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Bio
For the Love of Horses
Inhaling deeply, my senses fill with the comforting smells of sweet hay,dust, and the warm, thick scent that is common among all horses. To stand and hug a horse, encompassing the awe of their strength and gentle nature at the same moment, leaves one utterly breathless. Yet it is in this moment that we tend to take a deeper breath than normal, finding our rhythm slowing down to match that of our furry companion.
If someone asked when I began to walk, I couldn't say. But I do know when I began to ride. I was only 3 and I'll never forget the ponies at the fair,weaving their way through a maze of panels to take their riders on an adventure greater than traveling in circles. The moment I saw my first horse, I was hooked. I couldn't get enough of them, and every one I saw from that moment on, I had to excitedly exclaim, "look at the horses" with such overwhelming glee, it was as if nothing in the world mattered when in the presence of these magnificent animals.
Growing up with 3 siblings, and as the daughter of a fabulous artist and mother, I spent a great deal of time entertaining myself by painting and drawing. At the age of 3, I painted the perfect rendition of the horse as I saw him; spiritual, majestic, and vividly colorful. Horses had captured my heart with their beauty, their grace, and the language of their soul.
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Like most young girls, I spent my time fantasizing about horses and enthusiastically drew picture after picture of my perfect horse with his flowing mane and tail adorned with fresh roses. Sometimes I would include the princess riding on the beautiful stallion, also with rose adornments in his mane. My art transcended from paint and paper to textiles, painting on tank-tops and cutting fabric in the shape of a horse to be pasted on burlap and stitched into place.
At the age of 11, I had painted a mural of running horses around the upper walls of my bedroom, wanting to truly be surrounded by their beauty and spirit. But as I grew older and entered college, confused by the fast paced world around me, I took the roads in life that led me away from the horses, away from my art, and away from my own self. I was no longer the princess on the horse, but a young woman caught in the mysterious web of a left-brained life.
After college, however, I met a wonderful friend that showed me a postcard from a non-profit organization she supported. The postcard had several beautiful, yet undernourished, foals and fillies on the front. My friend explained that this organization, United Pegasus Foundation, rescues hundreds of foals and fillies each year that are the byproducts of the drug industry that creates Premarin, made from pregnant mares urine. It was at that defining moment and the series of moments that followed that I became intensely aware of the path I wanted to take in life.
From meeting Hank, one of the adorable rescued foals that took me by the overalls and hauled me into his stall, to seeing the incredibly brilliant paintings created by Cyndra Bradford, I came to really understand what I was meant to do with my life.
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"PERFECT HORSE" - Painted at age 3
There is a sense of knowing, a tranquil state of excitement that soothes the soul when one encounters that one thing they were called to do. For me, this quest fulfilled the three qualities I desired most; to be surrounded by horses, to enlighten through creative expression, and to have a cause or purpose of great importance. As I picked up my brushes and invited horses back into my life, I was blessed in the rediscovery of oneself. I vowed then to dedicate my life to painting these larger than life colorful horses and to saving as many of them as possible.
It is through my artwork and the presence of these majestic horses that hold my greatest hopes for the world to change for the better. As my relationship with these horses has grown stronger and more connected, I've found that we have been able to converse on a different, more spiritual level. As I concentrate on each horse I paint, I seem to disappear, as if in some type of meditative state, allowing the horse to communicate through a spiritual level and I merely write down the messages they wish to convey. These words are then written on the back of each painting. There is a spiritual human-animal connection that we all have the ability to learn if we merely open our hearts and minds to the possibility. As Walter, the sweet thoroughbred, says, Our true power lies in our heart. Imagine what our lives would be like if life was not measured merely by our achievements or end goals, but rather by the process of how we lived every moment of every day. Imagine what life would be like if we merely embraced the moment at hand and took a horse-crazy kid for a ride, or volunteered to help at our local animal shelter fundraising event. Imagine what our lives would be like if we could just walk outside and see that horse every morning and give him a huge hug· I think that we are the ones who would be blessed far beyond measure, for they give the gift of truly unconditional love·
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