The Bronco Buster - Denver, CO - Equestrian Statues on Waymarking.com

In the mid-1910s, at the request of Major Robert Speer (who was also Denver Mayor from 1904-1912 and 1916-1918), two large bronzes in Civic Center park were given to the city by two civic-minded Denver residents who wanted to leave lasting memorials of beauty to the city. Bronco Buster and On the War Trail, both approximately 15 feet high, were created in 1920 by A. Phimister Proctor (1862-1951), who as a boy lived in Denver and later became one of the important sculptors in the nation. Bronco Buster, portraying a cowboy on his bucking bronco, was given by J.K. Mullen in 1920, an early Colorado settler.

While Proctor was sculpting the composition, his cowboy model, 'Slim' Bill Ridings, was arrested on a charge of horse thievery in Idaho and returned to Oregon. Proctor appealed to the sheriff, who allowed the accused thief to continue to pose until the sculpture was finished. Ridings declared the charge was just a misunderstanding as he was the middle-man in a horse trade. He was not convicted of the charge. A copy of the newspaper article in in the Gallery photos. The cost for The Bronco Buster was $16,500 in 1920 dollars; the city paid $4,000 for the granite pedestal upon which it sits. (from here).