My buddy Marty Blocker wrote this and it is one of the best I’ve ever seen! Read it out loud to get the full benefit.
Why the Cowboy Rides
To be the first out in the morning while the air is still unused.
Watching the last star waning as the sky turns gray to blue.
Hearing the whistle of the “wrango” approaching the barn light’s glow.
and the sound the horses make as they shuffle, stomp and blow.
Ceremony of grain and saddle….communion between man and beast.
Leaving corrals together blessed by a display there to the east.
Riding out into the cool and feeling the chilled air tingle.
Attentive to the saddle’s speak and the chain’s and rowel’s jingle
Catching the chorus of some coyotes, harmonizing with one another.
Or the bawlin’ of some mama cow and her calf answering it’s mother.
To have the privacy to worry bones in the graveyard of one’s mind.
And the privilege to be amongest companeros of your kind
To be in total fellowship with the horse between your knees.
To come upon the secret places that no one else can see.
Jumping the beds of ‘white tails’, perking at escaping flecks.
Or spying the ritual of praire grouse, dancing in the leks
Going farther, faster, quicker than walking man could ask.
Like mythical centaurs phoenix’d from ashes of the past.
Plying a trade most forgotten in wind, dust, snow and mud.
Enduring the challenge of the elements, tasting sweat and blood
Handing down near lost traditions, that highways tend to hide.
Then some may begin to understand… Why the cowboy rides.
Dennisranch 