The Captive Pony

 By Steven Wade Veatch

With the turning of each page in the frayed leather album, the old blue photographs or cyanotypes, possibly over 12 decades old, conjured the past and a way of life that is gone.  One group of photographs reveals part of one day on a ranch, about 20 miles east of Colorado Springs, in eastern El Paso County, Colorado. This might be the story of these blue images. 

The riders had an early start. The night chill faded as the sun climbed in the sky. A cowboy, sitting low in his saddle, looked out across the endless reach of the high plains that spread out in all directions. He spotted a wild pony. 

Cowboys approaching a wild pony. Written in pencil on the front of the cyanotype is: “Catching a wild pony, Russell’s ranch.” Unknown photographer. Undated cyanotype. From an album of an unidentified owner. Courtesy of the Cripple Creek District Museum.

Turning back in his saddle to call the others to help him catch the pony, he could see Pikes Peak mantled with snow. This group of young men, who appeared older because of the hard work they endured, slowly rode toward the wild pony. 

When the cowboys reached the pony, they pulled their horses to a stop. The wild pony nosed the ground as it grazed on grass. Stems of dead grass stuck to its mane. Flies buzzed around. The air smelled fresh. 

One cowboy rode quietly forward, stopped, and lassoed the pony while the others watched. This outfit of saddle-sore cowboys, tough as leather, headed back to the ranch with the pony in tow. The sun was now high in the sky and the day inched along as they rode back. Along the way meadowlarks sang, grasshoppers jumped, and butterflies flew around the wildflowers. Prairie dogs stood straight as sentries, peeked at the riders, and then dived into their holes. A soft breeze blew out of the west, rustling the tumbleweeds.

When they arrived at the ranch, a wrangler led the wild pony inside the corral. A ranch hand threw a log on the fire in the middle of the corral. Smoke drifted toward the gate. A branding iron, sitting in the hot coals, glowed a bright red on its business end. Several of the men brought the pony to the ground, tied its legs together, and then a wrangler branded it, marking ownership. Tomorrow the cowboys would break the wild pony.

Branding the wild pony back at the ranch. There is a lot going on in this cyanotype. The shadow of the photographer is in the lower left. In the background, behind the gate, is a woman looking out wearing a bonnet and a prairie dress. Written in pencil on the front of the cyanotype: “Branding same pony, Russell’s Ranch.” Unknown photographer. Undated cyanotype. From an album of an unidentified owner. Courtesy of the Cripple Creek District Museum. 

Cattle, lowing and bawling, stand in a stock pond to cool off. Written in pencil on the front of the cyanotype: "Russell’s Ranch 20 miles east of Colorado Springs." Unknown photographer. Undated cyanotype. From an album of an unidentified owner. Courtesy of the Cripple Creek District Museum.

Three men and a woman pose on the porch of a mudbrick house on the ranch. A cat rests on the steps. Five large pumpkins sit on the porch. Barnyard chickens peck on the ground in the far right of the photo. Written in pencil on the front of the cyanotype: “Doyle’s House, Russell’s ranch.” Unknown photographer. Undated cyanotype. From an album of an unidentified owner. Courtesy of the Cripple Creek District Museum.

        After the branding and the completion of their tasks, some cowboys sat on the front porch of one of the ranch houses and relaxed after a hard day of work. They peered out from the shadow of the porch and thought about all the newcomers moving into the area, crowding the land. Each one wondered how soon their way of life would be corralled and changed like the wild pony they branded. 

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Note: The cyanotype process uses light sensitive iron salts instead of silver salts on paper. This simple and low-cost process made prints in blue used for making proofs instead of finished prints and was popular with some amateur photographers. Dates in popular use: 1880-1910.