Outskirts Press, INC.

The Passion of a Life Long Cowboy

I met Colt quite by accident. My wife, son and daughter-in-law were setting at a restaurant in Sidney Nebraska when this cowboy looking man was being seated. As he was setting down, I looked at him and said “now there’s a cowboy.” Looking at me he replied, “yes I am,” and sat down. Being an Author and always looking for a story, I ask him if he would be up for a recorded interview as I was an author and would love to get his story. He really didn’t answer but I gave him my e-mail and phone number and told him he could see my work by googling my name, or the various book outlets. A few months later Colt called me and I had to be reminded as to who he was. We agreed to meet; this started, I believe, one of the best books I have ever written, and after reading Colts biography, you will never look at a person wearing a cowboy hat, boots, nice western shirt in the same way as you had. Colt has never owned a ranch, has never had over two horses of his own, never lived in a large city house, or the many other amenities that many of us has had. From the time Colt can remember he wanted to be a cowboy and that is his life. At age ten he was herding cattle and breaking horses for neighbors. At one of his hi-school reunions recently he was recognized as the only one in his class that pursued his dream of being a cowboy, while all the others worked at jobs most abhorrent, living in cities they disliked, and never really enjoying the freedom of life, Colt has and does, he is a Cowboy. In the over sixty hours of taping interviews with Colt, I never heard him use a slang or curse word. Like the first Americans, he has a deep respect for God, the outdoors, and all living things. Colt Barelman is what young boys dream about, music writers write about, legends of the west were written about, and yes, he is what we all want to be a part of when doing a line dance, square dancing with a good caller, or just putting on that felt cowboy hat, cowboy boots and western shirt to go out, even for just a little while, you are a cowboy. Colt Barelman is a cowboy, he lives it, dreams it, and has done it his entire life, or as Colt puts it, it’s not a job or profession, how can it be? It’s my passion and my life and I just love it! Stephen L. Wood