For anyone who's ever dreamed of being a cowboy or cowgirl, Fort Worth has the job for you!
The Fort Worth Herd is the world's only twice-daily cattle drive. Longhorns are the stars of the show as they make their way down Exchange Street in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District.
While tourists and visitors gasp at the horns that stretch 6' to 10' tip to tip, it's a team of cowboys and cowgirls making the reenactment of 19th-century cattle drives happen.
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They are drovers, and more are needed to saddle up to help keep the western heritage alive.
If you're thinking experience is needed, trail boss Kristin Jaworski, the director of the Fort Worth Herd, says to hold your horses.
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"So you absolutely have to ride a horse," Jaworski said. "Horsemanship skills are so important and not only are we promoting safe horsemanship and the education of the entire horse industry along with the cattle, but you absolutely have to have the desire. And if you don't have the experience, that's gonna be okay. We're looking for a good quality people with good work ethic and we will put you through what I like to call the drover academy."
Jaworski says 32 hours of training can get a city slicker ready to go.
"So, that's something we're really priding ourselves on is our training program and you'll learn everything from simple things like color of the horse and then how to be balanced in the cattle drive with the Texas longhorns," Jaworski said. "It's not an easy task to learn how to ride a horse and drive cattle down the middle of a city street. So, our training program is gonna be complete. There's several phases of that. So, each employee will be able to progress depending on their true abilities and what knowledge they come to us with."
Skills can be taught but there's something that has to come naturally, and that's a passion for the job.
"We are ambassadors for Fort Worth," Jaworski said. "So, we really are looking for people who want to interact with our guests that come here to Fort Worth in the Stockyards. And, then do it from horseback."
Along with the ego boost of having people from all over the world gather to see the longhorns and take pictures of them and the drovers, there is some dirty work.
"This job in addition to doing the cattle drive will take care of the facility and livestock that live in it," Jaworski said. "So, there are some chores, but we are a team. We're one team were very caring and we do have fun. So nobody's doing it alone."
Full-time and part-time positions are available at $16 to $20 an hour with benefits. A training rate is paid during drover academy. The application is here.
The twice-daily cattle drive happens seven days a week, so weekends may be part of the schedule.
