Cowboy Poet Darrell Arnold grew up in the Southern Colorado ranching community of La Veta.

“I was blessed to have a horseback youth,” he says. “My dad and I roped in the local roping club; I participated in the 4-H activities, including the rodeos; and we made many weekend horseback forays into the surrounding mountains on fishing, camping, and hunting trips.” 

Arnold graduated from Colorado State University in 1969 with a Bachelor’s degree in Wildlife Biology, and went directly into the United States Air Force, where he served four years as a medic. Upon his honorable discharge in 1973, he moved to Grand Junction, CO, where he became a city fireman, and where he indulged in his favorite avocation, freelance photojournalism about cowboys, horsebacking, and adventuring in the great out-of-doors.

In 1980, he moved to Gunnison, CO, where he used his G.I. Bill money to pursue a Master’s Degree in Western American history. In addition, he worked as a guide and outfitter during the hunting seasons. The G.I. Bill money ran out before the degree was obtained, so, in 1984, Arnold moved back to La Veta and took a job as a feature writer for the Texas Longhorn Journal.

In 1985 he was invited to become an associate editor at Western Horseman Magazine, in Colorado Springs. After five successful years there, he returned to La Veta, and started his own publication, Cowboy Magazine. Arnold published and edited the magazine for 17 1/2 years until economics forced him to close down in 2008.

Through all of those years, Arnold wrote cowboy poetry. His first book of poetry, Cowboy Poultry Gatherin’, was published by Guy Logsdon in 1993. His second book of poetry, A Bard In Boots, was published in 2022 by Arizona Cowboy Connections.

A Bard in Boots was awarded the 2023 Will Rogers Gold Medallion Award for literary excellence in 2023, and his collaboration with cowboy singer Tom Hiatt earned his poem/song “Never Cuss The Rain,” the IWM Working-Ranch-Cowboy Song-of-the-year award in 2023.

Several other Arnold poems have been set to music by various artists. Two of them “Sing One For The Cowboy,”(2001) with Sons of the San Joaquin, and “The Pitchfork Grays,”(2018) with Jean and Gary Prescott, won IWMA Song-of-the-Year Awards.

In 2024, Darrell’s poem, “Half-broke Cavvy of the ZX Range,” was set to music by Tom Hiatt, and the resulting song beat out 82 other submissions to place third in the IWMA Songwriting Contest.

Talents: Poet, Songwriter

Awards:

• 2024 Song of the Year
• 2024 Songwriting Contest Award