RECREATION & LIFESTYLE

Recreation & Lifestyle

Welcome to Recreation & Lifestyle, which includes leisure riding and other aspects of the equestrian lifestyle for you and your horse loving friends and family.

Looking for the perfect present? See the Gifts & Jewelry section. Redecorating? Find a Painting, Photograph or Sculpture in the Artwork section. Need to check out a movie or crawl up with a good book or magazine? See our Entertainment section where you will find and Books, Movies, Games, and Magazines. And don't forget about Fine Art in some specialty Museums that might surprise you.

Looking for love or a trail buddy? Riding Partners is the spot to seek other riders who share your passion. Find a place to ride with that special person in our Trail Riding section and if you need more time away, take a look at Vacations. Want to know about the next horse show or special event? Don’t miss it! Dates and locations are included in the Calendar of Events for Recreation & Lifestyle.

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Andy Warhol, Cowboys and Indians: John Wayne, 1986 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. 1998

By Gene Fowler

New Exhibition Spotlights the Artist’s Love of the Cowboy Way

Andy wore cowboy boots. Who knew? Wait—what? Andy who? If you were alive for very long in the last century, you know this particular Andy only needs one name. Andy Warhol, the pop artist who held a mirror up to American culture, the late, inscrutable hipster-trickster of the avant-garde, liked to slither around Manhattan with his dogs encased in cowpoke couture.

Actually, of course, it’s really no surprise. Cowboy boots…I mean, what’s not to love? The archives at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the artist’s hometown, preserve some 27 pairs of Andy’s boots. Half a dozen of ‘em have temporarily headed west to Oklahoma City, where you can admire them right now as part of the exhibition, Warhol and the West, at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

Centered around the artist’s last major project before his death in 1987, a portfolio of 10 prints of Old West icons entitled Cowboys and Indians, the show also includes dozens of additional artworks and artifacts that reveal the artist’s lifelong interest in the West. Come July 1, the whole shootin’ match will homestead for a spell at the Tacoma Art Museum, between Puget Sound and Mount Rainier. And while previous exhibitions have touched on aspects of Warhol’s West, Michael Grauer, McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, says the current show is unique in its thorough exploration of “Warhol’s love of and devotion to the American West.”

Seth Hopkins, director of the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, where Warhol and the West debuted last year, tracks that devotion back to the artist’s childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born in 1928, much of Andrew Warhola’s earliest experience of the transcendent power of images happened at the Saturday matinee. Tex, Gene and Roy roped the West and saved the ranch, won the gal and sang about the sage on the silver screen. Andy’s boyhood scrapbook of movie star photos, which depicted many of his early cowboy heroes, is included in the exhibition, along with the Roy Rogers alarm clock from his childhood bedroom.

Joanna Zeller Quentin: Hooked On Horses and Art

by Hope Ellis-Ashburn

When it came time for artist Joanna Zeller Quentin and her husband to come up with a name for the studio they planned to share, finding a great name proved difficult. “Moose Pants Studio was born out of desperation. Everything that we thought of that was really cool and wonderful and unique was already taken,” Joanna said. “We made a pledge that the first name we came up with that wasn’t already taken would be our studio name, no matter how peculiar it seemed.”

So how did they come up with Moose Pants? “My mother mailed our Christmas presents, and included a matching pair of adorable flannel pajama pants for each of us with a moose print on them,” Joanna said. “Strangely enough, no one had thought of naming their business Moose Pants, so voila!”

After her husband started his own studio, Joanna elected to keep the name. “How could I not?” she teased. “My studio’s name, rather than my art, is often the first question I get asked about,” joked the 39-year-old artist who is based in Dallas, Texas. In all seriousness, the art that Joanna exhibits and sells comes from a love of color, motion, and energy.

“I love to get into a painting and see the marks — the pencil lines, the slap of the brush and the thick application of the paint, the way a hidden color comes to the surface at just the right moment. I live for that,” Joanna said. Among other activities, she’s currently working on commissions, creating original artwork for the galleries that represent her, and experimenting with new subject matter.

In addition to her colorful paintings, Joanna is also known for her highly detailed and dramatic scratchboards. Created using only an Xacto knife, scratchboard involves hours of detailed work scratching away the black surface of the board to display the white clay layer underneath. While it may seem a strange fit next to the exuberant color, Joanna enjoys the soothing meticulous zen work of scratchboard and says that switching back and forth between the two mediums creates a happy artistic balance.

by Robert Clark

I apologize to my friends who know racing, but I realize that I have a lot of friends and family that don't. So, here is a crash course in the various levels of races to help you get the story that follows.

Races are divided into categories based upon the quality of the competition, the purse and the prestige, which I think are all related to the entrance qualifications. Typically, the more money a race pays, the better the competition. The highest level of quality are stakes races. In North America we call them graded stakes races and Europe calls them Group races, deeming the highest of those as Grade 1 down through Grade 2 and Grade 3. After that you have allowance races that you might equate to the Triple AAA level of baseball.

Generally, the lowest level in racing are claiming races. Here is the catch, if you are in a claiming race, that means anybody can "claim" your horse from that race. – I In other words, they throw their name in the box with your horse's name and they buy it from you at a set price based upon the race. YES, you can lose your horse by racing him/her in a race! Imagine you own a baseball team and the other teams want your pitcher and the only way they can "steal" him from you, is if you play him. That might be over simplified, but that's claiming in a nutshell.

Here is a collection of some of my favorite works and the stories of how I came to know the horses and their people.

by David Hoffman - The story is true. I spent more than a month checking it out in Tennessee and elsewhere. The book is called Beautiful Jim Key by Miriam Rivas available on Amazon. I am not on horseback rider. But I have been given the opportunity to do several films with people who love and understand horses. Magnificent animals they are. And I have met people who have worked with the intelligence of horses and they all agree that Jim Key could very well be completely true. I love animals as many of the viewers of this video to and deeply admire the unique Bill Key for all the things he did to make Americans aware of animals and especially horses as sentient beings. The movie I describe is not yet a reality but I hope someday it will be. Investment money is what is needed and is, as most of you know, very hard to get.

Olivia Otto: How an Investment Horse Changed Her Life

by Hope Ellis-Ashburn

The first years of college are typically ones of personal growth. Young adults face the responsibilities of life on their own, managing their finances and making important adult decisions about their future. Lifelong equestrian Olivia Otto’s experiences may be characteristic of many college students, but a day in the life of this 19-year-old entrepreneur is anything but typical.

Olivia owns her own startup company, Olivia Otto Inc., whose product line is named HorseCBD. After receiving encouragement from her father, who worked in the CBD industry, she started the business in mid-2018 with her products going to market in January 2019.

An Investment Horse

Olivia’s interest in CBD traces back to 2017 when she purchased her horse Lorenzo, an 11-year-old Swedish Warmblood show jumper. Lorenzo was originally intended to be her first investment horse, and Olivia was looking forward to the amazing learning experience. However, she quickly fell in love with him and decided he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Unfortunately, Lorenzo showed signs of lameness, inflammation and stiffness almost every day,” Olivia said. She tried everything in the book, including adding extra joint supplements, liniment, expensive wraps and having her vet out almost every weekend. Her father gave her the idea to try CBD on her horse.

Eugène Delacroix, Horse Frightened by Lightning, 1825-29

by Hannah Hayden

A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse! Horses galloping into battle, horses pulling carriages and wagons, horses jumping over poles, horses dashing down ribbons of racetracks, horses suspecting something in their peripheral vision and thrashing about, horses being sold at the market. Horses have a long history as human companions, athletic partners, and methods of transportation. Of course, then, it should come as no surprise that there is a wealth of art to pay homage to this historical symbiosis between not only the human, but the artist and the horse.

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, AD 175

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was not uncommon to see strangely proportioned equestrian statues, often depicting some knight’s legs swinging down from chubby ponies pottering valiantly into battle. The only reason that the Bronze Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius wasn’t melted into coins is that he was mistaken for Constantinople, the first Christian Emperor. Luckily, this standard for equestrian statues has survived: erected in 175 AD, the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius remains to be an ideal canon for equestrian statues.

Bonny Snowdon’s Graceful Equine Portraits

by Shya Beth

Bonny Snowdon lives in the beautiful and historic lands of North Yorkshire, England with wonderful views of North Yorkshire Moors and the White Horse of Kilburn, ( a chalk horse that is 325 feet long and 227 feet high and carved in 1857). While being a full time equine and pet portrait artist, Bonny is also raising her three teenage children and taking care of her two dogs and cat.

Bonny Snowdon - North Yorkshire, England
Website, Facebook, Instagram

Starting to ride when she was three, she journeyed through her time at her local pony club and studied her BHS exams at the age of 11 at the renowned Yorkshire Riding Centre, home to the Olympic dressage riders Jane Bartle Wilson and Christopher Bartle. A avid rider in dressage competitions well into her late 30s, and one of Bonny’s last competitions she was crowned Reserve Champion Of ROR (retraining of racehorses) at Stoneleigh in 2013. Then, in early 2014 Bonny had a total hip replacement that limited her riding to trails and practice at home, and ultimately ended with her needing to sell her beloved “Elf”, a 18.2hh Trakehener in July 2016. However, Bonny probably didn’t think that her equestrian lifestyle would prepare her for a second career of pet portrait work.

Christian Hook: Painting The Essence of Time

by Shya Beth

Many people often wonder about time. What is the invisible thing that continuously moves forward that we call time? It is real?

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. – William Penn

While we may never have answers to these questions, one of the closest things to actually “seeing” time is looking at Christian Hook’s otherworldly paintings of horses. If there ever was a perfect mix of realism, abstract and the essence of time, Christian’s paintings are made of that mixture. With his own way of layering paint onto his canvas, it feels like you are looking a horse, a person or a landscape over a period of time. Many artists try to capture the moment, the split-second, but Christian manages to capture years all on one canvas.

Lexington, KY (Photo Credit: Red Bay Group)

by Abi Kroupa

From the rolling hills of Lexington Kentucky to the bustling Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, the U.S. has destinations for all types of equestrians. Whether you desire to compete at top equestrian venues or to ride miles of trails in a state forest, we are sure you can find the perfect setting for you and your equine family members in one of these horse-friendly towns.

Lexington, Kentucky

Lexington was the first city outside of Europe to hold the World Equestrian Games in 2010. It is home to the United States Equestrian Federation and to the 1,200 acre Kentucky Horse Park which attracts millions of visitors a year. In Lexington, more money changes hands over the sale of horses than any place in the world. It is not at all uncommon for horses to fetch millions of dollars at the annual Keeneland Sales. Keeneland is the world's largest and most prestigious Thoroughbred auction company. Kentucky is one of the best places to raise and own horses in the U.S. Underground water passes through a massive limestone shelf that lies beneath the surface and nourishes Kentucky's signature bluegrass pastures and soil. These rich grasses grow strong, healthy horses, unlike anywhere else in the world.

In Theaters starting May 1st, 2020. Follow the film on: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

The film tells the inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town Welsh bartender, Jan Vokes (Academy Award® nominee Toni Collette). With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbors to chip in their meager earnings to help raise Dream in the hopes he can compete with the racing elites. The group's investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks with grit and determination and goes on to race in the Welsh Grand National showing the heart of a true champion.