The TVRC Way & Cowboy Ethics

Teton Valley Ranch Camp was founded as a place to give boys and girls the opportunity to experience the true American West. To hop on a horse and ride off into the wilderness or learn the skill of navigating barrels and connecting with a horse to achieve shared goals. To navigate a mountain trail on foot, with all that you need strapped to your back for a five-day adventure in some of the most remote wilderness in North America. It’s a rugged and wild place that tests an individual’s grit and tenacity on a daily basis. A place where your word is your bond, where people may speak in fewer words but the meaning runs deep.

In recent years Cowboy Ethics have been established that outline for what a cowboy (or cowgirl) stands. These attributes have been a part of cowboy lore and history since the beginning, and in the true ways of a cowboy, were hardly spoken about. The belief, in the eye of a cowboy, is you should simply embody these things, not spend too much time talking about them.

During camp we make sure to bring these up on occasion, to bring to light how campers are learning to operate in the day-to-day using these tenants of Cowboy Ethics. How each camper is starting to take on challenges of the trail and in teamwork differently. It’s inspiring to watch these ethics unfold in campers as they grow through the summer and through their camp experience over all, as they come back year after year.

We’ll take a page from the cowboy’s right now, and get straight to the point. Below are the 10 Cowboy Ethics, that we’ve prided ourselves in following as a Ranch for the past 80 years.

1. Live each day with courage
2. Take pride in your work
3. Always finish what you start
4. Do what has to be done
5. Be tough, but fair
6. When you make a promise, keep it
7. Ride for the brand
8. Talk less and say more
9. Remember that some things aren’t for sale
10. Know where to draw the line