Runs Agency For Cowboys

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30497, 20 July 1964, Page 2

Runs Agency For Cowboys

IBu

SUSAN VAUGHAN]

At the International Horse Show in Washington recently, one of the minor sensations was a display of fancy riding by a woman called Jean McHarg, who was putting her horse, Rocket, through its paces. The horse show people are used to fine horses and to women riders; they are not surprised to have occasional visits from the far West by cowboys. But their eyebrows do shoot up a bit when these things happen all at the same time, in a kind of package deal.

Jean McHarg is one of the world’s few genuine woman cowboys, perhaps the only one. There is hardly a job

on a ranch that she cannot tackle, from roping a steer to mending a fence. She does not wear a gun, but she can shoot with the best of them when a bit of noise is needed at a round-up. Miss McHarg has, however, found a more profitable way of using her experience than riding the range. In Denver,

Colorado, she runs a cowboy employment agency. Each month she places up to 400 men with ranchers. “I know pretty well what they can do,” says Miss McHarg, who has the stature of the cowboy legend: 6ft 3in in her high-heeled boots, slim and lean and dressed in blue jeans and check shirt.

The cowboy has to be rather more adaptable than he used to be. He has to know about artificial insemination. He has to be able to drive a tractor and know how to keep it in working order. But skill with a horse is still important. “The rider has not been pushed out yet,” says Miss McHarg. What sort of a background does a woman need to start a cowboy agency? Miss McHarg, who is 46, was born on a ranch. She took a degree in psychology at the University of Colorado, taught riding at a women’s college. Her agency started out specialising in domestic and hotel help. But she saw that there was a real opening in the cowboy business. Cowboys are still inclined to roam, and Miss McHarg gives them the opportunity of finding work they would otherwise not hear of.

She takes as her fee 15 per cent of the cowboy’s first month’s salary. "It doesn’t make me rich,” she says, “but it’s a comfortable way of living.” Rich or not, Miss McHarg is the owner of a 125-acre ranch, where she keeps 30 thoroughbred quarterhorses (the special breed of fast, nimble horses used all over the West). She takes the best of them for her displays at horse shows. She says, as a matter of fact: “I’m a crackerjack rider.” She can say that again, all the way to Washington. (All Rights Reserved)