OT- Young cowboy want-to-be (old photo)

[rangerider7]

This young man is a little young to be posing with a whiskey bottle. Neat photo though, note the overalls and O.K. spurs. Vernon is near the famous Matador Ranch in Texas. I would say the boots are his and he just got the spurs. He is probably just getting his first taste of cowboying.

[Chas.]

Can't read the label, maybe it's saspirilla.

[rangerider7]

Saspirilla wouldn't have "OLD" in the label's name. That is the only word I can make out.

[airedaleman]

If that lad ever grew into his paws, he must have been a big 'un!

[2X22]

If that lad ever grew into his paws, he must have been a big 'un!

Eggs-ackly what I was thinking!

2x22

[pokey]

old enough to be night hawk or swamper.
nice pic, again.

[Gun Smith]

Of course it's a studio shot. Do you think the boots and spurs were costuming props for the boy. The "soft drink" bottle is definitely a prop.

[Batman1939]

You ever notice how young some of those ol' time cowboys looked? This fellow might have just landed his first job moving cattle. Kind of reminds me of the John Wayne classic: The Cowboys. That young man might have been "up to the mark" on the blackboard !! One of the Duke's best movies-especially when seen with a couple of sons about 10-11 yrs old.

[Batman1939]

You ever notice how young some of those ol' time cowboys looked? This fellow might have just landed his first job moving cattle. Kind of reminds me of the John Wayne classic: The Cowboys. That young man might have been "up to the mark" on the blackboard !! One of the Duke's best movies-especially when seen with a couple of sons about 10-11 yrs old.

Boy, wasn't Bruce Dern a bad man in that film!!

[kimwcook]

The boots are used and possibly his, but I'd be more inclined to see lace ups with his coveralls. The hat maybe his or a prop. The spur straps appear new and don't match the age of the boots. Starting out he may not of had the money for pants, but no self respecting cowboy would be caught dead riding in coveralls. That's farmer attire and they weren't farmers.

[rangerider7]

kimwcook, I'm sure he got kidded a bunch when he went to work as the cook's helper or wrangler but that may have been all he could afford. When I went on my first job on a 6000 acre ranch, pretty near Vernon Texas, I had on a woven straw big brimmed hat. The kind you bought in any mercantile store for $1.25 back in the 50s. The foreman road out to see if I made it to work the first day and told me to burn it. He gave me one of his old smelly Stetsons in place of it. I had to tear out the sweat band to make it fit. It itched all summer but I loved it. He made it real clear no cowhand that work under him would wear a farmer's hat. I'm pretty sure this young man met the same fate with his overalls.

P.S. I learn to drink beer and western dance that summer too at the county line beer joint. It was a great summer and so was the next.

[rangerider7]

I like that he has his own pocket watch.

[octagon]

Great Grandpa twice went up the Chisolm to Kansas at age 13-14. He later went to college and became a Doc.

[gundownunder]

He could have been anything from a horse tailer to a full blown cowboy, or he might have been the son of a storekeeper dressed in stage props.
I don't think you could use age as a way of deciding what he was. I started droving when I left school at 15, riding behind 800 head of cattle.

[Ysabel Kid]

[bdhold]

really a nice photo - that's a fun one.

[Rusty]

I was thinking he was kind of young to have a watch chain even if there isn't a watch on the end of it.

[Buck Elliott]

Just 'cause the spurs are new, don't mean they can't be his... He can't be anything over 14.

I started cowboying for real when I was 12, and I STILL ain't "grown up..."