Tracking Calves Over Rita Blanca captures the vastness and quiet beauty of a stretch of Texas Panhandle now being revived by the Knowles family. (Courtesy)
Over the shoulders of three mounted cowboys, a parched landscape meanders through valleys and over plateaus before receding into the horizon. An overcast, powder-blue sky washes the image with cool hues as the wind pushes the horses’ tails toward the right. Tracking Calves Over Rita Blanca captures the vastness and quiet beauty of a stretch of Texas Panhandle now being revived by the Knowles family.
The work by photographer Belton McMurrey is currently on view at the Cattle Raisers Museum as part of XIT Ranch: A Texas Legend Returns, which runs through February 28, 2027. McMurrey, himself a sixth-generation member of the King Ranch family, curated the multi-gallery exhibition that traces the recent revival of one of the country’s most iconic ranches by descendants of its original founders…