Should We All Aspire to Live Like a Modern-Day Cowboy?

Some people spend their whole lives figuring out what matters. Trent Peterson had a pretty good idea before he needed to shave. Peterson was in elementary school when his dad’s health rapidly deteriorated. Almost overnight, his dad went from hucking backflips on skis to rolling around in a wheelchair. The diagnosis? Ataxia—a neurological disorder that affects motor skills. And the type his dad had can be hereditary. Witnessing his father’s life change drastically had a big impact on Peterson’s outlook on life. What if he was destined to suffer the same fate as his father? He knew from a young age that he wanted to live his healthy years to the fullest. “We only get one shot,” he says. “Better make it a good one.””

A Man of Many Lifetimes

That sounds cliche—the kind of advice now common on graduation cards—but unlike most people, Peterson put the words into action. For him, that meant a life devoted to new challenges and constant learning. Peterson has lived many different lives in many different places, bouncing around from his home state of Washington to California, Colorado, and Europe. He got a degree in fishery science and worked for Washington Fish and Wildlife. Later, he spent time working on a ranch. He lived the ski bum life in Vail—spending 150 days a year on skis—and worked ski patrol at Mammoth Mountain. During a six-year stint in the UK, Peterson immersed himself in the world of viniculture and, unintentionally, became a successful winemaker.

Back in the States, he spent the next two years planning a goal that felt big and scary to him: riding the entirety of the PCT with wild mustangs. For that, he adopted three mustangs from the BLM, which finds homes for the horses when herds get too big. The  2,650-mile journey from Mexico to Canada was part of Peterson’s effort to raise awareness about ataxia. “Working through that fear and getting to the other side is where the gratification is,” he says. “That’s where life really begins.”

Peterson credits his lifetime of exploration to the simple act of saying yes. Yes to curiosity and to the ping of excitement that comes when something new and unexpected calls to you. “I’ve been driven by things I’ve never done before and skill sets I want to learn,” he says. He recalls advice he received from a teacher who encouraged Peterson to change jobs every five years no matter how good the job was or how poor he was when he left it. That advice stuck with him and continues to motivate him to keep exploring new paths in life.

The Modern-Day Cowboy Life

What makes Peterson a modern-day cowboy? It’s not just his winter job making saddles or his summer job wrangling horsepacking projects deep in the mountains of Washington’s North Cascades. It’s his commitment to living life on his terms, with a deep connection to the outdoors and putting his hard-won skills to work.  

In his most recent lifetime, Peterson is a leatherworker, building custom saddles from scratch in his shop in the Methow Valley. He rises at 5 a.m. every day, enthusiastic about what the day might hold.  His motivation: interesting conversations, new connections, or a  tidbit of knowledge waiting to be unearthed. “There’s an infinite number of possibilities,” he says. “You just have to get up and put your shoes on.” 

And put the coffee on. Cowboys and coffee have long been synonymous, and  Peterson is no different. He rises before sunrise and brews coffee like generations of cowboys before him. And he doesn’t make just any coffee. Lately he’s been using Free Rein American Dirt dark roast. He loves the full-body flavor and that the brand roasts its coffee right here in the U.S. Of course, the Western branding gives Free Rein appeal right out of the box. The brand was founded by Cole Hauser, who was inspired by cowboy culture—tough, hard working, and coffee loving—and wanted to create a brand that embodied the spirit of the West.

It definitely embodies the spirit of Trent Peterson. From fall to spring, he heads to his saddle shop, makes a fire, and gets to work building riding saddles. He loves going to the shop, called The Wild In Us, to create something for a customer or to bring one of his visions to life. Because he loves what he does, Peterson says he rarely takes a day off—other than to go skiing, of course. “I definitely feel I’ve never worked a day in my life,” he says.

In summers, Peterson works for the Forest Service, where he puts another lifetime of skills to use. “No two summers are alike, and no two missions are alike,” he says. This past August, his team packed in 8,000 pounds of lumber and 3,000 pounds of rigging and hand tools to replace a large bridge in the wilderness.

What truly stands out about Peterson’s journey is his commitment to maintaining a sense of authenticity in a world that often demands conformity. His philosophy is a call to live a life filled with experiences and memories, rather than accumulating possessions and a regular paycheck. People have told him to get a “real job,” but he’s pretty sure he already has one. “I don’t want to work to live,” he says. “I just want to live.”

Free Rein’s mission is to provide high-quality coffee to every early riser, midnight oil burner, dream chaser, risk taker, cowboy, and cowgirl who wants to bust the day open. Fired up by those who embody the hard-charging spirit of the American dream, Cole Hauser decided to found a coffee company that paid homage to them. He partnered up with friends Karl Pfluger, Aron Marquez, and Paul Anderson, who all shared the same dream around quality coffee. Bold flavor. Small batch. 100% roasted in the USA. Free Rein is available in whole beans, ground beans, and single-serve pods, and it’s ready to wear as a line of branded apparel and gear. To learn more, visit freereincoffee.com.