The Cowboy.

He knows how to do a hard days work and give his all, often leaving the common amenities of daily life behind. For instance, a day spent out on the range requires that basically all modern comforts are out of reach. That means no running water, no bathrooms, and complete exposure to the elements, including whatever mother nature decides to send our way. And it continues until the work is done. Often, all four seasons will reach a cowboy on his ride in the same day.

Through it all, you rarely hear a cowboy grumble. They are too happy spending time in their most favorite way. There are always remarks on the weather, but no complaining. Sounds like a pretty tough group right? That toughness is a combination of inner strength to endure unfavorable conditions as well as muscular strength. 

So much of a cowboy’s life involves animals. Animals are unpredictable. No matter how well you know cows, horses, or any other type of animal, they are still an animal. In this case, we have a branding day. Most of the calves get drug in and their head caught with the head catch. With a little manpower from a cowboy, this will hold it down for the branding just fine, but there are always a few, usually larger calves, who put up a fight. 

This year, there was one in particular that I just happened to have the camera up and ready for. Here is a calf who didn’t even make it to the head catch. I thought I had caught the whole event, but I didn’t quite get the final fall, just everything leading up to it. 

Three of My Cowboy’s brothers are wrestlers. Now, I’m not a big wrestling fan nor do I know much about wrestling. My brothers are basketball players. I am no good at it myself but it’s an exciting sport that I have always thoroughly enjoyed watching. My hometown was a total basketball town. High school basketball was always huge. We didn’t have much time for wrestling nor did we have many wrestlers. I went to one wrestling tournament my entire high school career. 

And then I married My Cowboy and got some wrestling exposure from his younger brothers. I still don’t care much for wrestling nor do I really enjoy watching it, but I definitely have a respect for the sport I didn’t have before. It takes serious strength. It’s no wonder My Cowboy’s younger brothers are good at it! 

I can’t help but think experiences like this paved the way for them to have the skill, strength, and technique to do well in the sport. Cowboys and wrestling go hand in hand, I’ve decided. 

This Cowboy doing the wrestling and I share the same childhood hometown. It’s always fun to find people you have a connection with when you grow up and move on. My Cowboy and I actually have HIS daughter to thank that we ever met at college. She was a roommate to one of my good friends and introduced us on the dance floor. Are you gawking at how romantic meeting on the dance floor is or what? I had always felt the dance floor HAD to be one of the cutest ways to find romance. 🙂

And………………………………………..that’s where my photos of that whole ordeal end, but it was pretty great. Cowboys and wrestling- sometimes they win and sometimes they don’t. However, they DID eventually get that calf taken care of.