Cowboy School

Cowboys are very de rigueur right now. Don't ask me why, but I think it has to do with a particular movie that is out right now. ..a "buddy" film, as it were. And no, I'm not talking about City Slickers. So yes, over at the Los Angeles Times, there is an article about the Arizona Cowboy College in Scottsdale. But the first thing you find out is that training to be a cowboy ain't about sleeping under the stars and punching dogies...although the author does do the former, and seems to quite enjoy it. "This isn't a dude ranch," says the proprietor of this particular ranch. Instead, you are required to suck it up and engage in "demanding, dirty, hard, physical labor". Why on earth would anyone pay to do that?

Well, you pay because it takes you out of your dreary cubisphere where the greatest danger you face is spilling coffee on your new Hermes tie. And let's face it, demanding labor has its rewards. And so the writer learns how to ride a horse and is dealt some other lessons along the way. Learning to be a cowboy might not be so bad after all, we're left to believe. Which makes me wonder a bit why there aren't more cowboys.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning