I came as a young man, refugee from the plains.

Looking for higher ground.

The sun shines through the rain.

You're the mountain folks & old cow folks.

who found peace of mind I guess loving Mother nature makes you naturally kind.

Colorado, everywhere you go I'm in your shadow.

You're calling to me.

Colorado, The sun's melting snow.

Making the river flow to the sea.

There were days when the weather was bad.

And it was raining or snowing.

Or the wind was blowing about a regular gale.

And you were wet and you were cold.

You would think, what did I ever want to be a cowboy for?

When we get over this hunt and back to the ranch, I'm surely going to quit.

The first thing you need if you want to be a cowboy.

It isn't a hat.

It isn't boots.

The first thing you got to have if you want to be a cowboy is your name on the payroll.

It's an occupational title.

It's not a state of mind.

Doesn't have anything to do with doing a line dance down to the grizzly rows.

It's a job.

So if you want to be a cowboy, then you got to get out there on a horse with a cow.

That's all there is to it.

We're the people that go out and chase the wild horses, and we're the people who drive the cows out of the brush.

And we're the people who turn the ground.

Cowboy is sort of a verb.

Rarely would you have anyone say, I'm a cowboy.

He would say I'm cowboy or this outfit, or I'm riding things or I'm carrying heifers.

So I guess there's a whole crowd of people who seem to think cowboy in is, something to play around with or something, something you can do on your off hours and all that.

And, it is, let's see.

It's an occupational title.

It's not a state of mind.

There's nobody going to dictate to me what I got to do to be a cowboy.

The way I look at it is anything I do is cowboy.

If I want to listen to Jimi Hendrix on a tape, I guess it's cowboy music because I'm listening to it.

I'm not gonna sit around and listen to Hank Williams or anything like that.

Just because it's expected of me.

Good gosh.

Money.

I can walk up to another cowboy, say, hey, far as my horse come my playing.

You know boys enough and they'll let you use their horse in just a good, honest way.

Absolutely.

True story.

We're not company officers.

One time it's done at Tech Center, and, we're riding the elevator down, and the door opened up in this lady gone.

And she went, oh, cowboys.

And this has happened so often.

We have right down to routine.

So we went to office lady and it just shut her right down.

She didn't know what to say.

Invariably when we go down there, somebody would come up and say, why are you dressed like that?

The I hate to point this out to the people, but it's called Denver, Colorado.

See, it's in the West.

It's ain't.

Denver, Pennsylvania.

Cowboys are the worst.

You can be driving down the road.

Three of you in the front seat of the pickup.

You pass by this great big old meadows.

That'll be 52 zero gil.

And out there, every one of them with one leg, and they'll slip right on the end of it.

Nose.

This guy sitting in the center central say, see that one seven train from left?

Broke him in 1978.

How are you going to argue with somebody like that?

You can't go.

Oh, the best of occupation a person could have.

And it suits me anywheres wrong.

I'm sitting in a McDonald's one time.

Get some tires, put on a truck, and this lady came up and she said, ooh, I like your boots.

Or is it?

Thank you.

She said, oh.

What do you.

Country western singer?

There's no ma'am.

She said, are you filming a movie?

I said, no, ma'am.

She said, what are you.

I said, where's the first thing you think about when you see somebody dressed like this?

And she said, I don't know.

Oh, good.

Gosh almighty.

You know, I think the trends and where people are heading with the cowboy image has changed a lot.

Here at this store, we have a wide range of the clientele.

They range anywhere from the hardcore rancher farmer to the businessman that just goes out on Saturday nights and wants to go dance and have a good time.

Basics I think to look like one, jeans, Western shirts, long sleeved, traditional long sleeve, no matter what the weather is outside.

And boots.

So I've had customers come in, had a pair of boots for 15 years, and they they love it.

They don't want to get rid of them.

They'll resell them and resole them and resole them until they cannot resell them anymore.

The guy will just say, sorry, I can't.

There's nothing to stitch to.

It's one of those things that they they don't want to give their cowboy boots up.

They want to keep them going and keep them going.

And there's a lot of times that I have to refuse to do some of the cowboy boots because they are so worn.

There's not even enough a body or a base to work with.

So they fall in love with their cowboy boots.

The reason cowboys used to wear them is because when they rode on the horses, it protected the side of their legs, and it also protected them from rattlesnakes.

And then it became it became a fad.

Everybody had to have them.

And then it became that people wanted to wear exotics.

Your yuppies are the ones that would buy your exotics, boots or boots, but if you fit right with them, you'll wear them for a long time.

Hats are.

Oh, hats are an extra.

There's a lot of people I run into that say, oh, I got a cowboy hat.

I got cowboy boots.

The only way it gets to be a cowboy hat is if you put it on the top of a cowboy.

If you work in an auto body shop, it's auto body shop guy hat.

Cowboy boots are only cowboy boots.

And you put them in the south end of a cowboy.

If they're on a banker, then I guess they're banker boots.

It's the same sort of deal.

So, boots and buckles, I think I'll say a lot about a person, about their personality, what they stand for.

Traditionally, the cowboys wear their father's belt buckles.

They wore their own belt buckles that they want at different rodeos.

Now everybody wants a belt buckle because it's the in thing to do.

Bolos you don't see a lot of, bolos or more dress than I think.

Anything else?

More of the weekend thing.

If you're going out on a date or going dancing or something like that.

A cowboy is the embodiment of, free spirit, unfettered, uncluttered lifestyle.

Somebody who works real hard and then plays real hard, and in modern society anymore, we're all crammed together in skyscrapers and offices with hundreds of people, half of whom we may not even know their last name.

Maybe there's, the genetic yearning for more space and to put on the costume of a cowboy and, even for a couple of hours on a Friday night, pretend that you are this person who's living this free spirited, unfettered lifestyle and is just out to play hard before going back to work hard, is a big factor.

Are real cowboys.

You bet there are.

They may have 4 wheel drive now, I dont think real cowboys ever die.

What about you?

My name's Daryl Washington.

His title, Worn proudly, is Black American Cowboy is a modern day symbol of a generally forgotten group of men and women who played a major role in taming the Wild West.

The black cowboy was underpaid and overworked.

In the history books, he was overlooked.

His image survives in old photographs, but is missing from classic Western paintings.

His status was at first about as low as you could get.

Being a cowboy back in the Old West was the dirty job nobody wanted to be The cowboy.

So, And the word cowboy derived from the boys that took care of the cows and most of the boys back.

And then it took them to college, were all black or Hispanic.

Here in mid Denver and the carefully restored home of a turn of the century black woman doctor.

You'll learn that the black cowboy soon gained respect.

He is, one of the persons that helped to, build this new frontier.

He helped to expand the New frontier.

Most of them were servicemen that had served in the Civil War.

The government used them to escort wagon trains west to protect the settlers, to, help them build new towns along the way.

And, so most of them come from the south and east.

Geraldine Step also came from the east to a black owned Rocky Mountain range.

Campfire stories, black cowboys.

It was fascinating news to her when I had history in school.

I did not know that.

But coming west, I found out for sure that there were black cowboys.

They came up on the Chisholm Trail, and of all the Cowboys, one out of three were black, African American, also Hispanic male figure that, as you know, was, black cowboy who invented steer wrestling or bulldog, as they call it today.

Look at this.

I suppose, as Bill Pickett's raw material, he made steer wrestling a work of art, but didn't necessarily just go out and jump down on the steering, twisting to the ground.

That's and that's in a nutshell.

It's quite a little more than had to say the least.

All right.

Here.

He's going to help you.

Come on.

Come running.

Good work.

But even artists have bad days.

Okay.

Yeah.

He's got to come out of his.

No.

Oh, you know what?

I'm going to let go.

Go on.

Oh, no.

Bill Pickett had his own unique method.

He would actually take the cow by the neck and bite him on the lip and flip.

Flip the st eer over.

Why did the memory disappear?

Well, those are things that we just.

We really don't know, but.

But they did disappear.

But we do have actual documentary and facts now that they were a great part.

African-Americans, men, women, families helped to develop, great west America.

I'm very proud of it.

The winds may blow and the thunder growl.

Or the breeze may safely moan.

A cowboy's life is a royal life.

His saddle on a kingly throne.

Saddle up, boys, for the work is play.

When love's in a cowboy's eyes.

When his heart is light.

As the clouds of white.

Let's swim in the summer skies.

His daddy's a cowboy.

So he might as well be.

This is how they start their Bull riding career.

Mom sitting over here because I don't think so.

I thought hes back out but he didnt.

I got a helmet Don't want to do anything.

I mean, he's got a death grip.

I'm telling you now.

All right.

All right, here we go.

Take home a ribbon They have good family values.

Rodeo is a very family oriented sport.

Everybody can go.

This is kind of the way you raised, you know, raised around rodeos.

Biggest little rodeo in Colorado.

As far as know that's all I can tell ‘ya.

It gives it a local cowboys an opportunity, you know, not PRCA to come out and show their stuff and they bring their own horses nothing is provided.

And the bottom line being is just get it, okay.

And it's just the cowboy way.

It's an individual effort.

But then again, you know, everybody pulls together and help each other out.

You know it's an individual thing.

It's tough.

You know you're on the road a lot.

It gets in your blood.

I guess it's like auto racing or any other type of sport.

You know you grow up around it and you're born with it, you know?

Oh, I enjoy it.

I like people, I like traveling, seeing a lot of things I'd never see if I didn't rodeo when I'm okay, he's got a good job.

We got, you know.

Ok 110% now, give it all.

Eight seconds of just pure athletic ability.

It's an adrenaline.

Adrenaline rush is the best high in the world.

You know, these kids nowadays talk about drugs, but they get into something like rodeo where you ride bulls or bareback horses.

I mean that that's the best high you can have filled in 2,000 pounds of muscle between your legs.

You know, they dared me to ride a bull But my cocky attitude at that time, I said, sure, I can ride a bull.

And after 2 or 3, broken ribs and a couple of, broken teeth, you know, I figured, well, I'm either going to do this and be good at it, I'm gonna give it up.

So I just kind of wanted to be good at it.

no, the goal of that is to ride eight seconds.

You have two judges And each judge will judge the bull 25 points and the rider 25 points to make a total of 100.

And the harder the bull.

But the more he turns, the higher they score.

You.

You have to score in bareback and saddle bronc.

You don't have to score in bull riding on time.

You spare.

And bull riding is the kind of, influence the judges and show them that you have total control.

And it gets a couple of extra points.

But.

But bareback riders are definitely more skilled and riding bareback, you know, bull rider, you just got to have a little be crazy, I guess.

Bareback horse.

You have a, a rigging.

It's a rawhide rigging with just a hand holding an object.

When the horse takes its first jump out of the gate, you got to keep your feet and and the shoulders.

Okay?

That's called it marking the horse out.

And the more skill the cowboy have and riding them, that that makes a good, good score.

We have a performance.

You have a calf that weighs about two, to 300 pounds.

And he breaks right from, from the chute.

You're behind the barrier.

It's a timed event.

You let the calf get out, about ten yards.

And think of the score for line and come out.

Rope the calf from and tie three front leg, throw your hands in the air and call for time.

If normally I can catch a calf when he comes out the chute, and I'm going to normally stick my head in the pay window if I have to chase one down.

Oh girls.

just not fast enough any more to do it.

So we just kind of tip her hat to the crowd and go on down the road.

She's really good and we've got a steer in the chute.

This is the only event that we have a helper with.

And, and he's our Hazer and he's another guy on a horse.

He comes out and keeps the steer going straight.

We ride our horse to the steer, get off on the steer, our horse goes on behind, and we throw the steer on the ground and up in about 4.5 seconds.

I guess it's kind of a adrenaline thrill, I suppose, because, the speed and tacking, you know, steer the way.

He's 5 or 600 pounds that it's just, you know, the advantages to the steer.

You know, that pace.

And it's just exciting.

The rodeo, so the story goes, is a sport that began as work 100 years ago in the corrals on the ranch on the range.

Hello there.

You couldn't very well do any cattle bunching on foot.

You had to get a horse & the che apest horses were wild very wild.

You need to catch a calf before you can brand them or doctor them or do anything to them.

They're quick, so you need a good rope and a good horse and a good eye.

And sometimes when a calf was weak and wouldn't or couldn't eat, cowboys So the story goes, had only one choice left wild cow milking.

wild cow milking was probably one of the most crazy things any person could ever do in their whole life.

I mean, you know, everybody comes out of the arena bleeding, so it's I just don't understand why anybody would ever do it.

But it's fun to watch.

Well, cow milking.

I don't know exactly how to describe it.

The only technical part of it is having somebody who actually knows how to milk a cow.

One's going to be the head man.

He's got the rope, the cow comes out, he's going to turn.

I'm going to get the head lower down, put her toward the dirt, and then he's going to grab the tail We're going to put her in a U-shape.

Steve Moreland milk.

He's going to come up on the other side and try to milk her.

All we need is two drops and then we're going to turn loose.

It's a team of three men.

We'll try to catch this cow around the neck or any way that they can, and hold her still long enough for one of them to put a few drops of milk in a bottle.

And that gentleman has to take that bottle over to the judge and dump it out.

It has to happen.

He has to be able to dump some out in order to qualify.

And then his time is up and that's it.

That's about it.

But I mean, catching that cow and getting her to stand still for that is really a trick.

and this cow dragged you around.

I would think a guy might as well just tie himself to, say, a four Wheeler and have somebody drag him around through the field.

That makes about as much sense.

We had her a couple times.

Theyre boys that never grew up like all cowboys.

Okay?

That's why they do it.

You buy a cow.

In this day and age, you pay an $800 for that one animal.

That's a lot of dollars to be turned in, out a gate without a return address on.

And that brand is a permanent mark, and it's, it's a record of evidence in the court of law, proof of ownership, because that cow or horse is a poor witness.

They can't talk.

Well, my job is to is to try to rope these calves by the feet and drag them in to the to the fire.

We want to we want a great, roping by the feet because, then they can't run quite as good when I get there, and the guys can get them to the ground and are easier to grab These are quick little calves.

It's hard to get to get the feet rope.

Theyre so quick.

Takes time.

And to get them in position, you want to have a hot iron.

Whether it's electric, whether it's heated, the fire, the propane, you want it hot to go, you can do it quickly.

It's under more of a stress being put out of commission than it is actual burn.

Yes.

Basically we catch them, brand them and take them to the mountains.

Colorado has a brand law.

In fact, there's a brand inspection that goes on every time cattle are moved, or cattle or sold or anything like that.

And if you move livestock over 75 miles, you better have a movement ticket or a brand inspection or something.

Go with it.

In the state of Colorado, in fact, most states, everyone has their own brand.

It is registered with the government.

There's an assessment paid every few years on it.

Each brand is unique.

And believe it or not, there's still wrestling going on in Colorado.

And, we brand every one of our cows calves before they go up into the mountains for the summer.

And our brand is a heart J brand, the heart being Loveland, Colorado's sweetheart city.

And the J is for the Jessup family, that own the ranch.

So now your method of proving ownership is either your brand on them or bill of sale, where you bought them prior when it goes through Sale Barn, that brand is checked each time by state brand inspector.

Well, for about the last ten years, the volume of livestock inspection in here is probably over 5 million.

If you don't have a brand on a on a cow or a horse, they can say that's theirs.

There's no way proof for identification.

This is actually one of the best ways to identify your style.

The purpose of brand inspection is not to bring an obligation under the stockman.

It's his protection to him as well as his neighbor.

I got 419 steers out there, and if they get over the fence and get mixed in with my neighbors, I going to be able to tell which ones are which.

And you can't substitute things like ear tags or, implants that you read with a scanner or anything because I mean, gosh, if you're out in the national forest trying to identify a cow, You cant go up with a scanner and find out what it is.

An ear tag is only temporary.

It can get ripped out.

So yeah, brands still work great Colorado, as you know, is a beautiful place.

I've grown up and lived in the West most of my life.

New Mexico, Idaho, inside of Southern California.

And now I'm back here in Colorado.

And I've never lived down a side of a mountain.

Actually, I was in Kansas City for six weeks, and it's a nice town, has good barbecue, but I couldn't I couldn't stand being away from the mountains.

And, I look back over here to the west, and here it is, summer and the mountains are covered with snow.

Still, it's a wonderful place.

We get a little green grass down here running down the river, and it's hard to really think of someplace that is better.

I never did that for the money.

I guess you then figured that out.

I was never broke for long anyway.

Getting rich and what?

It's about getting high on the smell of a sunrise.

Horseback.

A long way from camp.

Or the sound of the crickets competing with a kerosene lamp.

That reason enough to be out here.

That and living my life nearly free.

I ain't paonting cows for the pay day means more than money to me.

If I could, I'd stay out here forever without meaning.

No disrespect to them folks selling box seats in glory and passing the plate.

Collect some more.

Inside me.

They say there's a soul just waiting to fly when I croak and I should be a bit disappointed if heaven was only a joke because I'm ready to go if I have to, plan on wearing my hat But I hope it's as good as they claim it is.

It's hard to hard to beat where Im at.

Some believers have reached the conclusion that men get recycled like cans and eventually wind up in heaven after, when numerous brands.

If that's true, then my soul probably lit right here by chance on a wing and a prayer.

Which explains why it's so much like heaven.

And maybe I'm already there.