No One Ever Called me a Cowgirl

[Mountain Cowgirl]

No One Ever Called Me a Cowgirl

I never wore jeans tight and adorned with pearl
Maybe that is why, no one ever called me a cowgirl

I wore all cotton relaxed jeans for the cattle call
Branding calves while for their mama they bawl

My boots were plain cowhide from former beef
And not made from stingrays from the barrier reef

My boots had semi round toes and usable high heels
And not made for dancing like the Hollywood deals

My boots had tall shafts, way up to the knee
Covered with jeans so no rattlesnake could see

I seldom rode a horse because our ranch had no need
Not even for a working horse, let alone a rodeo steed

Yep, no one ever called me a cowgirl
Regardless of how you spin or twirl

I never wore a big buckle diggin into my belly
So all the cowboys would exclaim, "Whoa Nelly"

Even though I relieved young bulls
Removing their bloodline jewels

While the wrangler boys stepped aside and choked with hurl
No one, whether cowboys or wranglers, ever called me cowgirl

Shouldn't horse mounted women that never worked cattle
Be called horsegirls, not cowgirls, I question with tattle

Never being called a cowgirl, I have no remorse
Because I worked cattle, with and without a horse

So I call myself the Mountain Cowgirl in jest
And now on the keyboard, I become a pest

Faye alias Mountain Cowgirl 10/12/2022

 

[Alaska-Rancher]

Well a heck of a pretty and talented cowgirl you be

 

[Mountain Cowgirl]

Well a heck of a pretty and talented cowgirl you be

Thank you, you are much too kind, but I like it LOL!

 

[webfoot]

A friend and former coworker was raised on a large extended family ranch between Arlington and Condon Oregon. He said he had some female cousins who were darn sure hands. He said they would consider it an insult to be referred to as a "Cowgirl". They considered a cowgirl to be the buckle bunnies who hung around rodeos and rodeo dances. On the other hand refer to them as a cowboy or a hand they would puff up with pride.

 

[Mountain Cowgirl]

I always liked driving my old 4 WD International pickup with a lever action 30-30 in the rack and a 50' lariat behind the bench seat, being called ranchhand, and carrying those curved beaked staple pulling and driving fencing pliers and multi-blade knife in a holster on my plain old leather belt on the right, with a .22 Colt single action on the left with the handle facing forward so when I crossed my arms and my right hand gripped the handle of the six-shooter and my left pulled up those wicked pliers, no rodeo cowboy dared ever called me a buckle bunny. Not to my face anyway.

Being a dual-tasker like that, shooting a rattlesnake in the head while pounding in a staple on a tamarack post, was exhausting but necessary to be respected as a lady rancher and hand. I might have become a buckle bunny but I hated whiskey, tobacco spitting, big belt buckles, and was the only one that failed western dance class. After several weeks the instructor said I was like dancing with a fence post. After that I took on building 5 miles of 4-strand barbed wire range fence and my happiness was even envied by pigs in mud.

 

[Cody-n-Nancy]

A friend and former coworker was raised on a large extended family ranch between Arlington and Condon Oregon. He said he had some female cousins who were darn sure hands. He said they would consider it an insult to be referred to as a "Cowgirl". They considered a cowgirl to be the buckle bunnies who hung around rodeos and rodeo dances. On the other hand refer to them as a cowboy or a hand they would puff up with pride.

Funny, but when I mention the words "buckle bunny", in another forum, I was sort of ridiculed for saying that.
But, during my years (weekends only) with PRCA, I seen a whole of them buckle bunnies, not just at rodeos, but at a rodeo dance or country-western nightclub.
Now, PRCA announcers always call Breakaway Ropers and Barrel Races "cowgirls" and it didn't bother them hearing that. Just like they call any male competitor in rodeo "cowboy".
Then again, the word "cowboy" is stretch quite far. Ronnie Dunn (Brooks & Dunn) has "cowboy" tattooed on the side of his arm.

 

[Faster horses]

Deleted

 

[Cody-n-Nancy]

Didn't "miss the point" at all. In another forum, I said the same words, "Buckle Bunny" and was ridiculed for it. Waiting to see if that would happen here.

 

[webfoot]

Cowboy is not a gender specific term. Cowboy and its variations can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, and probably some other things that I forgot after leaving English class many moons ago. Go to a rodeo and tell one of those ladies who are competing that they are a good cowboy or do a good job of cowboying they wont take it as an insult.

 

[Mountain Cowgirl]

Cowboy is not a gender specific term. Cowboy and its variations can be used as a noun, verb, adjective, and probably some other things that I forgot after leaving English class many moons ago. Go to a rodeo and tell one of those ladies who are competing that they are a good cowboy or do a good job of cowboying they wont take it as an insult.

Exactly right! Just like cowboy breakfast, cowboy steak, or cowboys wanted for a roundup. No one ever said no breakfast for you lady or you can't have a steak it is for cowboys only. The cowgirl thing started when they decided that females shouldn't ride bulls, broncs, or do bulldogging now called steer wrestling. I wasn't one for broncs or bulls, but I did ride a steer once and that did not end well. I did enjoy bulldogging and never had anything more than bruises or scuffs.

The cowgirl thing is more for political correctness in all equestrian rodeo events like barrel racing or drill teams and to sell specialized western wear to women. On one roundup I did at my great uncle's during the Vietnam war when many of the ranch boys were overseas, one old hired cowboy asked him what I was going to do, cook? I was honored when my great-uncle said, nope she is my head cowboy since the boys are away..