WESTERN
GALLERY
30x16x18 This old time range bull has more leg, slimmer, and heavier in the front than many cowmen like today. He may not fit in everyone’s program, but he is still a lotta bull and was more interesting to sculpt.
11x15x13 It's buyer beware with horse traders. To those who haven't been down that road, this guy may have a good story, but there is more to the story than meets the eye.
6x19x16 This is more of a quarter horse type running horse. I exaggerated the legs tapering to extra small hooves etc. to give more of an impression of speed.
18 x 12 x 12 (ed 5) This young girl and her horse have become partners. With both minds focused on a single goal as they round the last barrel, their eyes are on the prize.
18x38x21 This is a study for a heroic size sculpture for the Briscoe Museum. It will be placed on the River Walk between the river and the Briscoe. The cowboy is of Spanish origin now working for an American rancher. He has adopted many of the “northern” gear and ways but retained some of his own as well. It takes place in the late 1800’s. The space available was quite small to fit all they wanted into, and had a lot of elevation change in a short distance.
14x7x12 Some Longhorn steers are on the fight when the sun rises, but a roped one resulting in a broken horn is guaranteed to be in a bad mood. That's when they turn and say "Come on if you dare".
14x7x17 A photo of Commotion was so impressive I decided to do a sculpture similar. It was the night he was retired at the National Finals in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was one puffed up bucking horse and he knew everyone was looking at him. Incidentally he had several of his sons bucking at the finals that same year. The horses in the finals are voted in by the cowboys or a committee so it is quite an honor to be there.
15x17x11 Old Rodeo bulls spend a lot of time together. They form little social groups within-hierarchy and all. Though, at first glance, they appear to be gentlemen about it, you can feel and almost smell the thickness of tension and mistrust among them.
30x12x11 To be more environmentally friendly in some areas, loggers are using horses to skid logs instead of machines. Though not a wide spread practice, it is becoming popular again in smaller operations. Sometimes working alone, these skid horses still pull a tremendous amount of weight, and as a team of course, even more.
17x11x10 The first step in a saddle horse’s career on a cattle ranch is it’s halter-breaking. Some of the larger ranches with a lot of colts tie them each to a burro. The colt then has to go everywhere the burro does and it learns to lead quite quickly. I also think it doesn’t immediately resent the person that is teaching him to lead. There is no reason for that resentment of course if the trainer asks the colt in the right way. A lot do not.
8x14x21 One of the lessons in the ongoing seasoning of a ranch horse is getting him rope savvy. That means getting him relaxed around a rope before you actually rope something. This is to lessen the chance of a wreck or getting him hurt. Some take to it quickly with almost an indifference. Others not so easily. I had a horse that was great in everything except he hated the rope and never did learn to deal with it. You knew if you ever got into a bind with him and a rope there would be a wreck.
5x8x7 With the popularity and growth of horse training clinics and such, which is a great thing, this sculpture no longer depicts the "norm." It used to be that the first lesson in a colts education in becoming a saddle horse was being halter broken as a weanling or yearling, turned out for a while to learn to be a horse, then gathered to further his education. This was usually late in his third year and might not even be until he was five or six in the northern country where I grew up...
3x5x3 Though I was not very good at any I did compete in all three rough stock events and team roped. I really enjoyed them all, but Saddle Bronc was my favorite rodeo event and I competed in it longer than any of the others. Any one of the events took a great deal of focus. I was too scattered to give bronc riding the focus it dictated and deserved. Still have my old association’s saddle and always will. It is full of wonderful and sometimes painful memories.
14x11x6 A phrase given a testy “bull”. However, it can be of any gender – cow, bull, or steer.
19 x 18 x 22 (ed 5) Actually this term used for the title is used more in rodeo circles than in ranch life. But it is a common phrase to relate how someone gets bucked off. I love doing bucking horses. It seems lately a lot of the cowboys I do are getting bucked off. Maybe because it was something that I minded a lot less in my younger day than I have in latter years.