Members of the Old West Mounted Lawmen Association prepare to go after the bad guys attacking the tourist wagon during the Randsburg Old West Days on Sept. 19. These guys were fabulous and so realistic. Lawman Mike in the front is on a mule.
There is something about a cowboy; I am sure you would all agree.
It’s the look in their eyes, the tilt of their hats, the boots and spurs, and oh, a cowboy on horseback — well, that is a sight that inspires, to say nothing of giving a girl heart palpitations.
What is best are those men who don’t just put on the hat and call themselves “cowboys.” Who, even today, live by a code of ethics that has come down from medieval times — that of chivalry and knightly conduct. It may be hidden from plain sight, but down inside lives a cowboy.
Lawman Bill
Historically, cowboys were not just white men in fancy outfits and silver six-shooters made famous by Wild West shows in the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
Comprised of mostly young men from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, cowboys stood up for the rancher or cattleman that hired them, their fellow cowboys and themselves. In their simple, yet complex society, they sowed the seeds of an Old West independence. Cowboys, like the mountain men and trappers before them, could survive in a hostile world.
Lawman Steve
Nowadays there isn’t much call for a range-riding cowboy, other than on a few ranches that still raise cattle in the old-fashioned way.
I’ve seen them near old towns like Caliente, Calif. or Miles City, Montana; driving cattle down from the high country. Cattle dogs weave in and out of a herd in a intricate dance with cowboys on horseback, pushing, moving, moseyin’ those cows along.
So, if you can’t be a cowboy in the everyday world, you can put on that hat, those boots and spurs and live the code in the open, even if for only a day. Or a weekend.
You might be asking, “Hey Lara, where is all this nostalgia going?”
Continue reading My heroes have always been cowboys
