Cowboys

1 Pages 224 Words

“Should have been A Cowboy”, a popular kit country song of the mid 90’s, broke out on the charts making people think back on their lifestyles. But in fact, do people view cowboys as the hero who has no trouble or worry, or the real cowboy lifestyle as rugged and dirty, struggling to survive.
Cowboys were mounted herders hired by cattle owners in the United States to look after their livestock. Cowboys kept the cattle together, guided them to pasture, prevented their being mixed with other cattle, protected them from thieves, branded them, and drove them to shipping points. The long trips across the west seem to people today as a long horse ride with occasional campfires and beautiful scenery. This is the image I have always had about cowboys, but boy was I wrong.
Between stampedes and Indians a cowboy had hardly enough time to enjoy the scenery. Nights were cold and lonesome. They were dirty and mean which seemed to be the key to their survival. Cowboys were faces with many hardships such as thievesfe tended to develop rough-and-ready virtues, as well as extraordinary skill in horsemanship and marksmanship. These qualities have acquired an almost legendary character in numerous tales and songs, making the cowboy a symbol of a hero in the United States and abroad....