A close up portrait of a rodeo cowboy in Chinook, Montana. → License Photo
PLEASE NOTE: This is the entire unedited article I wrote for the July 2016 issue of Range Magazine along with my photo of cowboy Josh Granell, of Havre, which also appeared in that feature. I will continue to publish my articles in full here in my blog after some time has passed from the print date. I wait to encourage you to buy a copy of the magazine. If you don’t, I will no longer receive work from magazines. Here is the text of the article below.
Real cowboys aren't born, they're made. Such is the case with Josh Granell, 39, who was born on an Angus ranch on Montana's plains north of Havre, placed on a horse for the first time before the age of two, and began riding on his own by age three.
Quick with the wit and rarely without a smile, Josh describes his hometown (pronounced Hav-uur): "Havre is the little blue dot on the map in the winter where it's coldest and the little red dot on the map in the summer where it's hottest." But he adds, "I love it here and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."
Married to Jennifer, who shares Josh's love of rural life, together they have raised two young girls. Every day Josh works with horses, and when he's not spending time with his family, raising rodeo horses with his father, shoeing horses, or helping neighbors brand cattle, he is practicing and competing in the Montana Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeo circuit in team roping and steer wrestling.
"There's a wonderful camaraderie among the competitors in a rodeo just like there is when ranching," Josh says. "Even though you compete against one another, you also help each other become better at what you do."
