I can’t tell you the amount of things I’ve learned, nor how my horizons have been broadened, simply by ensuring that I try to go to places I’ve never been before. In doing so, I find I not only grow as a person, but also become clued-in on aspects of various cultures that I never would have been able to learn from a textbook or TV program.

If you consider yourself – excuse the phrase – a citizen of the world, you’ll be interested in the fascinating ways people from different parts of the globe differ from one another. We all have our quirky customs, those that are commonly steeped in one tradition or another and oftentimes make for interesting reading.

On today’s agenda is something that caught my eye when I was journeying across the mid-west of America last summer. There I was, minding my own business in the back seat of a car, when I noticed a cowboy boot left on a fence post.

I then saw another a few miles down the road, and then another about an hour after that. Too many to be coincidence, in any case, and something I decided to read up when I returned home.

Low and behold, it turns out that leaving old boots actually serves a significant purpose: there are a few reasons cowboys, farmers and ranchers have long chosen to display them in this way.

Boots as a symbol

It makes sense for ranchers to share a connection with their boots. Far from being a mere fashion statement, heavy-duty boots have protected their feet during arduous working days for decades.

When a rancher hangs his or her old footwear on a fence post, it can be interpreted as a symbol of all the hard work they’ve put in. What’s more, the wear-and-tear reflects the work of the person who wore them, telling a story of the grind many ranchers and farmers undertake in order to produce the goods that help sustain the rest of the country.

Honoring the past

Boots on a fence post can also be a nod to the past, and to people who have sadly left this world. It’s reportedly common for ranchers to hang the boots of deceased loved ones and respected peers on fence posts, thus creating a visible tribute to their memory that can be witnessed by any and all who pass.

Similarly, this same custom can be applied when the rancher has lost his or her horse. The working bond between man and horse has been developed over thousands of years, and is every bit as strong today in those parts of the world where people yet rely on horses to do their jobs.

Thus, when a particularly special horse is sold or dies, a cowboy or rancher might hang a pair of their boots on the fence in respect for the animal.

Rancher is home

This is an older tradition that was once common practice in an age where telephones and electricity hadn’t yet been invented. In those days, finding out if someone was home or not wasn’t as simple as sending a message or dialing a few numbers.

No, there was no real substitute for physically going to that person’s place and checking for yourself. Ranchers could hang boots up to let others know that they were home, thereby serving as a crude means of communication.

Landmark

A bonus of setting something like an old boot on a fence post – particularly in remotest rural areas – is that they can provide useful points of reference for directions and navigation. This, I can only imagine, is especially helpful for people who aren’t from that area.

That not to mention that they actually do a good job of protecting the fence post in question from the effects of weathering!

Did you know why ranchers place old boots in fence posts? Let us know in the comments.