernails). Then with a file, I smooth and shape the hoof to the
proper angle that the horse should be standing on.
Once I get it the way I like, I use my hoof gauge to check the angle of the hoof. This will determine if the horse is standing correctly. If angle is correct, I take the horseshoe and shaping hammer and shape the shoe on the anvil to fit the hoof. If the nail holes are distorted from the shaping, I take the hole punch and widen it. Now I line the shoe up on the hoof to put it in the correct place. I want to make sure all the edges of shoe are lined up with edges of hoof. Just like grandpa would say, “You make the shoe to fit the hoof, not hoof to fit the shoe.”
I grab the hoof between my legs. Looking at the tip of the nail, I place it in the correct position so that the nail will come out of the hoof wall at the designated angle. If you nail it in the wrong way, the nail will go into the horses flesh causing it to go lame. I drive one nail in on the left, make sure shoe is straight, then drive the other nail in on the right. I break off the tip of each nail that I drive in for safety. I now take the hoof and place it on the hoof stand, smooth off any excess hoof left, and take off any sharp parts on the nail with the file. Then I take my clincher and tightly bend the nails down on the outside wall of the hoof. This same procedure is done on the back hoofs also (Rezentes).
My father started training horses at the age of thirteen and has been doing it on and off for twenty-five years. Training a horse takes about two years. Once a colt is born there is a process called “imprinting.” Imprinting involves handling a colt from birth to get it used to a human. The colt is touched everywhere Ð in its ears, around its behind, legs, face, feet, and nose. Doing this makes the training process a lot easier. Once the colt reaches one to three months old, it is time to put the halter on and start teaching the colt how to lead.
“Lead” means a colt is able to follow you with rope and halter on its neck. One of the best ways of teaching a colt how to lead is putting a rope on its behind and pulling at the halter, which will make it go forward to follow you. You constantly lead it a little everyday until it gets used to it, then you can stop.
When the colt is about a year old, a blanket (saddle pad) and a light saddle is used so the colt can get adjusted to the feel and weight of a saddle. At this same point in time the colt is tied to a hitching-rail to get it used to being tied up and to teach it discipline. Enough slack is left on the rope so the colt can move its head freely and so it can stay in a safe position without getting hurt. When the colt is about two years old, the bridle can be used. The bridle consists of headstall, bit, and reins.
Once the colt has gotten adjusted to bridle, saddle, and being led, it is now ready to be ridden. One of the common ways for the colt to learn is to have someone riding the colt while another leads it by foot or on horseback. That way the rider on the colt will be able to teach it the commands of turning left, right, forward, and back. These commands are carried out by leg and hand movements and also by voice. Once the colt has learned these skills, it can be used as a pleasure riding horse and with further training a cattle, or rodeo horse (Rezentes). Soon after the paniolos gained these skills, they were put to the test.
In the early 1800s, cattle were secondary to sandalwood for island trading. Queen Ka’ahumanu grew worried about the precious wood becoming scarce, so she ordered a kapu on the cutting of sandalwood. Hides, salt, and tallow became in demand. The trading business was so good that between 1840-1844, the King reinstated kapu on the killing of cattle to have them multiply. With herds building, skilled Paniolos were in great demand (Cowan-Smith 20).
With the demand for beef rising, raising tame cattle was far easier than hunting wild cattle in the mountains. A number of early ranches were formed and privately owned. (22). The paniolos were now working cattle from small holding pens called corrals. These corrals were easier for the paniolo to move and separate the cattle. William French, who established a herd of domestic cattle, realized the need to update agricultural and ranching methods for the survival of the cattle industry. French hired John Palmer Parker to tend his herds. While working for French, Parker began to establish his own herd of cattle. Although he owned no land of his own, he started his herd and created the Parker Ranch that exists today (25).
By 1840 cattle were being shipped two hundred miles across the ocean from the Big Island to Honolulu. The paniolos would drive the cattle down the mountain slopes to the beach, which took several hours to accomplish. They would drive them over the black lava fields which were unbearably hot, so they started early in the morning A pier was not built until the 1900s, so cattle were brought out to the ships anchored in the harbor. The paniolos roped the steers and ran in full gallop out to the boats, which could hold sixteen head of cattle at a time. A hoist was used to lift cattle up on the ship (25-27).
My father describes herding cattle:
When I was a young boy growing up in Kula, the ranches never used cattle trucks
or trailers to move the cattle to different pastures or slaughterhouses. They
would herd the cattle on the paved and dirt roads. Many or almost all the houses
along the roads had fences and gates to the driveways. The reason for this was
the paniolos had to keep the cattle on the roadway out people’s property.
So the paniolo would go in front and close the gates before the herd would arrive
and paniolo at the end of the herd would reopen them.
The paniolos would herd a thousand head of cattle on one drive. They would herd them from the Haleakala Mountain to the midlands of Kihei. Wintertime the paniolos would drive the herds to the lower lands because if we had a good winter the grass would be plentiful in the lowlands. The cattle would do better down there because it was warmer. It was better for the cows to have their calves in a dry area because the mountain would be too cold and wet. Also, besides the nice green buffalo grass, the cows could feed on the kiawe beans, which were plentiful. Nowadays ranchers do a lot of moving of cattle by trucks and trailers. They don’t need as many paniolos because cattle dogs like order collies, Australian shepherds, and kelpies are used instead. The need for paniolos has dwindled down to a dozen, if not less, on each ranch.
Within the past five years Haleakala Ranch has gone back to the old ways of herding cattle on the road. It would cost the ranch too much money to truck a thousand head of cattle. It would also be too time consuming. I have experienced this first hand in 1995 when I was asked by Peter Baldwin, the ranch manager, to help on the drive. We would herd the cattle from lowlands to highlands and back again from highlands to lowlands. The drive took place through my own property and onto the main road. This experience brought back memories of seeing how the old paniolos used to move the herds.
With the establishment of the ranches in Hawai’i, the paniolo became responsible for fencing, rounding up of cattle, roping, maintaining of personal equipment, and ranch property. Their days were long, and the work was hard. Paniolos who worked for the ranches were paid 50 cents a day, some even had houses to live in and all the beef they could eat. Today ranching in Hawai’i is still flourishing. The Paniolo work eight-hour shifts and make decent wages. It’s a little easier in today with new technology such as tractors, which can replace the hands of men in digging postholes. But the paniolo have kept their tradition alive. Their drive is to do an honest day’s work, take care of their families, and enjoy the land and nature. The paniolos keep alive the traditional skills of rope making, saddle making, horse training, shoeing, as well as the paniolo culture of a good song and friendship.
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