Trail of Painted Ponies

Redecorating a room can be tricky, especially if you’re starting from scratch. It often helps to settle on an overarching theme and then build small details and accents around it. Football fans can create a shrine to their favorite team, outfitting the room with posters, framed jerseys and other assorted memorabilia. Aspiring musicians can make a baby grand piano into the centerpiece of the room and then shape the rest of the space accordingly.

For horse lovers, the chance to fill an entire room with equine décor is too good to pass up. You might want to begin with a leather couch, setting the tone in bold shades of golden brown. Then put up a few framed horse pictures and line up some collectible ponies on the coffee table. Make sure that you don’t overcrowd the space; an environment is much more welcoming when you can breathe easily and relax.

Every year around this time I think of my childhood summers spent helping out on the family farm. My grandparents lived on a horse ranch in the thumb of Michigan, and I would wake up early each morning to bale hay and feed the horses with nutritious oats. If I misbehaved, there was only one suitable punishment - I would be relegated to mucking out the stables. In time, even that became a pleasant activity.

Years later, I’ve begun to collect a series of painted ponies figurines that remind me of the early days on the farm. These collectibles are hand-painted with intricate designs and vibrant color schemes. They look great lined up on top of the hearth in my living room, and anytime my mind begins to wander I like to focus on their personal meaning.

I thought I enjoyed riding horses just as much as the next person, but that was before I met my friend Elizabeth during a trail ride one summer afternoon. She works as a large-animal veterinarian and comes in contact with horses on a daily basis, but that’s not enough to satisfy her obsession. She takes leisurely rides nearly every evening and lives on a horse farm with several high-priced thoroughbreds. In short, she doesn’t mess around when it comes to horses.

As her birthday approached about a month ago, I racked my brain for a unique gift idea. She had every sort of saddle imaginable and owned horse-themed paintings by the dozen. Recognizing her love of art, I investigated a flourishing creative niche: painted pony figurines. They struck me as ideal horse themed gifts, perfectly suitable for my purposes. Elizabeth was overjoyed to receive a hand-painted pony, and she has since added to what is now a serious collection.