Cowboys and cowgirls have been around for a long time, longer than anyone in your family, longer than anyone's grandparents. There are not as many cowboys as there once were, but there are still plenty around. They live in places in the West like Kicking Horse Creek, Crazy Mountain Pass, Sonoita, and Rattlesnake Gulch. They live in Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah, Idaho, and parts of California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada.
Cowboys love the wide-open country.
They live there, alone sometimes for weeks, caring for the cattle, repairing the fences, and doing all the other chores a working ranch requires. Children born and raised on a ranch learn the life of a cowboy and cowgirl very early. Before long, they can ride a horse well enough to chase down a runaway calf or bring in horses from the high country. In many parts of the United States, even in cities and suburbs, you can see some of the animals that live in the West, including raccoons, skunks, mice, squirrels and deer. You might grow up to be a cowboy or cowgirl if you learn how to ride a horse, to love the wide-open spaces, to spend time alone and to work hard.