If life’s like a roller coaster, full of ups and downs, 81-year-old actor and artist Buck Taylor had just endured a season of low points, a valley of horse wrecks and health challenges. For the first time in his life, he was forced to turn down an acting role.

But then, thankfully, things began to turn around – big time – and Buck is quick to give credit where it’s due.

“God threw me back on that horse,” he says. “You get bucked off, you get back on again. God threw me back up again and made it an exceptional year.”

The American Quarter Horse Foundation named Buck the signature artist for its 2019 America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale. He also received the 2019 Western Horseman Award.

“Being the American Quarter Horse artist of the year, I thought it only appropriate to paint the horse of the year, which is a racehorse,” Buck says. The current world champion racehorse is Bodacious Eagle, a sorrel gelding owned by AQHA Past President Johnny Trotter and wife Jana of Hereford, Texas, and the horse is the subject of this year’s signature artwork, “Gold Cup,” shown on the opposing page

Buck came of age in Hollywood’s golden age of Westerns, and that was his own forte as an actor; he appeared in “Gunsmoke,” “The Virginian,” “Tombstone,” “Cowboys & Aliens” and many more big- and small-screen productions. (See the August America’s Horse for more on Buck’s interesting history. It’s accessible at www.aqha.com/americashorse.) As an artist, Buck often concentrated on the same subject matter. His father, Dub Taylor, had a collection of Remingtons and Russells, and Buck’s own acrylics and watercolors have reflected his love of horses and the romance he has had with the Old West.

But racehorses?

“It’s not my normal crowd,” Buck allows. “Like the other artists (in the America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale), I’m more into ranching and some of the events, barrel racing and team roping. But racehorses have always been a real thrill to me.”

Buck and his wife, Goldie, went to Ruidoso Downs in Ruidoso, New Mexico, a few years ago, and they were able to walk down by the starting gates.

He got an up-close look at the extreme power of the horses as they shot out of the gate, and “when the gates opened, eight or 10 jockeys were screaming like a bunch of cowboys,” he says. “Back in the stands, you don’t hear that. ‘Yah!’ These guys were yelling and screaming; it’s the coolest thing in the world. They were that excited.”

His takeaway from that? “I’ve got to bring that into a painting.”

Buck enjoys working in watercolors, which allows him to keep his paintings loose and evoke the feeling of movement.

“I don’t paint photographic art,” he says. “I want it to be loose and free. That’s what a racehorse is, to me. It’s speed, and that’s something we all love in a horse. To be able to paint Bodacious Eagle was a thrill.”

Other paintings in the art show are generic race scenes, and Buck is gratified to be able to represent an important part of our industry.

“Racehorses are a very important part of the American Quarter Horse,” he says, “team-roping horses, bulldogging, barrel racing … it’s all about speed.”

“I had a great time painting (‘Gold Cup’), and what an honor. There are great artists out there, and the show that they have every year is prestigious. I’m just glad to be part of it, and I thank God for everything.”

In the Taylors’ barn, speed is important there, too. Goldie, a barrel racer, has five American Quarter Horses, and Buck, a team roper, says, “I’m looking for a heeling horse right now, and I’ll get one. My plan is to win a buckle in my 80s. I’m 81, and I’m just beginning.”

For more than a decade, the America’s Horse in Art Show & Sale has been collecting some of the best equine art in the world and offering it for sale in the best possible win-win scenario. Purchasers, of course, take home amazing bronzes or captivating canvasses, and a portion of the proceeds benefits the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum, a program of the American Quarter Horse Foundation, supporting its efforts to preserve the history of the American Quarter Horse.

The artwork of Buck Taylor, as well as that of many other artists, is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The art show opened August 17 and continues through October 12.

Art sales are available online at www.aqha.com/ahia, by telephone at 806-376-5181 and by email at artshow@aqha.org.

America’s Horse in Art is underwritten by the Amarillo Convention and Visitor Council Art Committee, the Fairly Group and the American Quarter Horse Foundation. Learn more about the Foundation and its programming at www.aqha.com/foundation.