A Study in Horses...

I learned to ride when I was 6.  I won't tell you how long ago that was, but let's just say that Neil Armstrong hadn't walked on the moon yet!  I loved my time with horses.  My summers were spent in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia.  As the summers past, and I became a little more accomplished with my riding skills, I started to care for the horses, and barns.  I remember walking out early on summer mornings in thick mist, and wet grass to call in the horses for the day's activities.  I would walk and call, and walk and call, and couldn't see much of anything.  And then, all of a sudden, I could hear them cantering and galloping thru the rich green fields and heading straight for ME!  I would stand still and spread my arms straight out to either the side and when they were a little too close for comfort sometimes, they would see me, and come to a very quick stop.  Snorting, and stomping, and breathing heavy from their morning run.  Then they would fall in line and follow me back to the barns to be groomed, fed and saddled for the day.

Having about 20 horses running full bast toward you in a thick mist, is something not to be forgotten.  I loved those experiences and I have been looking for a way to reconnect to my time with horses.  I did a study in horse heads over the summer, and created this piece trying to capture the essence of movement, particularly in the mane.  I am very pleased with the results, and thrilled with some of my glazing results.

Here are the study photos of a horse I met in western North Carolina a few years ago, and then the raw clay piece and then the final glazed piece.