This sculpture is based on a story my cousin told me. When my Aunt Betty was ten years old, she spent the summer of 1945 with her Aunt Mary and cousin Earl on their ranch outside Gillette, Wyoming. She learned how to ride on a little half-Shetland pony named Midgie. When Betty fell off, Midgie always waited patiently for her to climb aboard again.  Betty was not allowed to use a saddle – apparently her Aunt Mary assumed she would get her foot caught in the stirrup and be dragged behind a startled horse!  I guess she figured getting dumped clear and proper was safer.  After awhile, Aunt Mary decided Betty was a good enough rider to enter a race. In those days, Gillette had a big Fourth of July celebration that included children’s horse races in the festivities.  Aunt Mary had to pay an entrance fee for Betty and Midgie to race ten other horses and children. Aunt Mary braided Betty’s hair into pigtails for her horse-racing debut. Betty wore a straw hat - the afternoon was hot and dry. The "starting gate" was a thin ribbon stretched across the track, and the horses were positioned side-by-side. As the story goes, Midgie got a little stage fright that day – and while she was ordinarily a fast runner, at heart she was a cow pony and not a racehorse. A horn sounded to start the race – and to make a long story short, when the race was over and the dust had settled, Betty and Midgie brought up the rear. I imagine this picture and sculpture captured the moment just before the horn blew – when a little city girl who was spending the summer in Wyoming riding horses still had big dreams about her “Summer at the Ranch.”

Limited edition of 20.  $2,200 price includes wooden base. Shipping charges apply.

Dimensions of sculpture (approximate size)

Day at the Races was my first commissioned piece.  I was tasked with creating a sculpture based on this 1940's picture of a young girl and her pony.  The exercise posed various challenges, most notably the unusual, slightly low/behind angle of the picture.  The child is also posing on the pony in a manner that suggests she is leaning slightly askew - note her far foot visible below the pony's girth.  I emphasized her pose a bit for to capture the playfulness of the piece.  She is obviously posing for the camera!