Don & Claudia Proffitt

Don Proffit always knew he would be a cowboy, judging from scenes in his youth: choosing to ride a horse while his brother rode a bike, and making sure to brand his stick horses with a car cigarette lighter. Wyoming has been home to Claudia Hamilton Proffit nearly all of her life. Her parents are John and Lola Hamilton, who continued a family tradition of ranching on one of the earliest settled ranches in Bridger Valley. She grew up riding horses. Don met Claudia at a 4-H activity when she flew by him riding bareback on a horse and stole his hat. They courted while attending the University of Wyoming where Don got a degree in Agriculture with a certificate to teach Vocational Agriculture. Claudia graduated with a degree in nursing -- which she has used in doctoring cattle, sheep, and horses, for more years than she used it in the surgical department at Evanston Regional Hospital. Don taught himself to make his own tack, including saddles, bosals, and Nevada style chinks, and to braid rawhide and make horsehair mecates.