WAR PONY

Artist: Rance Hood
This horse is extremely realistic and reflects the vibrancy of the Comanche in times past. Comanche decorated their horses and their own bodies when they went to battle. This pony is really decorated with all sorts of symbols on it: a dragonfly, a lightning bolt, a steer's head, a charging buffalo, a handprint. Even the lines and dots carried a message. The artist, Race Hood, is a popular New Mexico artist and created his Recreation of a Comanche war pony. It reflects the vibrancy and mystical quality of the horses that populate Rance Hood's paintings. Comanche artist Rance Hood is one of the most recognized names in Southwest Art.

MOTORCYCLE MUSTANG (aka The Harley Horse)
Artist: David Losoya.

A second-generation lover and owner of Harley Davidson motorcycles, David Losoya, an airbrush artist from Artesia, New Mexico, wanted to create a creature that, "If I was a biker in the 19th Century, I would ride." With the help of friends and family, he molded many parts of real motorcycles onto his horse, including mufflers, taillight, a kickstarter, leather saddlebags, and chains instead of reins. This pony rumbles!

FIREMAN PONY

ARTIST: Dwayne & Ginger Ulibarri
Horses were an important part of the early Fire Services, hauling water wagons to the scene of burning buildings and houses. Cleverly, and with humor and affection, Dwayne and Ginger Ulibarri have captured that sense of the horse as a fireman's best friend. As well as being artists in their own right, the Ulibarri's operate the Albuquerque facility where the life-sized Painted Pony forms are cast.

BOOT SCOOTIN' HORSEY

Artist: Carla Slusher
Carla Slusher lives on a ranch in southeastern New Mexico where she paints to country and western music. As her vision of a dancing horse wearing a cowboy hat, jeans, and color-coordinated boots, ready for a night on the town, neared completion, it so happened that her favorite radio station played the song "Boot Scootin' Boogie by Brooks and Dunn! That is how she named her Pony, which has attitude with a capital A

KARUNA

Artist: Celebrity Ali MacGraw.
The noted actress, Ali MacGraw partook in this creative adventure and saw the Horse as "the perfect symbol of Man's connection to the Animal world. I chose to make a fantasy creature inspired by the fabulous horses of Central and Far-away Asia. I have called her "Karuna" which is Sanskrit for Compassion. Compassion for all God's creatures, great and small, all over the world." Ali demonstrates her talent and creativity extend far beyond the movie world.

CABALLO BRILLIANTE (Brilliant Horse)

Artist: Roger Montoya
Roger Montoya is a nationally recognized renaissance figure, as well known for his dance performances as his landscape paintings. He served as the Artistic Director of this Pony, assembling a team of some 50 people, ranging in age from 5 to 81, from a New Mexico village. First, they tropped out to local riverbeds and dumps to collect glass and ceramic shards. They arrange them onto the surface and into a mosaic that dances with light and color. As if that were not enough, the original "Caballo Brillante" rotates on a solar powered turning device that captivates viewers with the dance of reflective light.

WILDFIRE

Artist: Gerri Mattson.
Anyone who has lived in the West knows firsthand about the awesome power, swift movement and unpredictability of a wildfire. As well, anyone who has ridden horses knows they too are powerful, swift moving and can be unpredictable. Carlsbad artist Gerri Mattson has creatively combined these two natural forces into a single dynamic image in which a forest fire raging out of control and a horse stand together in a single artform.

FIVE CARD STUD

Gerri Mattson
Artistic inspiration comes in many forms. Drawing on her experience of 25 years as a secondary art teacher, Carlsbad artist Gerri Mattson gave herself an assignment. She made a list of words that related to horses, and then began to sketch out corresponding ideas. The word "stud" led to the game of poker, which led to a horse fancifully adorned with gaming, horseracing, casinos and lottery images.

ROUTE 66 HORSE

Artist: Ellen Sokoloff.

Ellen Sokoloff considers herself an "Americana painter." Her artwork preserves scenes from an earlier time in our country's history. Childhood memories of western trips along historic Route 66, America's "Mother Road", inspired the collage of diners, motels, gas stations and tourist attractions that embellish her Painted Pony. Her horse "represented a time in our country before franchises took over and closed down many oth the "mom and Pop" family-owned businesses. A time when there was comfort food in friendly eating establishments and homey motels beckoning the tourIst to stay awhile. The highways welcome a slower pace and folks could stop and rest in friendly conversation. Ellen hoped to capture this picture as the image of those cities along Route 66 fade.

LIGHTNING BOLT COLT

Artist: Dyanne Strongbow

In Lakota Sioux mythology the horse is a Thunder Being who brings storms to Mother Earth. With storms come rain and change - change is like a new day. With this in mind, Choctaw artist Dyanne Strongbow imagined a thunderstorm centered in the horse's hindquarters, breaking up as it moved forward toward his head into the sunny skies of a new day. The thunder you hear is the pounding of his hooves.

SPIRIT WAR PONY

Artist: Tavlos
Growing up he played "Cowboys and Indians" in Illinois and was influenced by the Illini Indians. He moved to Santa Fe in 1970 and experienced their culture, history, ceremonies, and fantastic art. "If it can be saig that the Plains Warrior and his War Pony were one - each an extension of the other - so it is that my painted pony reflects my art in its entirety"... Tavlos.

Tavlos is credited with originating the famous howling coyote imagery that became a trademark of Southwest art in the '80s. Known for his bold colors and vivid designs, he took a pop art approach to the Native American tradition of painting their war horses, giving his Pony a turquoise coat and decorating it with dazzling accents. "If it can be said that the Plains Warrior and his War Pony were one-each an extension of the other-so it is that my painted pony reflects my art in its entirety."

NAVAJO BLANKET PONY

Artist: Barbara Tomasko Quimby

After receiving a degree from the Boston Museum School of Fine Art, New Englander Barbara Tomasko Quimby moved to Wagon Mount, New Mexico, where she fell in love with the native cultures and people of the West. Admiring the artistry displayed by Navajo women weaving fabulous blankets with thread on loom, she was moved to create this tribute, incorporating the color and design "of day and night, of deserts flat and mountain height."