“Never Take Off Your Cowboy Hat!” said Joe Knight

Along with his boots, a cowboy's hat is one of his most distinguishing features. Especially so with the Cowboy Ministry as it is his trademark where ever he or she goes. The utility of a broad-brimmed hat is immediately obvious to anyone who has spent a day in one of the semi-arid regions of the ranching frontier. The hat protects the wearer's head, face, and neck from the sun's heat and glare. It keeps the rain out of his eyes. Held down around his ears with a rawhide thong, it protects against freezing weather. In short, the hat helped keep the cowboy from frying or freezing, depending on the whims of the weather.

Many early Texas cowboys adopted the venerable Spanish sombrero (literally a "shader," sombra is Spanish for shade). The hat has a flat crown and a wide, flat brim. Also called the poblano, these hats came from Spain and continue to be used there. They worked well in the hot ranges of north Mexico. Wealthier Spaniards had their hats embellished with silver conchos and silver or gold braid. The Mexican variation of the sombrero added an even wider brim and a high, conical crown. These are the hats worn by mariachi musicians and charros. They are too large, heavy, and unwieldy for ranch work. Both types of sombreros usually include a barboquejo or chin strap. Cowboys would adopt and generalize the word sombrero to mean just about any broad-brimmed hat.