Interview with a Real Cowboy

I was thinking the other day about what might interest the public about living in the country and working on a ranch. There aren't many people who still live the way we do, working in the sun all the time and shoveling manure every day. It isn't that the life isn't exciting or fulfilling, but that people don't realize the opportunity exists. There really are still men who where cowboy hats to church and women who ring cowbells when dinner's on the table. It isn't that we're simple or that we can't find other work; we just prefer to connect with nature rather than weekly paychecks.

So to give everyone a better idea of what this life is about, I decided to interview a real cowboy who has been doing this all his life. I've always worked with horses, and I own my own ranch (the Rapid R), but I don't claim to be a cowgirl because I don't quite live that life. Even I was surprised by some of the answers he gave, and I was fascinated to learn his perspective on the world.

This interview is with Jason Masterson of Bowling Green, Kentucky. He's been riding the rodeo circuit for the last fifteen years (he's thirty now) and he has his own line of Quarter Horses called Jason's Picks, which started with a very famous stallion named Vegas High Roller.

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Jason, how long have you been working with horses?

Well, I'm thirty years old, so about thirty years. I lived with my Grandpa on his land 'til I was eighteen, and he's got pictures of me on horses from the time I was six months old. 'Course, he was holding me on, so I guess that doesn't count. I really started getting serious when I was eight or nine.

And have you always wanted to make a life out of it?

Well, for a while I wanted to be a cop, but then I decided that I couldn't handle having a boss. I was a little bit of a rebel when I was a teenager, I didn't much like authority. Anyway, my Uncle Alex won $250,000 at a rodeo when I was twelve, and I decided that that was what I was gonna do.

What kind of rodeos did you do in the beginning?