This dramatic depiction of a rancher taming a wild horse was the creator's first attempt in bronze, and he portrayed the single most dazzling moment of the action with an illustrator's sense for the dramatic. Although the horse and human are at odds, they are drawn together at the moment of greatest exertion. The cowboy lunges forwards, his whip hovering in midair, clutching the reigns and the horse's hair as the horse springs up, back arching and tail spread. The statue has become a symbol of the enduring spirit of the American west, and an emblem of the resilience of its people.