If you’ve ever wondered about those sturdy leather leg coverings you see cowboys wearing, well, you’ve come to the right place. Those are what we in the cowboy class refer to as chaps or leggings, and come from an early form of protective leather garment used by cattle herders in Spain and Mexico. Originally called armas, meaning “weapons”, they were two large pieces of cowhide that were used as a sort of protective apron. Attached to the horn of the rider’s stock saddle, they were spread across both the horse’s chest and the rider’s legs. From this early and rather cumbersome design came modifications that placed the garment entirely onto the rider, when then-style variations adapted by the vaqueros of Early California and Northern Mexico, and later the cowboys of Texas and the American West, refined the protective garments into something with both cowboy purpose and pure buckaroo style.
Not just relegated to cowboys, there is evidence that certain design features may derive from the mountain men of the Rocky Mountains, the Appalachians, and the Pacific Northwest, who likely copied them from the leggings worn by Native Americans. Over time, different styles developed to fit local climates, terrain and hazards. Designs were also modified for purely stylistic and decorative purposes. And, while the time of actual appearance of this gear on the American cowboy is uncertain…
