Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)

We're not quite sure how riding a cowboy can save a horse, but this one sure is fun, which is the whole point. In the song, Big Kenny and John Rich get braggadocious, singing about making a scene by riding a horse into town, driving the ladies wild in the process. It's all very tongue-in-cheek. Preacher's son John Rich told Billboard magazine with a laugh, "When your dad's a preacher and you have a song on the radio called 'Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,' that makes for an interesting conversation."

The music video has the duo celebrating with a huge parade on Nashville's Shelby Street Bridge. They're joined by dancers, marching bands, horses, and friends like Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy. Country singer Sarah Darling also cameos as a mannequin. But it wasn't fun for everyone. "It was the shoot from hell," director David Hogan said in his Songfacts interview. "After I did Gretchen Wilson's video ("Redneck Woman"), Big & Rich wanted me to do the same. They had the same management and they wanted me to do their video. But the downside is they wanted to do it through that production company. So basically the production company people had it in for me, because they felt like, I guess, I stole it from their directors or whatever." Of Big & Rich, however, the director said: "They were real easy to work with, fun guys, and it was fun coming up with it and talking about it with them." According to the Metro Public Works, the shoot caused over $23,000 damage to the Shelby Street Bridge, mostly from the horses damaging the cement and the decorative paint. Hogan wonders if it was the semi-trucks that were too much for the pedestrian bridge: "We had to put the camera and the lights on the back of a semi truck trailer, and we would drive it around across the other bridge down river and then come around and circle and then start the parade again. That was the only way to do it... It's a walking bridge, and I'm sure it wasn't designed to hold a semi."

This song got a boost when it was used in promos for ESPN's coverage of the 2004 World Series of Poker.