I grew up watching Saved by the Bell with the rest of you, and who didn't want to be Kelly Kapowski? But I also grew up on a farm riding horses and playing in the dirt. I was a cowgirl worshiper, and I'm still a cowgirl at heart. I had a book I read religiously called The Cowgirl Companion, and here are a few of my favorite tidbits for those of you who are not up to par on your cowgirl lore.
Dale Evans isn't the original cowgirl, as some people call her, but she did make the term famous. And, thankfully, she wasn't just some movie star in deer skin. She actually grew up on a ranch and could ride a horse and a milk a cow. Go Dale!
Looks like your run of the mill pioneer woman, doesn't it? No Mam! Belle Star was an outlaw that associated with the likes of Jesse James and seduced lawmen when she couldn't buy them off. One tough broad!
If you don't know who Annie Oakley is, I'll shoot you myself! She rode in Wild Bill Hickock's traveling western show and shot from the back of a galloping horse as well as split a playing card in half on the edge side.
And to wrap all of this up, here was my absolute favorite poem as a kid:
Hey, Cowboy
I may not have your anatomy
Nor weight the pounds you do
But, fella, let me tell ya
I'm not in awe of you!
Winters are cold to both of us
An' both our backs get sore
Old age don't care which sex we are
An' heifers in labor don't score.
The hand that feeds ain't woman or man
It's just the hand that's there
That truck won't start for God, Herself,
You read that right - don't stare.
The hands that rein the gather
Don't have to be a man's
Fencin' tools aren't pink and blue
To specify whose hands.
A green colt isn't more polite
To a woman or a man
Either of the sexes
Can burn a proper brand.
My days are long and busy
'Cause I'm livin' from the land
Clothes don't make ya "cowboy"
It's the work that makes a hand.
And my favorite cowgirl of all time; Big Sal Robarts herself, known affectionately as BS and Nasty Patsy for various reasons. She taught me to ride a horse, hold my own, kick ass, and have a heart as big as my mouth!
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