Trail of Painted Ponies

Over the course of my life, I’ve been a collector of many things – items both rare and commonplace. When the Elvis stamps were introduced, I went through a brief phase of seeking out and buying postage supplies. When I filled an album or two, the obsession switched over to coins. I talked to all of my friends who had visited foreign countries and offered to barter with them for the strange currency.

Then, when I entered middle age, I thought my passion for collecting had finally abated. I would be able to return to a live of relative normalcy in which I don’t feel compelled to “collect them all.” That’s when a friend referred me to a Web site offering painted horse figurines. Their collectible nature appealed to me of course as a new “herd” is released several times a year. But it was actually the craftsmanship and artistic value of the pieces that really made them stand out in my mind.

When Spanish conquistadors arrived in the New World in the 16th century, they brought their unique customs, tools and modes of transportation along with them. Prior to this introduction, natives of North and South America had never seen a horse before. As the Spanish and English continued to establish and fortify their separate civilizations in the Western Hemisphere, more and more horses were bred and shipped to America.

By the mid 1700s, Indian tribes in the Southwest had mastered horsemanship in their own right; they became adept at taming and training the wild horses that had proliferated west over time. Today, the image of the wild mustang remains a symbol for uninhibited freedom. Artists craft and paint pony figurines to approximate and reflect the energy and splendor of these awe-inspiring creatures.