by Nick Pernokas

The young boy reached Chihuahua City at dawn. He’d brought a couple of tortillas wrapped around some meat in a paper sack for breakfast.  As he nibbled on them, he wondered if his family had noticed him missing from their home in Juarez yet. The year was 1950, and the 15 year old had hitchhiked down from Juarez to sign up for the Bracero program. He thought that nothing could be better than to arrive in North America as a migrant worker. He would soon be making a man’s wages in the United States. As he walked towards the offices, the size of the mob intimidated him. Men were waiting for their names to be called so they could board the trucks to their new jobs. As he pushed his way up to an official with a clipboard, some of the men began to laugh at him. He asked one of them why they were laughing.

“Because you have to be 18, stupid,” said the man. “Go home and grow up.”

The boy hung his head and turned away. Fortunately, he was able to find someone from Juarez to give him a ride home.

By the time Juan Cruz arrived home, his relieved family knew what had happened. His Uncle Vicente Martinez took him aside.

“You know your brother is making boots,” said Uncle Vicente. “Do you want to join us? I’ll teach you how to make boots.”

Sometimes fate moves rapidly. In Juan’s case, the die was cast. He began his true journey that night.

Read more: J and M Custom Boots: A Legacy of Resiliency

by Gene Fowler

Perched all pretty on the Colorado River, where the limestone hills of Central Texas tumble down from the west to meet the Blackland prairie from the east, the city of Austin has changed a lot since I first laid eyes on it in the 1960s.

I’ll know for sure, though, that the place has devolved to high-tech heck if they ever take down the giant cowboy boot that has adorned a Lavaca Street building since….well, it seems like ever since Davy Crockett played his last fiddle tune at the Alamo back in 1836.

The boot once marked the Capitol Saddlery. Rodeo star Buck Steiner opened the boots-and-saddles emporium around 1930, and the legendary Charlie Dunn built boots for Buck from 1949 to 1974. Charlie’s bootmaking career at Capitol Saddlery and elsewhere spanned some 80 incredible years. Singer Jerry Jeff Walker made Dunn extra famous in 1972 with an eponymous ditty about the diminutive bootmaker “with the smilin’ leathery face.”

“Charlie Dunn,” Walker crooned. “He’s the one to see.” Thousands of satisfied boot wearers, many of whom surely treasure their custom Dunns today, 27 years after Charlie’s death, know that the song sang true.

Read more: The Michelangelo of Cowboy Boots

by Nikki Alvin-Smith for Horizon Structures Presents Series

It’s true that good things come in small packages and horses are no different. But what about their housing needs? When it comes to the choice of stabling, owners of the smaller equus breeds face different challenges than those of the horse owner.

For this author the pleasure of owning and riding donkeys set a career with horses in motion. This is probably true for many equestrians. The smaller species of equus is more accessible for grooming and caretaking for a child, and is a better fit when it comes to riding too. Less intimidating to a child than their horse or pony sized counterparts, the donkey or miniature offers a cuddly bundle of joy.

When I was 10 years old my family and I headed down to the Cotswold region of Gloucestershire, England to purchase my first pony. I was beyond excited. We entered the driveway to the stud and saw donkeys and ponies galore in the fields alongside the car, and when my parents, kid brother and I sat with the farm owner in his office to discuss our equine needs, I was certain a new pony was coming home to me soon.

Read more: Horse Barn Modification for Miniatures, Mules and Donkeys