Book Cover

In the early 1930's my parents met after a rodeo in South Texas. Mom was a trick rider until she fell from the horse and injured her back. My father enlisted in the US Army Cavalry to be a pony soldier. He was in the Army when World War II broke out, and the US Army Cavalry went from being a horse mounted division of the army to being paratroopers and tank operators. My father went air-borne. As children each of us, and I have 7 siblings learned to ride. I have two brothers who have both made a living at different points of their lives working with horses as cowboys. It is in our blood. I grew up in the 1950's and 1960's  in front of the family television, which almost always in those days was tuned into a television western. They shaped the man I grew up to become. We went to rodeos and I got to know all of the famous rodeo cowboys, and I was in the stands in Cheyenne Wyoming when a very young and talented Lane Frost was killed by a bull.

This book was inspired by my brothers and my nephews and their coping with shyness. It was my sincere hope that I could nurture the love most Americans have for the American West and the cowboys who helped make it so famous. It is a part of American history we simply can not afford to lose.

This little book will answer every question you might have about cowboys and their clothes. For example why do we call blue jeans blue jeans?

It is also a great story if I do say so my self!

“I will make no bones about it; I love horses and get a chance to express that in this little book! The love for this animal came from my mother & my father, and I love my parents so much for helping me to see that. I live near the Rocky Mountain National Park, which is best seen on horseback.”  

It was a joy to go to the "Cowboy" state of Wyoming to do some research.

Key Benefits 

• You will learn much about cowboys, horses and the clothes a cowboy wears.
• You will learn much about Cheyenne Wyoming.
• You will learn something about over-coming shyness.

Artwork by Mickey Schilling

My mother use to ask me and my siblings for a red haired grandson. I did my best but that was not to be. When I designed Charlie for Charlie The Shy Cowboy, I had in mind a cute red haired shy cowboy. This was for my mother.  

Part of the experience of Charlie The Shy Cowboy, is to learn about everything cowboy, including horses and rodeo. I go into detail about cowboy hats and jeans, and everything to do with a horse. You can learn a great deal from this little book and have great fun in the process.  

This illustration was based on an actual photograph of my real life nephew. Rodeo is a dangerous sport to be sure. It was important for me to share that idea. Charlie The Shy Cowboy, learns to overcome shyness by making this sport part of his life.  

In Charlie The Shy Cowboy, Charlie’s girlfriend Crystal (whose name I stole from Crystal Gayle who made the country song Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue famous) was included to attract female readers as well as male readers.  

The primary goal of Charlie The Shy Cowboy, was to give a fair if somewhat partial look at the American West. I also wanted to encourage the readers to read more about this subject.

“Okay so I was living in sunny Southern California and I was about as happy as a man could be. I drove a hot little convertible, lived in a beautiful home and had some great friends. The things began to close in on me. My personal life went to pieces. I simply had to get out and get away. I decided Colorado and the Rocky Mountains would be perfect. I the image of getting a Jeep Wrangler and a horse trailer a good horse and saddle, a nice 30-30 rifle and coming to Colorado and getting a job as a cowboy. I could mend my broken heart, forgive and forget and slowly rebuild my life. It is 25 years later and I think I can say “Mission Accomplished!”  

“I wrote CHARLIE THE SHY COWBOY, because I am a writer and had written COLLIN THE CANADA GOOSE, and wanted to stick with things I knew, loved and understood.”

“No, King ropes, Wrangler jeans, Stetson hats and the City of Cheyenne , Wyoming did pay me one red cent to promote their interests. I did that because I truly love their products.”

Lane Frost

“Yes, Charlie is in fact a composite or a conceptual whole made up of complicated and related parts of many other people I know, for example my brothers Andy & Mickey Joe Payne, my sister Jackie’s son Terry Lee Adamson and a cowboy I very much loved and admired named Lane Frost. Writers, who want to make fictional characters real, often draw on real people to build the fictional character with. I also used Ira Payne and Nick Payne and even Randy Joe Payne~ and I dedicated the book in loving memory of Lane Frost.”

This picture of Lane is on the wall in my bedroom and it is autographed by his parents, Clyde & Elsie Frost, on my night-stand is a Lane Frost bible, also given to me by his parents.

Cowboy Artist & Actor Buck Taylor  & Freelance Writer Richard A. Payne

“The cowboy I have learned the most from? That is easy, no question about it, Buck Taylor ! I have met him about half a dozen times; the last time was at a big art show in Denver . He had a bad tooth ache and I purchased a picture he painted of his father Dub Taylor who I really loved. This guy is one hell of a talented artist! He is also a fine human being and a real good man.”

“What about shyness? Charlie learned that probably the best way to overcome shyness is Systematic (or Graduated) Desensitization. This is contrasted with a technique called "flooding," in which the shy person is immediately exposed to a feared situation. This experience is supposed to be cathartic. As a trained counselor I prefer systematic desensitization.

Systematic desensitization involves discovering what you are afraid of, breaking that feared activity down into smaller steps and finally taking those steps on one at a time, gradually moving from the easiest step to the most difficult. For Charlie it was people.

The first step toward practicing systematic desensitization is to list those situations which cause you shyness or anxiety. The list should be arranged in increasing order of difficulty; that is, with the easiest interactions listed first, progressing down toward those which cause greater and greater anxiety. To make this task easier, below is a list of social situations arranged in what I think will be roughly increasing difficulty for most shy people. You can use this list as a framework for your own list. The list progresses from the mildest social situations to the most difficult. Charlie found rodeos were a big help for him to overcome his shyness! It also helps to deal with the ideas that contribute to the fear of people, like self image, Charlie realized too he was a good person worthy of friends. Parents who love their children and encourage and support their children are a very big help!” “I wanted to start people on the path to coping with and dealing with their own Social Anxiety, which about 90% of the cowboys I have known had to deal with at some point in time. This is exactly what Charlie does in the book. I just hid the steps in other words and pictures.”  

~I have been asked a number of times what is a cowboy? He is a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback or in Western movies or films, he is an actor pretending to be a hired hand that tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback. He is also somebody who embraces the lifestyle of a cowboy and the lifestyle that has grown out of America ’s west! I am a cowboy and I love all that means and is. My mother insisted that spurs not hurt the horse, I collect them, and my favorites could never hurt the animals. I wrote this book as I was coming to grips with that. I encourage you to give it a try. You can start by acquiring a copy of CHARLIE THE SHY COWBOY!

~My father, Eugene Russell “Rusty” Payne, bought me a 410 shot gun when I was in 7^th grade. My mother, Marjorie Rees Clark Payne, taught me to shoot a gun when I was in 5^th grade. I now own many firearms. I have been a member of the American Rifle Association and while I am perfectly willing to register all of my guns I feel very strongly about my right to own and bear arms. It is a cowboy’s heritage in my opinion. I love to bird hunt for grouse, geese, ducks and pheasants. I did NOT mention guns in this book.

~My mother, Marjorie Rees Clark Payne, taught me to ride a horse at the age of 3 years, and I taught my daughter Kea to ride at about the age of 3 years. I think horseback riding is a great sport. It works wonders on the spirit and soul of both boys and girls. I have seen it work magic on handicapped children as well. Kea is about equal parts her mother and I.

Rick owned a nice saddle, chaps and most of the stuff he wrote about including several great horses

“Some day the last copies of this little book will be sold and I hope that people realize it will appreciate in value and be a real certified collector’s item!”

Richard A. Payne

Pricing

This book sold for $4.95, and I still have some, but the price has gone up and I sell autographed ones for $10 plus postage and handling which can be another $10 depending on when you want it and where it is sent.