Originally meant for protection and keeping the foot firmly anchored in the stirrups while riding, a good cowboy boot is a piece of footwear that shows off the rich history of working cowboys. That being said, it stands to reason that a good pair of boots, broken in just the way you like them is a hard thing to give up. It’s said that many an old cowboy has begged to be buried in his boots and he’s generally not talking about his Sunday-go-to-meetin’ boots.
On occasion you’ll pass by a piece of property and notice an old boot turned upside down on a fence post. Often, it's just a single, solitary boot, cruelly separated from its partner. Elsewhere you might see a mated pair. Some homesteads might display a dozen or more, many of which can be weathered and left dangling, barley clinging to the post. If you’re not from around here, and maybe even if you are, you have to wonder why?
One nonromantic explanation of the tradition is that the worn-out boots are simply placed there as decorations. This seems to have caught on as people buy up small parcels of land and want to "fit in." Another version of the story, which I enjoy, is that a cowboy's old boots are placed on the fence posts bottoms up “so that the, 'soles' of cowboys go to heaven.”
There’s almost as many stories about boots on a fence post as there are stars in the sky but many of them are rather sad. When a comrade passes away, a cowboy may hang a boot on a fence post as a memorial. When a cowboy has a strong bond with his horse it may become his daily workhorse and when a special horse like this is sold or dies, a cowboy will hang a pair of his boots on the fence to symbolize respect for the animal.
Sometimes the boots have worn out but represent years of hard work. Because a rancher grows attached to his boots and wears them daily, it's a tradition to hang them on a fence whenever they have worn out. This represents the hard work the boots made possible.
A simpler explanation might be to indicate that the rancher is home. It was tradition to hang boots up to let others know they were home before telephones and electricity made it easier to contact them. As they say in real estate, it also might be location, location, location. Put a boot on a post near the mailbox or access road and turn the toe of the boot toward the area where he was working.
The story I’ve heard that makes the most sense to me is that long ago, boots were placed over fence posts to keep water from settling on the post and ruining it prematurely. Seems plausible to me. Cowboy logic says that one or two protected posts is one or two less that will need to be replaced. Just think of how many posts a family could protect as cowboy boots handed down to the next child were outgrown, wore out, and slipped over the nearest post.
At the end of the day, one wife that I know says, “I simply put them on the posts so my husband will stop wearing the old, smelly, worn ones and start wearing the new pair I bought him.”
On occasion you’ll pass by a piece of property and notice an old boot turned upside down on a fence post. Often, it's just a single, solitary boot, cruelly separated from its partner. Elsewhere you might see a mated pair. Some homesteads might display a dozen or more, many of which can be weathered and left dangling, barley clinging to the post. If you’re not from around here, and maybe even if you are, you have to wonder why?
One nonromantic explanation of the tradition is that the worn-out boots are simply placed there as decorations. This seems to have caught on as people buy up small parcels of land and want to "fit in." Another version of the story, which I enjoy, is that a cowboy's old boots are placed on the fence posts bottoms up “so that the, 'soles' of cowboys go to heaven.”
There’s almost as many stories about boots on a fence post as there are stars in the sky but many of them are rather sad. When a comrade passes away, a cowboy may hang a boot on a fence post as a memorial. When a cowboy has a strong bond with his horse it may become his daily workhorse and when a special horse like this is sold or dies, a cowboy will hang a pair of his boots on the fence to symbolize respect for the animal.
Sometimes the boots have worn out but represent years of hard work. Because a rancher grows attached to his boots and wears them daily, it's a tradition to hang them on a fence whenever they have worn out. This represents the hard work the boots made possible.
A simpler explanation might be to indicate that the rancher is home. It was tradition to hang boots up to let others know they were home before telephones and electricity made it easier to contact them. As they say in real estate, it also might be location, location, location. Put a boot on a post near the mailbox or access road and turn the toe of the boot toward the area where he was working.
The story I’ve heard that makes the most sense to me is that long ago, boots were placed over fence posts to keep water from settling on the post and ruining it prematurely. Seems plausible to me. Cowboy logic says that one or two protected posts is one or two less that will need to be replaced. Just think of how many posts a family could protect as cowboy boots handed down to the next child were outgrown, wore out, and slipped over the nearest post.
At the end of the day, one wife that I know says, “I simply put them on the posts so my husband will stop wearing the old, smelly, worn ones and start wearing the new pair I bought him.”