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When I first decided to write a “Living Legends” series I presumed that interviews would create a need to travel outside of Quay County, NM. What I discovered instead was that humility resides here, in the form of several incredible cowboys and cowgirls… living legends that have helped shape and define how people perceive the west, cowhands, ranch life and good horses. The first two legends in the series live less than a mile down my own road… Sometimes great things are right next door.

Leroy Webb epitomizes the American cowboy. In Davis L. Ford’s book, The Last Cowboy, the story of Leroy’s life is played out in every honest, enduring detail. It isn’t one major “event” or “win” that makes Webb a great cowboy, nor is it Ford’s representative Last Cowboy, it’s that he’s always done everything a great cowboy does…and is still doing it at an age where other men have hung up their rope and moved to town. In fact, Leroy’s busier than ever at his Broken Box Outfit in Tucumcari, NM. Here, he and wife Nora, stand four world class stallions and care for a broodmare and weanling band of over 70 head.

Born in Cimarron, NM to a cowboying family, Leroy has worked as a hand at some of the best known ranches in Texas and New Mexico. But by the 1950’s he was not just another ranch cowboy, he was a world champion horseman, showing in halter, reining and roping in AQHA sponsored events, state fairs and major stock shows. “I’ve lived out in the open and gone to town, too. Not too many cowboys can say they’ve done both,” declares Leroy. Ranch owners and judges agreed that Leroy was not only capable of doing both, but of doing both extremely well.

Webb won his first world championship buckle in 1952, and in 1962, while Leroy was riding and showing horses for Hank Weiscamp, Webb captured a first place title in reining at the Denver Stock Show. I asked him how many championship and world titles he’d won and he really had no idea. “Four or five AQHA titles, maybe,” he humbly replied. From the looks of the awards, photographs and trophies on Leroy’s barn office wall, there must be hundreds of wins.

Years ago, while showing his own world class stallion, Pawnee Eagle, Leroy won the all-around title at the Wyoming State Fair. According to Leroy, “Back then you had to win at halter, riding and roping to get the title. The horses had to be able to do everything.” Pawnee Eagle proved that he was capable of doing it all, multiple times, and then went on to produce such greats as Pawnee Hawk who, in Sonoita, AZ in 1975 stood grand champion in halter, grand champion in reining and won the roping event. Skipa Chip, another Pawnee son ridden and shown by Leroy, was the first place roping horse at the New Mexico State Fair several years in a row.

Over a span of more than 50 years, Webb went on to team rope with some of the biggest names in the industry, including Jack Kyle, JD Yates, the Camarillo brothers, Billy Allen and Bobby Harris just to name a few. In fact, it was Leroy’s talent as a roper and friendship with Jack Kyle that led to a roping match of Leroy and Jack versus the team of Mike Drennan and Billy Allen in 1998. The younger ropers felt that Leroy and Jack needed some kind of leg up to make the match fair, but Leroy and Jack wouldn’t hear of it. Drennan and Allen were politely served humble pie when the elder horsemen handily beat them fair and square. Kyle passed away recently and it was Leroy who prepared and read the eulogy at the funeral. According to Leroy’s wife Nora, “…the phone rang off the hook after the funeral. People were so touched by what Leroy said about Jack that they wanted a copy of the eulogy.”

Saying goodbye to his lifelong friend was hard for Leroy, but he only needs to drive down to the barn to remember what kind of a person and horseman Kyle was. “This is a yearling stud colt that Jack bred (pointing to one of his stallions). Jack’s daughter wanted me to have him. We did that a lot, Jack and I, traded horses back and forth”. The reining bred dun colt is impressive enough as a yearling and bred to be better as he grows up. He’s by “Hesa Fancy Rawhide” and out of “Dunit Rawhide” by “Barb a Cita”.

The other stallions in Leroy’s barn are just as great. He stands two Driftwood bred studs, a bay and a black, as Leroy believes that Driftwood breeding is simply the best at producing honest working horses with good bone and great minds. The other stallion, a Weiscamp bred palomino named “Skip N Union” is double bred Skipper W. “He has as pretty of a head and neck as you’ll find and will cross really well on my Driftwood mares,” says Leroy. But the stallions are not just for the Webb breeding program, Leroy breeds outside mares as well. “I really want to get the palomino stallion’s name out there,” says Leroy. He’s a heck of a nice horse that Hank (Weiscamp) bred himself.”

He’s equally excited about standing the Kyle-bred horse in the near future. “I’m working on getting a website set up so people can see photos and get more information on breeding and fees,” Leroy explains. Until then, Leroy says people interested in breeding can contact him at 505-461-3381 or by E-mail at lastcowboywebb@hotmail.com. The Skipper W stallion is also on a website showcasing Weiscamp bloodlines at SkipperWbreeders.com.

As for being a living legend, Leroy gets up early and feeds his stock just like everybody else; it’s doubtful that he even thinks of himself as anything other than an ordinary cowboy. The irony is that some of the biggest names in reining and roping look to Leroy for inspiration. Doug Miholland, for one, lists Webb as one of “the greats” on his website. Joe Rhoades, owner of Joes Boots and sponsor of many roping events in Clovis, NM, says that every time he watches Leroy rope he’s amazed. “If you ever figure out how he reaches up and grabs that rope, let me know, because I’ve been trying to figure it out for years!”

Ropers, reiners and working cowboys all agree that Leroy is an exceptionally talented cowboy with a keen eye for a good horse. From the looks of the herd at the Broken Box, Leroy has left an indelible mark on the quality of AQHA horses as well as influencing generations of horsemen. Hopefully, Leroy isn’t the Last Cowboy, but he sure is one of the greatest; a true living legend.

Read about Leroy and Nora Webb’s life in Davis L. Ford’s book, The Last Cowboy, available through Eakin Press at 1-800-880-8642 or Eakinpress.com

Contact Leroy Webb at the Broken Box Outfit to inquire about breeding by calling 505-461-3381; E-mail: lastcowboywebb@hotmail.com.

Christina Fleming lives in Tucumcari, NM, and gives lessons and offers clinics on a variety of subjects. She has a BS in Biology and is a certified instructor, judge and guide. Visit her at www.nmhorsetraineer.com or send her an E-mail at nmvaquera@plateautel.