Cut short awkward old cowboy (6)
I believe the answer is:
gaucho
'cowboy' is the definition.
(gaucho is a kind of cowboy)
'cut short awkward old' is the wordplay.
'cut short' means to remove the last letter.
'awkward' becomes 'gauche' (I've seen this before).
'old' becomes 'o' (common abbreviation eg in OE for Old English).
'gauche' with its final letter taken off is 'gauch'.
'gauch'+'o'='GAUCHO'
(Other definitions for gaucho that I've seen before include "Argentinian cattle-herder" , "foreign cowhand" , "Cowboy of Argentine's plains" , "Surprise attacker" , "Horseman of the S American plains" .)