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, a kick-starter, leather saddlebags, and chains instead of reins. This Pony rumbles!

Comanche artist Rance Hood is one of the most recognized names in Southwest Art. His paintings, known for their drama and authenticity, hang in museums and corporate collections. The opportunity to recreate a traditional war pony, complete with a buffalo pelt saddle, lance-and-shield, arrows and feathers, became the pinnacle piece of his distinguished career.

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 foundry where the Painted Pony forms are cast.

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 "Boot Scootin' Bogie." This is how she came up with the name for her pony, which has attitude with a capital A.

Says actress and animal lover Ali MacGraw, "I chose to make a fantasy creature, inspired by the fabulous horses of Central Asia, that would inspire compassion for all God's creatures, great and small, all over the world." With Karuna, which means "Compassion" in Sanskrit, Ali demonstates that her talent and creativity extend far beyond the silver screen.

Hispanic artist Roger Montoya is a nationally recognized renaissance figure, as well known for his dance performances as he is for his landscape paintings. He served as Artistic Director of this Pony,assembling a team of some 50 people, ranging in age from 5 to 81, from a New Mexico village to collect glass and ceramic shards from nearby riverbeds and old dumps, and arrange them into a mosaic that danced with light and color.

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

Artistic inspiration comes in many forms. Drawing on her experience 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" prompted an association with poker, which lead to a horse fancifully adorned with gaming, casino, and lottery images.

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 the historic Route 66, America's "Mother Road," inspired the collage of diners, motels, gas stations and tourist attractions that embellish her Painted Pony.

In Lakota Sioux mythology, the horse is a Thunder Being who brings storms to Mother Earth. With storms come rain and change. 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 Santa Fe artist 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.

After receiving a degree from the Boston Museum of Fine Art, New Englander Barbara Tomasko Quimby moved to Wagon Mound, 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."