The Cowboy's Life, cowboy and horse, circa 1940

Subjects: Horses Workers & Occupations
Card type: Linen
Date: c. 1930 (White Border)

Back of The Cowboy's Life, cowboy and horse, circa 1940, Bob Petley, AZ, USA, c. 1930 linen postcard — Back

About this postcard

The card, titled "The Cowboy's Life," shows a cowboy seated on a grassy rise with his horse standing behind him, overlooking a broad valley; the poem is printed in columns around the illustration. The scene is a generic Western range view rather than a specific place, and the verse celebrates the cowboy's free life, saddle, and songs. The linen-textured stock and card numbering point to a mid-20th-century American popular card.

Postcard Details

Message

No message detected

PublisherBob Petley

The Cowboy's Life X7 The bawl of a steer, To a cowboy's ear, Is music of sweetest strain; And the yelping notes Of the gray coyotes To him are a glad refrain. And his jolly songs Speed him along As he thinks of the little gal With golden hair Who is waiting there At the bars of the home corral. For a kingly crown In the noisy town His saddle he wouldn't change; No life so free As the life we see Way out on the Yaso range. His eyes are bright And his heart as light As the smoke of his cigarette; There's never a care For his soul to bear, No trouble to make him fret. The rapid beat Of his bronco's feet On the sod as he speeds along, Keeps living time To the ringing rhyme Of his rollicking cowboy song. Hike it cowboys For the range away On the back of a bronc of steel, With a careless flirt Of a raw hide quirt And a dig of a roweled heel. The winds may blow And the thunder growl Or the breezes may safely moan; A cowboy's life Is a royal life, His saddle his kingly throne. Saddle up, boys, For the work is play When love's in the cowboy's eyes When his heart is light As the clouds of white That swim in the summer skies. 10846 --- THIS SPACE FOR WRITING MESSAGES 10846 A COLOURPICTURE PUBLICATION, BOSTON 15, MASS., U.S.A. POST CARD PLACE ONE CENT STAMP HERE PUB. BY BOB PETLEY, PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Addressed to

No address detected

Postcard record

Publisher	Bob Petley
Series	X7
Condition	Good
Publisher	Bob Petley, Phoenix, AZ
Notes	Linen texture; small white ring/stain at left center; no white border. No postmark, no address, no message. Divided-back "POST CARD" with "THIS SPACE FOR WRITING MESSAGES" and "PLACE ONE CENT STAMP HERE" box; linen-textured stock; pencil "300" (dealer price) in the stamp box; light age soiling.

Cite this card

The Cowboy's Life, cowboy and horse, circa 1940, postcard, c. 1930. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/the-cowboys-life-cowboy-and-horse-circa-1940. Accessed October 24, 2026.