Roper boots with flat heels are used especially in arenas and for walking.

Packer boots are laced and generally made of heavier leather for cold weather, hiking, and hard riding.

(Shotgun chaps): Tight legged chaps. Can be pulled on as trousers, having no snaps and rings.  Often, however, they have full length zippers.

(Batwings): Long chaps with big flaps of leather.  They usually fasten with rings and snaps.  Like the chaps rodeo rough stock cowboys wear.

(Angora chaps):  Covered with long Angora goat hair.   Used up in Wyoming and Montana and open prairie country as a protection from the cold.  Also called "woolies".

These wooly chaps belong to Amy Carman of Kansas.  They originally belonged to her grandmother Margaret Monroe Fulk of Cave Junction, Oregon.

Tri-color wooly chaps made by Power, Pendleton, Oregon.

(Chinks):  Short chaps or riding apron, originally from California.  Usually with fringe, they come just below the knee.  Regional to buckaroos.  Texas and southwestern cowboys sometimes wear chinks with their pants tucked into high boots.

(Armitas):  A California, Spanish named, version of leggings, similar to chinks, but made by hand, usually without metal hardware.

SOMBRERO:  Spanish term for a broad brimmed hat, from the Spanish word "sombra" meaning shade.

CUFFS:  Leather wrist cuffs used for protection against brush, to protect your shirt sleeves from wear, and  to keep a rope from fouling in your shirt sleeves.

See Cowboy Piggin' String

ROPES:

The following information was submitted by a reader for your use:  "The word La Riata (or reata in English) refers to a rope made from hide, be it bovine or equine hide. The word La Soga refers to a rope made from plant matter such as grass or cotton and is now days used to refer to ropes made of nylon and poly. La Soga is where we get the English term Lasso. In modern day California they call a pencil bosal a bosalito, but in old Mexico the correct term is Bosalia meaning it is the smaller more feminine counter part to the larger more masculine Bosal..."
Howdy Fowler, Mission Ranches, Dog Canyon, NM

LARIAT: (el lazo) (derived from Spanish "la reata"  meaning to catch or fasten.)
A long rope (also called "lasso" or "reata"), of braided rawhide, hemp, or today of polyester or nylon.  The rope has a loop or eye attached at one end (honda or hondo) through which the other end runs.  Note the different style hondas in the photo.  Also know as a lash rope, string, or catch rope.

REATA (or sometimes spelled riata): braided or twisted rawhide rope. 
"Skin-string"

A reata can be different stiffnesses (called in roping circles: lays) depending on what type of rawhide is used.  For instance, bull hide makes a very stiff rope for heel roping.  The Mexican way to treat a reata, to keep it supple, is to tie it between two trees, rub it first with lemon juice (cut a fresh lemon in two and rub the fruit along the length) and then rub it with beef fat (suet).  This keeps the leather from drying out or becoming stiff.  Artificial products will make the reata too limber.  This pictured reata is an 80 foot reata "especial por los charros de Jalisco, Mexico."  It is worth clicking on the thumbnail to view the larger picture.

MAGUEY:  Mexican style "grass" rope made of agave fiber.  The word "maguey" means "agave" in Spanish.

Honda (or hondo):  a metal, rope, or rawhide ring, through which a rope slides to make a loop.  Several styles are available depending on the usage.

Hoolihan:  A style of loop used when throwing a rope:  a loop thrwn over the head with the wrist turned backwards often used for roping horses because the rope is not swung before it is released, so it does not excite the animals.

QUIRT: (la cuarta) Short, leather strap or braided whip, often attached to a handle, used as a whip to encourage a horse to increase speed.  A loop is usually attached to the hand end so that it can be carried on the rider's wrist or over the saddle horn.

SLICKER:  (pommel slicker)  Waterproof long coat designed to protect rider and saddle from rain or snow.

SPUR: (la espuela) U-shaped device attached to rider's heel to encourage a horse to greater speed or to pay  attention.  See our pages on Spurs.

CHAP GUARD:  Small upswept metal projection on top of the spur shank of some spurs that supposedly helps keep a cowboy's chaps from fouling in the rowel.  Not all spurs have chap guards.

SPUR STRAP:  The leather band that holds a spur on the boot.

ROWEL: (la rodaja or la estrella) the disk or star set in the end of the spur's shaft or post, which turns as the rider's heel touches the horse's sides.

JINGLE BOBS:  the metal pieces dangling from the rowel that make a bell-like ringing when the spurs move, either while walking or riding.  The jingle bobs offer decoration and it is said their jingling helps kep the horse ler.  radition has it that a bell's noise makes a horse walk faster.

STAMPEDE STRING: A long leather string run half way round crown of a hat then through a hole on each side and ends knotted, placed under chin or around back of head which keeps hat in place in windy weather or when riding an active horse.

TEEPEE:  Small canvas tent used by cowboys when camping out on the range.  Became common during the 1880s and still in use today.  Also called range teepee or teepee tent.

WAR BAG:  Canvas sack or bag containing personal items or gear.  Also "Possible Bag"

WILD RAG:  (mascada) Kerchief or scarf worn at the neck, sometimes elaborately knotted.  An authentic wild rag is usually large (36-44" square) and often made of silk.  Wild rags are used for warmth in the winter.  See our article on the buckaroo scarf knot.