In describing Where the Best of Riders Quit, Nancy Russell observed, “The old-time cowpuncher knew his horse and it was often a battle of wits when he was ‘breaking’ him to ride. This horse is making a fight and is figuring on landing on his rider. This rider, being of the best, is thinking, too. As he steps off his fighting horse he will be standing beside him when he lands and, having ahold of the cheek piece of the hackamore, will help the horse bump his head a little harder when he hits the ground. As the horse comes up the cowpuncher will grasp the horn and will be in the saddle when he gets on his feet again.… Most horses think twice before they throw themselves a second time.”

Charles M. Russell himself once wrote of the bronco rider, “An Injun once told me that bravery came from the hart not the head. lf my red brother is right Bronk riders and bull dogers are all hart above the wast band but it’s a good bet theres nothing under there hat but hair.”

PROVENANCE
Biltmore Galleries, Scottsdale, Arizona, 1987
Private collection, Wyoming

EXHIBITED
Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 2006-07

LITERATURE
Patricia Janis Broder, Bronzes of the American West, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1974, p. 165, example illustrated
Rick Stewart, Charles M. Russell, Sculptor, Amon Carter Museum, 1994, pp. 78, 83, 131, 234-239, example illustrated
Brooks Joyner, Legends of the West: The Foxley Collection, Joslyn Art Museum, 2006, p. 47, illustrated

• Charles M. Russell’s Past Results
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