b'DID YOU KNOW, IN THE OLD WEST.By Lee Anderson, Old West Living Historian, Award Winning Author, and Old School HorsemanLee Anderson and his horse, Concho, are well known around the state doing presentations in schools, corporate events, and civic events. Learn more about themand his book on his website. historicaloldwest.orgA T he winter ofT he American cowboy cowboy without a horse is a lot like a pilot1886-87 wasmystique is unique. without and airplane. Noone of the worst inId bet a good many matter how good they mightAmerican history.American males today are be at their job, they cant perform itTemperaturesactually closet cowboys without their horse or their airplane. reached fifty below zero in some parts of thethat have (or will), at some point West and cattle died by the thousands. Manyin their life, tried to imagine C ontrary to movies and novels,ranchers lost their entire herd. This winterwhat it would be like to strap a the typical ranch hand was(along with barbed wire) effectively ended45 caliber Colt on their hip, kiss not a skilled marksman. Skillthe era of the open range ranch. the prettiest girl in town, swing with the lariat, not the gun, wasaboard how the real life cowboyF or six monthstheir showed his mastery of hisof the year at aspirited job. This is still true today. dollar a day andhorse and "found" (thatsgallop off W hen cattle drivesboard and room,onto the sunset answering to finally reachedwhere it existed),no man. Its also probably a Abilene, Kansas, anda cowboy workedpretty good bet that, at some the cattle were sold,long hours in everypoint in their life, almost those drovers let loose.kind of weather,every American female Abilene had twenty-five saloons open 24/7 thatoccasionallywants one. Oh, come on were ready and willing to oblige those incomingrisking life and limb, to lookpeople, admit it. We allriders (mostly teenagers) who had just spent threeafter the cattle of the man whohave our fantasies. or four brutal months working 18 hours a dayowned them. It was not a job for without a day off. the weak or the timid.TRACTOR Used Tractors: Kubota, John Deere, New Holland, etc.New Tractors: Kioti & LSfrom 25 to 50 Horse Power.from UTVS to Car Haulers, Landscape and Dump Trailers, Special We Service & RepairOrders also available on New Trailers.Tractors, Trailers & UTVs.Grapple Buckets, Box Scrapers, Straight Blades, REBELRock Rakes, Chain Harrows, Arena Groomers, Brush NOWHogs, Post Hole Diggers, Post Drivers and More.AVAILABLE34 December 2019'