Edward ‘Eddie’ Brewer was born in Spearfish, SD on August 15, 1937. His parents were Kyle and Naomi Brewer. With a twinkle Eddie said, “My brother and sister are Richard Brewer and Charlotte Faler but I’m the oldest. The rest of them are just there.” The family lived in Lander for several years before they moved to Pinedale in 1953. Eddie’s dad was a guide and a taxidermist. Eddie cowboyed for the Mickelson, Schwabacher and Bloom ranches until he graduated from Pinedale High School. Eddie said, “I’d move cows, build fence, move cows, fix fence, move cows, pull calves…” He played basketball and was an All-State Football player.

After two years in the Army he “got Californiaized and stayed there for 40 years.” He rodeoed in all events and said, “I ran both ends of the rodeo. Rode rough stock and all the roping events. Bull riding didn’t last, though. I couldn’t see any future in it. They buck you off and then chase you out of the arena. Broncs didn’t do that. I’ve got a drawer full of belt buckles.” In California he had a dude string of 50 horses and rented them out. “I was an Equine Technician,” he said. “I shod horses. I trained and exhibited for the public. I bred and trained Quarter Horses and Paints. It might take 40-60 days and that horse was trained!”

Eddie moved back to Pinedale in 1998 after he’d had health problems. “I’d be back in California if I was healthy,” he said. Eddie’s truck has “Brewer the Shoer” on the side and he shod horses the day before he left CA. “The ranch people still call me from there 2 or 3 times a week to ask me how to do this or that.” One time he was asked to shoe a ‘crazy’ mare that no one else would go near because she could ‘kick a fly out of the air’. “I was young and dumb,” he said. “I got her in a breezeway and got the first shoe done. Then I went to pick up that 2nd shoe and she let loose with everything. She was playing the Gatlin guns on me. Kicking and peeing and kicking and peeing. She had me up against the wall. When I got loose of her I took the shaping hammer and coulda killed her! She broke my leg in two places.”

Eddie’s dude string was in the Bay Area and he said, “We’d get every type of person. One day a carload of little kids came along. We got ‘em all on a horse and sent ‘em out. Pretty soon the horses came back. Those kids couldn’t get ‘em going. One boy was sitting on the wall crying. I went over and asked, ‘Hey, Buddy, what’s the matter?’ He said, ‘I just wanna go Boogity Boogity Boo’ – meaning he wanted to run that horse. So I took him in the arena and I got on behind him and we went Boogity Boogity Boo. He hugged me. Wouldn’t let go. He thought I was God.”

When Eddie came back to Pinedale, he moved in with his folks. He said, “Mom was still alive then. She died in 2003. After that dad needed somebody to cook and al, so I just stayed on.” Eddie’s father died in 2006. When asked if he’d ever been married, he replied, “Does it get dark at night?” Then he added, “Yes. Twice. I have 2 step-kids. The boy and I are real close.” Since he’s been back Eddie has won the Sublette County Fair Colt Furturity four times. He’s a man who loves horses and has been fortunate to live around them all his life.

By Judi Myers

Printed in Rendezvous Pointe (Pinedale, WY Senior Center) Newsletter, June, 2006