Thursday, January 6, 2011

Cowboy - failed

When I was a kid, I attended a rural high school where the big courses were sponsored by the "Future Farmers of America" and 4H. Yes, of course, I had a horse and rode well, but I never caught the vision of being a farmer or a cowboy (ranch hand).


Perhaps it was fate that drew me in another direction?  Or maybe it was seeing the amount of back-busting work 24/7/365 that farmers did to only scratch a living?  Cowboys had it worse. I've never seen an older cowboy who didn't walk crooked because of arthritis from busted bones that never knit quite right and had a wicked thirst for rotgut whiskey that led him to ruin. 

I don't know if there are really any cowboys left? The stereotype didn't square with the reality of Hollywood and Country Western Songs.



10 comments:

innominatus said...

I never could get too fired up about horses. Gimme a motorcycle any day. Plus, you can leave a bike in the garage for a month in the winter without the SPCA ratting on ya.

Coffeypot said...

Not as glamorous as Hollywood makes it out to be. Just working in all kinds of weather; freezing cold, soaking rain, wind...many ways to get authorities besides broken bones. It was/is a hard life. So you went for the SEALS????

Bob Kinford said...

Yeah there are a few of us still around. Yep we are arthritic in our old age, but if I could get a full body transplant I'd be handing you a beer, grabbin onto the reins of a bronc and telling you "Hold my beer and watch this!" I've got stories, true ones, from my life as a cowboy over at http://www.bobkinford.wordpress.com Read and laugh boys, read and laugh!

Opus #6 said...

I was a cowgirl myself back when I worked at a riding stable as an adolescent. I remember wishing for a cowboy.

LL said...

innomanitus- I also had a motorcycle. I get your point, but there IS something about a horse.

Coffeypot - Yeah, doesn't make sense does it?

2lazy4u - Great blog - and it's hard not to agree with your perspective on the matter.

Opus #6 - Cowboys ride harder.

Anonymous said...

Oh there's still cowboys in Nevada and cowboy poets and singers too...

LL said...

REAL Cowboys, Anonymous?

darlin said...

LL, there's real cowboys here in redneck Alberta, there's also urban cowboys and there's wanna be cowboys. We've got them all here.

The ones who are the real cowboys don't work in the rigs, they have their farms and ride and rope, the urban cowboys hold 8:30 - 4:30 jobs in offices, put on their new c'boy boots and huge belt buckles on weekends and head down to the local tavern and drink whiskey and dance like no real cowboy I've ever known. The wanna be cowboys, they can be spotted a mile away, they wear rubber boots and are the reason line dances were invented! Yup here in the land of opportunity, we've got them all.

Xmichra said...

lol.. I live in Alberta and had a comment pretty well carbon copied of darlin's up there ;)

Anonymous said...

Yes real cowboys, we are surrounded by the Rolling A and Minor Ranch here in Dayton...my friend is the ranch manager for the FLying "M" in Yerington they have about 1500 head. But alas, the only horse I have is a metal sculpture (about 5 feet tall) of a horse we call "Rusty" ;)

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