About "Challenge to A Whisper"

The original drawing was donated to The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

In the late 1980’s a mutual friend of Ray and Carolyn Hunt and mine commissioned me to draw a portrait of Ray, though the deal never reached fruition, the process allowed me photo access into an arena with Ray during a couple of clinics. When we met before the initial event and I was impressed by his wit and a smile that made his eyes flash a hint of mischief. He was of a breed of man whose integrity and dignity set him apart from the rest, and like the old illustrators who have passed on in my genre of art, their spirit and unique talent will not come again. In the arena I was astonished by the immediate connection he made with a herd of unbroken two and three year olds. He was tactile with each horse as he demonstrated with strong, weathered hands. Using patience and a soft touch, except for some swift, immediate corrections here and there, the initial physical contact and mental connection was made. He whispered a firm “You’ll be okay!” which held me and the horses in awe. I doubt he was heard in the stands, but from my point of view, I had just experienced the worlds greatest horseman up close. I would later do a series of study sketches of his hands. The rest of the clinic I saw through a lens, but I’ll never forget the reassurance he gave those youngsters. Or the owners who rode them that next day...or was it that afternoon, I forget.

Later that evening over dinner we would talk of horses, cowboys, and his travels to ranches around the west. Ray was interested in what I was doing, and steered the conversation away from what he had accomplished in the arena that day. Horses that I choose to draw are picked for their character and honesty, if beauty happens to be part of the package so be it. The animal in my drawing was athletic, but twisted pretty tight and looked like a challenge. I drew him on a large sheet of paper and there he was....BIG! Not having a clue as to where to go with him I stuck the drawing in a drawer and forgot about it.

A year or so later a deadline was encroaching for a gallery, so I resurrected the horse back to the drawing board. As I creatively tried to solve what to do with him, Ray loomed up as the solution to my “horse problem”. I then added the vignette of him working the gelding off his horse to the right and titled it “Challenge to A Whisper”. I did not indicate that the drawing involved Ray Hunt. for I doubted that he ever used the term and may not have liked it. However I felt it summed up the feeling of the movement he humbly led. I sent the drawing to market...without success. Upon its return I realized that the design was sorely lacking so I unframed it and back into the drawer it went.

Three years later I brought the drawing to life by adding the portrait of Ray in its center enabling all of its elements to flow together. I don’t recommend working this way, you can screw up a good drawing and waste a lot of time on an idea that should have been designed from its beginning. The big challenge was to get a separation of elements without the use of color but relaying only on values through graphite. I would like to suppose that The Master Clinician would have enjoyed the fact that I didn’t give up on that ole horse, but most importantly I wanted the drawing to do justice to the memory of Ray Hunt. Had I not felt in my heart that I had achieved this I would not have donated the original drawing to The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Horsemanship has changed on my little ranch in New Mexico, our horses are notably happier I think back on some of the great horses I’ve owned and how I probably cheated them, but I love them all the more for their generosity.

My awaking to Ray Hunt led me on a journey into soulful understanding, to experience the thrill of a horse looking at me as if to say “I trust you”............................. _____Robert "Shoofly" Shufelt

"Challenge to a Whisper"