Maybe it’s because I was born and raised in Texas, but my favorite TV shows as a child were westerns! I loved all of them — from the Adventures of Rin Tin Tin to Zorro.

I was a pint-sized Annie Oakley

Dressed in a red cowboy hat, red vest and red skirt, I was a pint-sized Annie Oakley.

Because I watched every western on all three TV channels growing up, I wanted to be a cowgirl. And the fact that I couldn’t talk my parents into moving from the swampy Gulf Coast suburbs of Southeast Texas to a West Texas ranch didn’t keep me from wanting to make my dream of being a real cowgirl come true. I was a determined kid with a healthy imagination.

So I decided that the best way to become a cowgirl was to look like a cowgirl.

Dressed in a red cowboy hat, red vest and red skirt, I was a pint-sized Annie Oakley. And with toy six-shooters in a holster on my hip, I was ready to form a posse and track down any outlaws who dared to ride into my neighborhood.

All the cowboys and cowgirls on TV had beautiful horses. Dale Evans had Buttermilk and Roy Rogers had a golden palomino named Trigger. Little Joe Cartwright rode Cochise, a majestic paint. So it goes without saying that I wanted a horse of my own. I was tiny, so a tiny horse could live in the back yard. It wouldn’t take up any more space than the Great Dane down the street.

Even though I had as much of a chance of getting a horse at that age as I did of talking my parents into letting me lead a wagon train to California, I thought they would see the benefit of having a horse in the family. A horse could help with chores by eating the grass in the lawn. That way my dad could watch football or baseball games on Saturdays instead of having to mow the yard. Made perfect sense to me. My parents? Not so much.

This is where that healthy imagination of mine came in handy. I decided I could be a cowgirl AND a horse. So the pint-sized dressed-in-red Annie Oakley began galloping around the neighborhood, neighing like Fury or Flicka (two of my favorite shows at the time). My mother still likes to tell everyone about the time she and my dad were standing in line at West Groves Elementary School to vote, and about how embarrassed she was when I came galloping and whinnying up to a group of strangers, demanding, “Put your hands up.”

I never did give up that dream of owning a horse. In high school, my parents bought me a beautiful brown and white paint. I named her Starshine, but instead of living in the back yard, she lived in a stable a few blocks away. And I always made sure to swing by my house to let her munch on some grass in the front yard — just in case Dad wanted to watch a football game instead of mowing the lawn.

What was your favorite TV western?

My western-themed 6th birthday cake had a corral. "Happy Birthday, Padnuh!"

Leave a comment and tell me about your favorite TV western. Is it listed below or was it another one not on the list? Why did you like it? I’d love to hear from you!

About 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History

For the third year, Amy Coffin of the We Tree Genealogy Blog has created 52 weeks of prompts for genealogy bloggers. The theme for 2011 is 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History. These are shared on the Geneabloggers.com web site, hosted by Thomas MacEntee.

Week 6: Radio and Television. What was your favorite radio or television show from your childhood? What was the program about and who was in it?

A true cowgirl never misses a chance to catch an outlaw.