| The term cowboy, according to Webster's | | | | about 30 years, the cowboys who herded those |
| Dictionary, is "a hired hand, especially in the western | | | | cattle made a huge impression on American History |
| United States, who tends cattle and performs many | | | | and have been the center of much folklore. The |
| duties on horse back". There are still many cowboys | | | | American Hero that we call "cowboy" has less to do |
| living and working in the United States these days, | | | | with Wranglers, boots, and hats and more to do with |
| although they may occasionally trade their horse for | | | | a passion for life and for living it to the fullest. We |
| a pickup truck or a 4-wheeler. Most of these | | | | see the "cowboy" as someone who was free to |
| cowboys still live by the same codes and standards | | | | roam the wide open spaces of the Western Prairie |
| as the cowboys of the Old West. | | | | with no boundaries or fences to stop him. |
| The cowboy image has changed somewhat at | | | | Those are the qualities that we hang on to as |
| different times over the past, thanks partly to | | | | Americans today. Perhaps that's why western |
| changing times and partly to the motion picture | | | | fashions never go out of style and we still love to |
| industry. | | | | listen to country western music. It's why we collect |
| The original cowboys were Civil War soldiers who had | | | | and cherish the relics and fashions of the days of the |
| no home to return to and started drifting to the | | | | cowboy's west. |
| west. The West was wide open territory and these | | | | However, you don't need to don a pair of Wranglers |
| men only owned what they could carry on | | | | and own a cowboy hat or a pair of cowboy boots |
| horseback. Ranchers would hire them to tend to their | | | | to live like a cowboy. You don't even have to listen |
| herds and to round up the wild and loose cattle on | | | | to country western music. |
| the range. When it was time to sell the beef these | | | | Living like a cowboy is to always wear the "white |
| "cowboys" would round up the herds and drive them | | | | hat", to have that same passion for life and live your |
| to the markets many miles away. | | | | life to the fullest. That is the legacy that the |
| Although the era of the cattle drives only lasted | | | | cowboys have given us. |