The New Old Timers 

In a world of generational tradition and knowledge, the community relies on those who have been there. 

“There’s nothing else I would ever want to do.” 

Lorenzo Larrucea echoes a familiar sentiment into the phone, a sentiment I have heard from every cowboss and “lifer” I’ve ever known. For him and those like him, there is no other route, no other path, no other way through. Cowboying is not the only way they know, but it’s the only way they want to know. This commitment, this love of the game, is consistent across the gamut of working hands at the highest levels of leadership within the cowboy community. The prize is not worldly wealth. The prize is doing what they truly love, creating a life they are proud of, being the best horsemen and stockmen they can be, and passing on the knowledge that ensures the survival of treasured traditions.   

Every cowboss and working cowboy superhero started somewhere. Larrucea can distill most of who he is today as a cowboy and a cowboss into the influence of three talented men he worked for as a younger man. Larrucea is only 49 years old, but he has entered and rightfully earned a position of authority that comes with rank, skill, and age within the community. While those like Larrucea aren’t considered “old timers” in the world at large, a young man’s sport like cowboying has a way of whittling away the field as the years progress — through injury, financial troubles and even death, leaving men of Larrucea’s age at the older end of the spectrum. But Larrucea is content and in good health. His impressive skill set and helpful attitude are drawn upon as a professional in both the Brannaman Pro-Am Vaquero Roping and Early California Skill of the Rancho competition, and as a judge for a significant number of traditional ranch ropings throughout California. Much like the men he looked up to when he was young, he is now passing on his knowledge to those coming up underneath him.  

Changes within the cowboy world have been abundant. The older generation is not unsympathetic to the changing expectations being put upon the incoming freshmen. Thirty years ago, it was not uncommon to pull up to a job in an old beater sedan with nothing but a saddle, a snaffle bit, and a bedroll in the back seat — and the bedroll was optional. Now, most outfits have forgone large cavvies and remudas. The expectation is commonly put upon the cowboy crew to provide their own horses, typically requiring three to five head. With horses come necessaries like trailers and pickups, heavy-duty and reliable enough to haul them around. It is no secret that the horse and vehicle markets are currently experiencing a high. For a green cowboy, all of this initial overhead can be a big ask, if a green cowboy can even get the job.  

These changes and requirements have made the job market within the cowboy community increasingly difficult to break into. The days of big outfits with plenty of positions for newcomers are dwindling. The older generation is not blind to this. Many of them are working hard to find remedies within their own spheres of influence: accepting greener employees and building them up over time, creating learning opportunities in group settings or clinics, and taking on younger cowboys from ranching families fresh out of high school. It could easily be argued that this new generation of revered “old timers” is the most preservation-driven and helpful to date. Their biggest prerequisites are willingness and coachability, and the knowledge they are willing to exchange for these qualities in a green employee is invaluable. While this generation still carries the toughness and sometimes harshness of generations before, even that is beginning to evolve.  

When working on the backs of 1,200-pound animals, using nothing but a rope to manage a separate 1,000-pound animal, certain lessons may need to be learned quickly, with haste, and, at times, loudly. Cowboying can be incredibly dangerous. Every day is not guaranteed to be happy and rainbows. Most people who have cowboyed their whole lives fight chronic pain, traumatic brain injuries, and physical breakdown. Some have seen a thousand kids come and go without taking the lessons seriously. Some of them had harder, harsher teachers as their only model for teaching. However, this generation is trying their best to make things easier than it was for them. In this way, this new older generation is fighting the potential loss of tradition and expanding the cowboy world to help account for the number of young people who are, understandably, choosing a more comfortable life over this one.   

For Larrucea, the key to creating a comfortable life as a cowboy is learning how to take advantage of the value in things like employee housing and other typical employer-provided benefits, while living in a way that is symbiotic with the lifestyle. Larrucea credits his wife for her sound partnership in managing family finances and successfully raising their three girls on working ranches — proof that living simply and seeing strengths in the provided structure is key. “Hell, I’ve never had to pay an electric bill. I’ve got a couple of full-carved saddles, I’ve got more bridles than I could ever use, and we’ve got a small group of cows we can run here on the ranch. I’ve never gone to dinner with a friend and not been able to offer to buy their dinner and drinks,” Larrucea says, signaling that there is a life to be made here for those willing to see, do, think and try for it. There is sustainability for those who wish to find it. As with most good things, it may require a little sacrifice, but the rewards can be immeasurable if one is content to create a pleasant existence within the given framework. 

It can be easy to fall into the pit of criticism or the trap of placing people on pedestals when examining older generations. Still, the truth is they are, like everyone, evolving with a changing world and changing times, offering the best they have and doing the best they can with what they know. They may be another guy on the street to a random passerby in town, but in their world, they are the highly exalted — the keepers of sacred tradition — and, to those who look up to them, real-life heroes. The rest of the world may not completely understand this dichotomy, but anyone who has paid their dues and put in the work does. While our corner of the world is small, it is important, valuable, and worth hanging on to. It is an art form that underscore’ one of our most basic human needs — sustenance. There are cheap shortcuts and some might find use in them, but there’s no pride, history, tradition, or honor to be found there. The dance between man, beast, and earth is an ancient one. It deserves to be honored, and we deserve to honor it as best we can. The new generation of old timers is keeping the flame. For that, we should all be grateful.