Pony Up Quarter-Horse Project

John Woodmark knew that his future wife Talley had a love of horses, stemming from her childhood. She owned horses, had competed professionally in dressage and equitation, and was featured in the Quarter Horse Journal with her champion stallion, Dubee Foursocks. On their fifth date, John casually mentioned he owned a herd of 250 quarter horses. Talley asked where his ranch was located, and he told her he had all 250 leased out to various locations. This intrigued her, so John then asked if Talley would like to take the next couple of days to accompany him to pick up the quarterly lease payments. She gleefully replied, “Yes!” and off they went.

Upon their arrival at a grocery store in Bandon, Oregon, Talley asked why they were there.

“Do the people who own the supermarket lease one of your horses?”

John told her they leased several. As they exited the truck, Talley was instructed to bring the along a canvas cash bag and an unfamiliar-looking key from the glove box. At this point, she was quite perplexed. Moments later, Talley found herself standing before a pair of mechanical horses with a sign posted alongside: 25 cents a ride. Using the strange key to open the attached coin box and retrieve the coins inside, John said, “Meet my first two quarter horses!” Talley fell in love with John on that trip, as they spent the trip driving from one grocery store to another, across the entire state of Oregon, schlepping bags and bags of quarters.

Fast forward 28 years… 

30 of the unfinished kiddie-ride ponies have been “stabled” in the Woodmark’s storage unit, prompting Talley to ask if she might be able to open the gate and repurpose all the remaining “quarter horses”… this time as works of art. Unbeknownst to John, at the beginning of 2019, Talley started parceling out the ponies to various artists visiting her Silver Heron Gallery. Lee Munsell was the first to be drafted into service in the name of her newly-envisioned project, and off to California the first pony galloped. The next took a car ride to sunny Arizona to be newly realized by mixed-media artist, EA Kennedy. As the number of ponies in the storage unit mysteriously dwindled, John began to question his wife, “What’s happening to the ponies? They seem to be disappearing.” It was time to ‘fess up, but Talley held her ground and continued with the project plan she had in mind.

Over the course of the remainder of the year, 28 other artists from across the U.S., and from England and Australia, came into the stable to rein in their own artistic talents on these unique equine canvases. What better way for the owner of a fine arts galley and founder of a charitable foundation to stimulate creativity than by allowing the ponies to once again ride the range to homes across the globe?