Cowboy Up! Life Lessons from Lazy B Book Review

Cowboy Up! is a collection of thirty-five personal stories narrated by Alan Day in his authentic western voice. These stories touch on topics that affect us all: friendship, family, business, politics, community, and conservation.

About Cowboy Up! Life Lessons from Lazy B

If you’re served a piece of humble pie, thank the server and choke it down. So says H. Alan Day, an award-winning author and American cowboy, who grew up on a 200,000-acre southwestern cattle ranch, made a hand at age five, and lived adventures most of us only witness on tv. While interacting with cowhands, horses, and the land, Alan learned valuable life lessons about loyalty, trust, humility, forgiveness, persistence, failure, innovation, and success (and so much more!). Now, this cowboy is ready to share his hard-earned wisdom with those who may never own or even ride a horse, much less rope a cow, train a wild mustang, or witch a well, but who, like Alan, contend day-in and day-out with the true grit of life.

COWBOY UP! is a collection of thirty-five personal stories narrated by Alan Day in his authentic western voice. These stories touch on topics that affect us all: friendship, family, business, politics, community, and conservation. As Alan learned early on, a true friend has your back for life, whether that friend has two legs or four legs. If you don’t learn to listen, you may end up swinging from your suspenders on a bunk house hook; and if your pickup is about to get washed away in a flash flood, you better do some quick, two-step thinking. Alan’s stories not only explore what it means to be human, they evoke laughter, disbelief, wonder, joy, and more than a few heartfelt tears.

My Thoughts

I remember the first time I visited Calgary, Alberta for the Stampede. I fell in love with the city, the nature and the way of life. People cared about each other and the value was in the land and the animals. At sixteen, I wanted to move out west and live the rest of my days on the land.

I didn’t follow that path (although there are many times when I see friends photos from out West that makes me want to pack it all up and move) but my love and fascination of living on a ranch and being with animals hasn’t changed. Cowboy Up! is an intimate look at ranch life told in a series of stories that not only entertain but give a great life lesson in many different areas of life.

Alan has a great way of writing that is so personal – you can picture the scenes right before you and at times I was left laughing out loud or became teary eyed. He is honest and real – life isn’t always pretty (and doesn’t have to be!), we learn a lot from the difficult times. This is what Alan teaches us and more. He shares the best and worst moments and some pretty good problem solving skills!

The stories are broken down by specific life lessons. The life lessons all include some background history, the problem and the solution. Alan uses humour and honesty to really drill home the importance of his words and it works. While you may not be able to put yourself in his exact feet with the cowboy lifestyle, those same situations can be seen in city life as well. You learn a lot about living on a ranch, the beliefs of the cowboys (some of the stubbornness too – including wearing not so warm gloves!) and their love of the animals and their land.

Cowboy Up! Life Lessons from Lazy B is an excellent story that makes you laugh, tear up and think about your own life. I enjoyed every moment of this book.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

H. ALAN DAY was raised on and managed the 200,000-acre Lazy B ranch in southeastern Arizona. With his sister, Sandra Day O’Connor, he coauthored the New York Times bestselling Lazy B: Growing Up on a Cattle Ranch in the American Southwest. In his second award-winning memoir, The Horse Lover: A Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs, he tells the story about creating the first government-sponsored wild horse sanctuary and caring for and training 1500 wild mustangs. LYNN WIESE SNEYD is a professional writer and owner of LWS Literary Services, an agency specializing in editing, ghostwriting, and book publicity. She also serves as the literary consultant for the Tucson Festival of Books.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.