subculture fashion

I choose to write about the different fashions that you see as a cowboy.  I especially know about this because I have worked as a cowboy from Arizona to Wyoming and have seen many different styles of dress throughout my travels.  As a rule the different styles you see depict the country that a cowboy works in.  Also you will see how a cowboy feels cattle should be handled and some influence of the climate that the cowboy works in.

First the Arizona cow puncher you will see taps on his saddle. 
These are the covers that are over his stirrups he will always have a rope on his saddle and full length chaps usually made out of a vary heavy leather. The saddle that he uses can vary a little but it will almost always be on either a will James tree, an association tree or either a low or bull moose tree.  All of these saddles have swells in front of the cowboy. They will most generally be caring piggin strings on their chaps.  These are used for tying cattle down, as well as hobbling their horse and tying anything that needs tied. The bridle that they use will depict some of the quality of horse that they are riding.

Next the Nevada buckaroo, these cowboys will have a saddle with a Wade tree in it.  Mmost of the time they will also always carry a rope on the saddle.  But the way that it is attached to the saddle is different from the Arizona cowboy.  They will tie their rope on with a narrow leather strap and their rope will be usually over 40 feet long and some times up to 60 or 70 feet long.  The horn on their saddle is usually warped with mule hide to allow them to be easier on the calf.  When they rope them they can slide more rope and make their horse pull on the cattle less.  In Nevada the chaps that they wear are made out of a much lighter leather and are shorter.  There isn't as much protection on their lower leg. This is because where they work there is not as much brush.

 This is a cowboy from New Mexico or Wyoming.   They use a mixture of both the Arizona and Nevada traits.  They will usually use a longer rope similar to a Nevada cowboy and chaps that are also similar to the cowboys from Arizona.  They will not use a breast collar on their saddles.

 Hat selection is mostly based on the climate that a cowboy works in. In cold weather you will see the black felt hats being worn more.   They hold up much better and don't fall apart as much when they get wet. In warm weather the straw hat is worn. This hat is much lighter and is not near as hot to wear.

The top saddle is a saddle that a cowboy in Arizona would use.  Notice the large swells in front of the seat. the lower saddle is a saddle a buckaroo would use. There are no swells in front of the seat and the horn is wrapped with mule hide.

There is also another type of cowboy and this is the rodeo cowboy. They do not make their money by working on a ranch.  They travel down the road to rodeos.  Their dress is more what you would see from a hockey player, with pads that help protect them from danger in the arena.  They do wear chaps that are similar to a buckaroo chap but they are longer to protect them from injury. This is necessary to protect them while they are in the bucking chutes.