The Cowboy Way Foundation is inspired by and dedicated to Mike Libby for all that he accomplished in his too short life to keep Rodeo and the Western Lifestyle alive, especially in kids.

Mike loved the western lifestyle. However, as much as he loved it, he also knew that to keep that lifestyle alive, the knowledge he had acquired over the years needed to be passed on to future generations. To achieve that goal, he would help kids with their skills in riding, general horse care, tack care – anything that had to do with horses – and became a big part of the Rodeo Bible Camp at Lonestar Cowboy Church in Montgomery, Texas. He loved passing on his knowledge to kids and seeing the smile their face while they were on the back of a horse.

Born in Springfield, Oregon, Mike wasn’t always a cowboy. In fact, it wasn’t until the family moved to Montana from the Oregon Coast in 1992 that the intense desire to be involved in a Cowboy lifestyle began to evolve – in his early years of high school.

The move to Montana started the whole family on a journey towards a western lifestyle and Mike wasn’t one to be left behind as he embraced it whole heartedly. The family moved into a log house on 20 acres and not long after arriving, they gradually bought some horses and various other animals. From that point, there was no turning back for Mike. He was very much involved in FFA and all the various classes and activities in the Vo Ag program at Flathead High School. He really enjoyed all the time he spent working with the animals, working in the hay fields and anything else that needed to be done at the Ag Center. One of his favorite classes was Equine Science where each student had an unbroke horse to work with and train.

As the years moved on, Mike worked just about every aspect of ranching and farming in various jobs. After living with his wife Katrina, son Austin and daughter Cheyenne in Fairfield, MT over a very hard winter – feeding cattle and doing chores in -35 degree temperatures with hard winds and much colder wind chills, he decided it was time for a move to a warmer climate. They first moved to Central Oregon for a couple years, and then he and his family moved to Bandera, Texas and then on to Anderson, Texas where he managed a ranch.

Through all the years working on ranches, Mike continued to hone his horsemanship skills – riding, roping, carriage driving, vet care, farrier work, cattle work, training his own horses – and he enjoyed passing his knowledge on to anyone who wanted to learn.

We know that Mike would be proud of what the Cowboy Way Foundation stands for, what we have accomplished already and the plans that we have to help future generations of kids in Rodeo and the Western Lifestyle in general.

Thank you, Mike, for your inspiration!