CHEYENNE — Cheyenne Frontier Days officials revealed a bronze statue titled “How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls” on Friday at Frontier Park to represent this year’s theme: the Year of the Cowgirl, which highlights the spirit and strength of Western women throughout history.

The statue was created by Wyoming native and sculptor D. Michael Thomas, who began his artistry in 1993. Thomas has created hundreds of sculptures over the past 30 years, both exceptionally large and small enough to sit on a coffee table, that are located all throughout Wyoming and the Western portion of the United States.

Thomas said he has never taken an art class, and learned his skill the hard way.

“Little by little, I got some really nice critiques that helped me so much,” Thomas said. “Then there was a lot of reference material that I’d go back and look at, and that taught me. Then I’d go out and look at a real horse, look at a real human body, and I could see the roundness of everything. Everything came very slowly to me because I’m not very smart, but I figured it out after a while.”

This is not the first CFD sculpture Thomas has created. He built a monument for the 125th Cheyenne Frontier Days titled “Just LeDoux It” that was unveiled in the summer of 2021. The statue honored and memorialized Chris LeDoux, a singer/songwriter from Wyoming who also saw lots of success in the rodeo world before passing away in 2005.

“How ‘Bout Them Cowgirls” took about three years to create from inception to completion, Thomas said. It took him about a year to do the sculpting.

Susan Samuelson of Warren Livestock was part of the inspiration for this year’s CFD theme. She said her husband, Doug, came up with the idea for the cowgirl statue, and said women have been a big part of celebrating the West, including her great-great-grandmother, who was a cowgirl in the 1880s.

“A lot of women in our state and our community have been the ones to start projects,” Susan Samuelson said. “I feel very blessed that we’re here today celebrating women.”

Susan said the winners of the three women’s events at CFD will each receive a miniature version of Thomas’ statue.

Also during Friday’s dedication ceremony, Peaches Tyrrell, a cowgirl and former CFD Dandy, said it was instilled in her at a young age to give back and be a goodwill ambassador in the community. She is a part of a family that is leaving a legacy of their commitment to service and Western heritage that upholds the cowboy code of conduct and values that are encouraged through CFD.

“We are thrilled to join Doug and Susan Samuelson in dedicating this bronze statue to Cheyenne Frontier Days for the Year of the Cowgirl,” Tyrrell said. “We honor the cowgirls who inspire us through their strength, courage and grace.”

Thomas said he is just glad the statue made it to Cheyenne due to the Cody foundry fire that happened a couple of months ago.

“She (the statue) looked down on us and said, ‘By God, we’re going to make it.’ And we did,” Thomas said.

The statue is in the likeness of Thomas’ mother, he said, and has several elements that represent her and her time as a cowgirl. One of the elements is her boots. The boots were loaned to Thomas by a friend who wore them in Cheyenne in the 1920s and 1930s. The boots were originally yellow, but Thomas changed the color to make them “CFD red,” which matches the scarf and ribbon in the hair of the statue.

There are also a couple of brands on the horse, Thomas said. One is a Diamond Tail on the left hip, which belongs to Doug and Susan Samuelson. There is also the 7 XL, which is a jaw brand on the left.

For the horse’s saddle, Thomas said he found it humorous to make his own brand and etch it into the saddle, as most real saddle makers do. So the saddle has a stamp: Saddle maker D.M. Thomas. Etched on the underside of the horse’s left hoof, Thomas and many members of his staff included their own brands.

After spending years curating and creating this statue in memory of his mother, Thomas said he is satisfied and honored to have it on display starting with the 128th annual CFD, which officially runs July 19-28, although some rodeo events start earlier.

“It’s a breath of fresh air now,” Thomas said, “because it was always scary for me to do a likeness of anybody. So I took extra time to make sure it was her. It made my sister cry when she saw it for the first time, so I knew I did my job right.”