Awareness of the outside world. Included here because we can’t seem to shake the myth. “My dad was born in Montana and he’s the reason I know a cowboy always owned a hat but probably not a gun. I know that right after the Civil War there’s a good chance a cowboy was Black. I know he was young, in his early teens to barely into his twenties. Cowboying was a hard life and most of those boys moved on to other work when they could.” Imperfect Patience: Cowboy Mythology The author has more to say about those who created the mythos.
“The stereotype of the heroic white cowboy is far from true, however. The first cowboys were Spanish vaqueros, who had introduced cattle to Mexico centuries earlier. Black cowboys also rode the range. Furthermore, the life of the cowboy was far from glamorous, involving long, hard hours of labor, poor living conditions, and economic hardship.” LOC: The American West, 1865-1900.
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Lami-Cell Wide Relief Gel Foam Half Pad
Chick’s Saddlery
An overly optimistic soul in this house who is not me thinks that a gel pad might help Rodney’s back. A sample pad was borrowed and tested. Went well enough that we bought one to give it a go.
Another hypothesis is that his feet have been the problem all along rather than his back. Now that his feet are stronger, Rodney might have less anxiety under saddle. [Setting A Shoeing Record, Again]
Or both.
We shall see.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 
I hope Rodney’s doing better. Chief had strong hoofs. His shoes were left off after the farrier found a hole that might have been from a healed abscess, but Chief never took a lame step. At that point Nancy told me that Chief had been barefoot when she got him, she had him shod as a matter of course, but I neve had him shod after that. Which is why I still have a numbers of Priney’s shoes, but none from Chief.
I’d actually known all that about the cowboys. There were a number of Jewish cowboys. Obviously not religious, that’s not the kind of lifestyle where you can just stop working on the Sabbath.
I did not know about Jewish cowboys. Always something new to learn.