If you want to project a real cowboy image, your choice of horse makes a difference as well . . .
There were working ranches everywhere and they all needed cowboys to herd the condemned cattle, especially at the feedlots and cattle auctions. It was there that I developed my love of horses, and since our house looks like the inside of a barn anyway, we let the baby foals inside from time to time:
For the guide horses for the blind, Janet also trains them to sleep in bed:
While I was never proficient as a “real” cowboy, I did have great fun twirling a lariat, and I roped many a fencepost, and other inanimate objects! I was able to rope a goat once from horseback, but that was pure luck!
When I married Janet, I went more for the traditional English riding, but we still keep some western horses at Burleson ranch.
Our top western horse is Dude, an aggressive stallion, who is murder to ride.
I tried riding him once, and it was painful. I accidently ran my heel over his rump, and he bolted at a full gallop with me standing in one stirrup, hanging on for dear life! It was a short ride, and I peed blood for a week afterward. Today, he is at stud, spending his days eating and breeding, living the good life . .
