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Unveiled: The Rootin-Tootin Enigma That Is ATL's Urban Cowboy

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He's known locally as Atlanta's Urban Cowboy, but another apt description might be the King of Double-Takes, which is the common reaction 25-year-old Brannu Fulton elicits as he clops through ATL traffic on a horse named Spinderella, an ode to Salt-N-Pepa's DJ. He's another urban oddity that is uniquely Atlanta, and he's quickly rising into the pantheon of oddball street characters that includes Baton Bob, Bicycle Shorts Man and esteemed newcomer, Suitcase Man. Patch is the latest to lasso the Urban Cowboy to meet the man behind the spurs.

Fulton, raised in a high-rise housing project in Brooklyn, wasn't the most likely candidate to become a lover of all things equine. Fulton's grandfather, a U.S. Army soldier, first introduced him to horseback riding at the Jamaica Bay Riding Academy in New York. Deejaying gigs brought the Brooklynite to Atlanta in 2003, where he attended Clark Atlanta University but dropped out when his DJ stints became lucrative. He saved his earnings and opened a barn in McDonough, where he runs the Brannu Paint Academy and offers riding lessons to people from all walks of life, including special needs children. "With the horses, I feel free. When I'm riding down the street, I feel free," Fulton told Patch. "This is all I do every day."

So popular are Fulton's services, Scoutmob is offering a "Neiigh-borhood Horseback Ride through Inman Park with the Urban Cowboy" for $65. The hour-and-a-half trail ride starts at Irwin Street Market and wends through historic Inman Park and the Old Fourth Ward. Just don't call him "Django", as some drivers have. We're guessing this is all legal, though we've heard his rides on the Beltline are decidedly (and, kind of, unfortunately) not.

And now, the Atlanta Urban Cowboy directory:

· Don't Call Him Django, This Atlanta Cowboy Has Real Heart [East Atlanta Patch]
· WILD WILD WESTSIDE: MEET ATLANTA'S URBAN COWBOY [Scoutmob]
· Urban cowboy rides through Atlanta [AJC]

[Brannu Fulton, aka "Urban Cowbody" photo via Scoutmob]