CARLOS MACIAS The Lost Buckaroo

Forty-five-year-old Carlos Macias was raised in the small town of Elk Grove, California. This urban setting in a non-horsy family wasn’t the background that most people would think of for a cowboy. Carlos received a nudge in that direction from an aunt who was involved in “The Painted Ladies,” a drill team that performed at rodeos. She put him on his first horse when he was little and let him ride in some of the parades that she was performing in.

It was a while before fate intervened again. In 1989, Lonesome Dove premiered on TV and Carlos was captivated by the story. He began to think about really riding horses. By 1992, when he was 14, Carlos was cleaning stalls at a local ranch in return for learning to ride. An old mustanger named Jerry Lamb also worked there, and he put Carlos on a few colts.

“It was the old ‘teach a kid how to swim by throwing him in the pool’ deal,” laughs Carlos.

Garth Brooks was on the radio in the early Nineties, singing about rodeo, and cowboys were attractive