American ranchers live a simple, laid-back life, right? From western movies to country music, ranchers and cowboys appear to be living the life of horseback riding and cattle driving with much leisure.

This is a misconception because they endure a tough, backbreaking career and today their style of living and working has changed drastically from the western days. There is still much enjoyment to be had just being a rancher.

Cowboys originated in Spain, but along with cows being brought to the Americas, cowboys came, too. The West and Midwest were the prime locations for ranchers and cowboys.

A cowboy is a ranch hand hired by a rancher to watch the cattle. There were long cattle drives, transporting of cattle through herding on horseback, sometimes even across whole states until they reached a big city to sell the cows. Before the drive, ranchers had to raise the cattle on open ranges where the cattle had to be driven to water daily and required being watched on a daily bases. Life was tough for the 19th-century cowboy!

To read the entire article, link here.