Being a cowboy in any age is a difficult job. It's not well paid. Cowboys are cut off from civilization for long periods. It is tough on the body and requires finely honed skills that the cowboy in question needs to be able to employ at a moment's notice. The cowboy life is about caring for animals, taking care of ranch infrastructure and maintaining both body and equipment in a state of readiness so that should a cow stray from the herd, it is brought back to the fold.

There are fewer stories of gun-slinging cowboys now, but vigilance for thieves maintains one of the cowboy's most important jobs. In the Old West, there was no FBI, and even finding a sheriff or a US Marshal could be a difficult task. Everyone had to look out for themselves against threats from both nature and from man. For those who needed to disappear into the frontier, had just come to America from another country or just for those who craved a life of adventure, the life of a cowboy in the Old West was alluring. In a world where moving from state to state meant the possibility of total self-reinvention, the cowboy life held a special appeal. Tell us how you would manage it, and we'll give you an Old West handle.