Riding Off Into the (Florida) Sunset: America's First Cowboys
The wordcowboyimmediately machinate up images of the arid , sunlit plain of the midwest , the dry heat of Texas and Arizona , big - brimmed hats and dusty mid - calf boots . But long before these westerly heroes adorn the horizon with their silhouettes , another brand of cowboy was mucking it up in the swamps . The original cowboy . The Florida puncher . Back in the early 1500s , nearly 350 years before Bos taurus herding became commonplace in the field , the Spanish essay to train the wilds of Florida ’s peat bog to no avail ....