As a young man, Stan Tixier was a working cowboy on a ranch in southern Colorado. He spent 4 years in the Navy during the Korean War and then attended the University of Arizona on the GI Bill. He had a career with the US Forest Service, retiring in 1991 as Regional Forester of the Intermountain Region in Ogden. He has been writing cowboy poetry for nearly 2 decades and has recited throughout the west. His poem, "Spurs" is featured as the cover poem on the 2008 Western Horseman Magazine Calendar. He is also a published author with 3 novels to his credit. Stan and his wife of 50 years, Jan,live in Eden, UT, where they raise Foxtrotting horses.