Someone recently asked me where I got my correspondent’s nickname – Two-Bit Cowboy. Simple. It’s because I’m not a real cowboy nor do I live on a real ranch.
I have four horses on 10 acres in the foothills of the Rockies southwest of Calgary. Hence a two-bit cowboy on a Two-Bit Ranch.
A quote I read recently resonated with me. “Whether you were born into it or it was born in you, the western lifestyle embraces a culture of timeless authenticity.”
Every summer I take my two oldest grandkids horse camping in the Church of the Rockies. I’ve had these two sorrels for 20 years. Didn’t pay much for them and trained them up to be good trail horses.
They don’t have a lot of bling and they won’t win any ribbons or trophies. But I trust those two with the lives of my most precious possessions. No amount of money would separate me from those two horses.
So does training good trail horses that I trust make me a cowboy? Not in the truest sense but I like to think there is a small place in the western horse world for cowboys and cowgirls like me.