Mickey Mussett—owner of Ghost Rider Boots in Denver—didn’t come to love cowboy boots or bootmaking by any of the typical paths. He wasn’t born a cowboy (though he has the soul of one), he hasn’t worked on any famous ranches (but he’s slept in a few barns), and he didn’t inherit the skill from family (his father was an Air Force commander, not a craftsman). In fact, Mussett didn’t get introduced to the trade until he was 56 years old—an age that most men start looking forward to the horizon of retirement. The way Mussett sees it though, he’s always been a bootmaker; he just didn’t realize it until God showed him the way.