The naked spur..
I don't know if Boetticher or Scott every even seen the Anthony Mann-Jimmy Stewart classic western from 1953 much less admired it but there are quite a few similarities to that film and Ride lonesome at least up to the end. In the naked spur you have a more streamlined cast unlike some of the bigger Stewart-Mann productions which were much higher budget pictures than Boetticher and Scott made and in the Naked Spur you have more detail to each character.
The naked spur is about a bounty hunter who is on the trail of a killer and with the help of 2 other guys subdues him and begins the long trip to back to Kansas. So there are similarities there and there is a brief skirmish with some Indians. again the stories take different turns and have very different endings.
Not saying Ride lonesome is a copy just some similarities. I own and love all the Stewart-Mann westerns and all the Boetticher-Scott films but the naked spur is a type of film Boetticher could have made with his budget. Boetticher could never have been able to make a film like Bend in the River or The far country. the cast is too large, the sets too elaborate for his budget.