"Why Me Lord" Limited edition, hot cast bronze sculpture by Mike McFarland for sale at Sculpture Collector

By the late 1860s, following the Civil War and the expansion of the cattle industry, former soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy traveled West seeking work as did large numbers of restless men in general.

The cowboy life was hard and many trail drives took 60 days to complete. A single herd of cattle on a drive numbered about 3,000 head. A crew of at least 10 cowboys was needed, with 3 horses per cowboy. Cowboys worked in shifts to watch the cattle 24 hours a day herding them in the proper direction in the daytime and watching them at night to prevent stampedes and deter theft.

In this sculpture the cowboy laments the days he has left on the drive. He’s been dirty for weeks, he’s tired of beans and the prairie dust leaves him parched at the end of each day. He’s hankerin’ for a hot bath, a hot meal and a cold beer.

Devoted to a cowboy lifestyle, Mike McFarland started sculpting as he recovered from an accident he had while roping horses. As he explains: "I have devoted my life to cowboyin' and sharing with folks my love for that life. Regardless of a person's background, I believe all Americans have a little cowboy spirit in them. The independence, the courage and the guts to do a job under tough conditions. I think this is the reason why people like western art."