Before we begin let me make this perfectly clear. I don’t color my hair.
I remember as a kid going horseback riding, taking lessons at the ridding local riding stable in North Bay, being shown how to take care of horses by a big bearish man who owned the stables. The first gay porn magazine I bought was a series of cowboy pictures based on a 1970s porn movie. The image of a butch furry guy pined down and fucked is still burnt deeply into my psyche to this day.
One year for my birthday as a surprise my Partner Rocco was able to sneak leather into the house and made me a pair of tooling leather horse ridding chaps. Like almost all un-dyed tooling leather they were a pinkish tan brown in color and stiff as hell. With the help of a litre or two of Lexol leather conditioner, they softened right up and were flexible enough so that I could squat right down to the ground. With many hours of ridding and playing in the sun they gradually turned a dark brown.
As a gay man in my late twenties I once again took up horseback riding and training. I experimented with saddle bondage, pegging and hog-tying. Rocco and I built a dual play cabin the in woods my side looking like a tack room with a single sleeping cot and kerosene lanterns to light the room. Outside on the porch the railings which were strategically placed and de-slivered for bondage, looked like a ranch house, with rain barrels and a pump for the outdoor shower.
In 1992, LYNX (Leathermen Yearning for Northern Xcitement) was founded. The group rules were simple to get Chuck (OK Rocco as well) laid. Later the word Chuck was removed. That fall our first run based on our 90 acres of land just outside North bay attracted leather men from as far away as Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Toronto and resulted in a 2-page spread in The Leather Journal.
At runs like the Rochester Rams a Spearhead runs, I was given the nick name Cowboy Chuck. Some found my moose horn bondage a bit intriguing but quickly found out that it was the simplest way to secure a boy to a cabin. Walking by my camp site at night passes by never knew who they would see being fucked while bound over some bales of hay to one of my saddles beside my camp fire.
- In later years after moving to Sudbury I had a boy who was into black leather. He talked me into going shopping for a vest and chaps at Doc’s Leathers. Trying on several pairs until all of a sudden there was a lump and a wet spot in the front of his jeans, and a big shit ass grin on his face. Like the sorting hat in Harry Potter the previously owned chaps had found the right Sir for the next journey. I also tried on a very wide thick harness, which went very well with my build. That night I had on of the hottest times I have ever had breaking in my new black leathers with boy Jim.
I have never been one to follow the crowd and to this day I still look at things in a different way, but from day one I have been clear as to who I am and what I believe in. In preparation for the Eastern Canada LeatherSIR competition I asked my former slave, now Sir, Dan and boy iain to advise me on what I should consider wearing. Both of them knowing me well suggested that at some point during the competition that I show the judges my true leather journey. For the interview portion to the surprise and possibly horrified of some of the judges, I showed up in my old trusty 
brown corduroy hat, my scratched up bush ridding chaps, my old faithful heavily worn (and well licked) boots with spurs, my brown vest and a LYNX T shirt. It was suggested by one of the judges that they wanted to just jump over the table and hand me some saddle soap. I explained that I like rugged well-worn leathers for my play.
To this day I prefer to play out doors, where you get dirty, muddy, and animalistic. Since boy Jim’s first black leather fuck, I have continued to grow expand learn, and ad to my BDSM DS life both in black and brown leather.
My advice to all who are thinking of entering Eastern Canada LeatherSIR is simple. Remember who you are and where you came from your history and what you value, don’t be afraid to show your roots, and get ready for the ride of your lives.
Master Chuck Eastern Canada LeatherSIR 2011