A Non-Rhinestone Cowboy

Southern Idaho.  Many times I have wished to run into more horses and horsepersons in the so-called Western states.  I suppose there is just so much overhead and inconvenience involved that an ATV makes more sense to most people.

But I got lucky yesterday.  Something immediately grabbed me about the guy.  He was retirement age and gnarly, weathered, and laconic.  He had an impressive grey handlebar mustache.  His horse was half-draft horse, with huge hooves.  The ol' cowboy had three dogs along.

I liked how home-made or at least home-repaired his horse's tack looked, as did the cowboy's clothing.  I have seen people riding horses in the Colorado mountains, but they looked like McMansioners or trust-funders.  And their clothing looked new, clean, and fake.  

This guy seemed authentic.  He was not a tourist or recreationalist.  He had a job to do: he was working for the Stockman's Association, and needed to check on the water tanks out on the grass and sagebrush range.  

We talked for over a half hour.  Even if I had had a camera, it would have been insulting to him to reduce the experience to tourism.  After all these years, something authentically Western finally happened.

In the Arizona desert one winter, some horse people were looking pretty authentic and non-Hollywoodish.

A classic outback ranch scene near the Utah/Colorado border.

On the horns of a dilemma in New Mexico.

Livestock security services provided by Great Pyrenees dog.

Peruvian shepherd in the high country of southwestern Wyoming.