As frivolous as tropes of western wear may appear to modern observers with no experience

or awareness of the cowboy life, many individual elements of this fashion arose as practical

solutions to serious, potentially life-threatening problems.

Obviously, many of these problems predate the American West, nearly all of which was conquered

and claimed by Spain by the first half of the 16th century.

In the early 1800s, after Mexico declared itself independent from Spain, they spent the rest

of the century losing huge chunks of territory, as various states declared themselves to also

be independent republics, only to become part of the United States following a little

or a lot of war.

So much of what we think of as western or cowboy culture was well established long before

the existence of the American West.

Shared through the indigenous peoples of Mexico and South America, after being directly

imported from a centuries-old ranching tradition on the Iberian Peninsula.

In Spanish, Rodeo is what we'd call a round-up of cattle, and modern American rodeos evolved

from virtually identical competition dating back to the Iberian Peninsula, where hands

from different ranches would pit their work skills against each other.

The word chaps is short for Chapareras, which were chaps worn by Bakeros to protect their

legs and pants while riding through Chaparral.

Dense thicket native to both Mexico and Spain.

Cowboy hats are an update of the Sombrero.

A lack of outdoor shade on hot sunny days is not an occupational hazard exclusive to ranchers,

wranglers or cattle drovers, but articles of all purpose outdoor clothing have a tendency

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