They were cut away entirely at front and back so that they covered only the thigh and lower legs and did not heat the body as a complete leather garment would.

They were intended solely as a protection against branches, thorns, briers, and the like, but they were prized in cold or wet weather.

Sometimes there was seen, more often on the southern range, a cowboy wearing chaps made of skins tanned with the hair on; for the cowboy of the Southwest early learned that goatskin left with the hair on would turn the cactus thorns better than any other material.

Later, the chaps became a sort of affectation on the part of new men on the range; but the old-time cowboy wore them for use, not as a uniform.

In hot weather he laid them off.
In the times when some men needed guns and all men carried them, no pistol of less than 44-caliber was tolerated on the range, the solid framed 45-caliber being the one almost universally used.