What you can learn about a cowboy from his outfit

They say you can tell a lot about a man by his outfit, a statement I can wholeheartedly agree with.  But my consensus behind that reckoning isn’t merely about the clothes on his back.  You see, in the cowboy world, a man’s “outfit” isn’t only the shirt and pants he puts on to start the day, but more so the truck and trailer he drives around in.  

I’ve seen a lot of different outfits over the years and gotten to know a good handful of those folks driving them.  Knowing their operations, how and where they work and the like has led me to draw a few conclusions between a cowboy and his outfit.  Of course there are outliers, exceptions and mavericks that like to go their own way, but by and large I think you will agree that a cowboy’s outfit sure says a lot about him.

In this part of the country, we see a lot of stock trailers rolling around.  They are hardy, multi-purposed rigs that are all season and nearly all terrain.  Your average cowboy rancher uses these because he needs a tow wagon as versatile as he is.  They are  pulled around everywhere from the range to rodeo, chuck full of cattle, horses, motorbikes and 4 wheelers.  

This sort of trailer is a rancher’s back pocket, hauling all things he needs to get the job done.  It brings home totes of feed and seed, fence posts and rolls of wire, his favorite horse, the green one he is working on, and the Japanese one (ya know, the motorbike...).  He hauls his favorite cow out to pasture, the ornery bull that stops midway through the cattle drive, and the freshly weaned calves at the end of the season.  

This cowboy rancher trusts his most prized possessions to this trailer, a fact easily proven when you see him muck out the poop (or at least the top layer) and stack all his furniture and belongings in his trusty stock trailer before he ever considers renting a U-Haul.

Similar to the stock trailer is a half top trailer, but they have a handful of bonus features that make this trailer a range cowboys best friend.  The iconic driver of a half top trailer is your Nevada Buckaroo, a cowboy that spends all day on the desert range herding cattle.  The open back frame makes for great ventilation, lending its greatest use to those hot, dry southern states.

This trailer keeps livestock cool with its open design, but even cooler are the conveniences that make it so handy for loading cattle without a chute.  Leading a cow into a regular stock trailer to load can be tricky, having to work the rope through the sides.  A half top lets a cowboy just flip the rope over the rails and drag the cow in.  The open sides make it a little easier to coax the cow on the end of their rope in the trailer, letting in the daylight and keeping it from turning into a dark tunnel.  And if that cow is a little feisty, having a slam latch to lock the gate in place before it can turn back out is pretty handy.

On the flip side of your range riding trailers are the shiny Bloomer trailers that live on the open highway.  The bigger the rig, the more dedicated the cowboy is to their horse trade.  From rodeo cowboys to horse racing cowboys, these sort of trailer towers depend on their rig to not only get them and their horses to and from in one piece, but to do it with a bit of luxury and style.

These trailers have every amenity you can think of, concentrating all a cowboy needs from his house, barn, and trailer all in one convenient wagon- rubber padding, roof ventilation, tack room, hay racks, generators, living quarters, and even double or triple slideouts for even more space.   But all these luxuries are for good reason.  A lot of these cowboys on the rodeo or race trail spend more nights in their trailer than in their own bed at home.  Having everything they need pooled into one trailer just makes life easier.

There is one outfit that is a little trickier to nail down what sort of cowboy is towing it.  The bumper-pull.  This sort of trailer is usually smaller and light weight, lending its use to countless possibilities.  Making a little less dent in the budget, these trailers are often the first rig purchase for a cowboy dipping his toes into the industry.  But at the same time, the low cost makes it a convenient buy for urban small-time farmers that need something to haul around their goats, sheep, chickens or pigs.  Then again, a fancy new bumper pull trailer is often the high prize for the bigtime roping or queen contest.

The best way to sort out the type of cowboy towing a bumper pull might actually have more to do with the truck than the trailer itself.  A shiny new truck hooked onto a shiny new trailer is likely your prize winning queen or roping king.  A truck with some wear to it, pulling a trailer with matching scuffs is likely your emerging cowboy that is happy to have his own outfit to tow around.  The bumper pull dragging behind an SUV is most certainly your urban farmers.

Any man will say a truck is an extension of his personality, and cowboys are no different.  A cowboy driving around with a flatbed truck stacked up with shovels, water wrench, chains, fencing supplies, and a few well used ropes are most certainly your ranch cowboys.  It might seem like they just don’t clear out the bed after a hard day’s work, but that is their usual stash.  Once again, it is an extension of their back pocket.  If it isn’t the exact tool they will need, it’s enough for them to fashion a passable stand-in.

If the bed of the truck has more dogs than anything else, you have found a range riding buckaroo.  Knowing that he has thousands of acres to ride, he won’t set foot on the range without his pack of dogs that will save him hours on horse to gather in the herd. 

Extended cabs have largely been replaced with crew cab trucks these days.  Now that cowboys are towing extra long trailers that can cram 10 horses in the back, they have to drive a higher capacity truck that can squish just as many cowboys in the front.  The smartest cowboy of them all is still the one sitting in the middle, avoiding the duty to open gates.

Small, non-commercial semis are the go to truck for those long haul Bloomer trailers.  Filling the back with hay, water, tack, grain, generators, bedding, furniture, and clothes, not to mention the handful of horses, demands a truck that can tow it all. 

 Stock trailer, bumper pull, half top or Bloomer trailer, these rigs make cowboy life possible.  In some seasons, there is hardly a day that they aren’t pulling their weight to get the job done on the range or at the rodeo.  They may be new and shiny, beat up and faded, big or little, but they all play a part in making cowboy magic happen. 

It is ironic though...  There once was a day that horses were used to pull a cowboy around.  Now they found a way to finally be towed themselves.  Well played horses, well played.