Dunrovin Ranch has long been fascinated by the many ways in which cultures around the world celebrate the special, and ever changing, bond between humans and horses. Many cultures use artistic expressions to honor the role horses have played in their evolution. Dunrovin Ranch was introduced to this tradition by a young American Indian woman who worked for us and taught us some of the Lakota Sioux methods and symbols for painting horses. We embraced her teachings and expanded on this unique art form to include other cultural expressions that we learned about through ranch guests originating from Asia and other parts of the world.
Dunrovin Ranch began to experiment with horse painting in 2015. Our initial goal was to ensure the safety of the horses and the artists. At first we invited three of our wranglers to paint and decorate three different horses. Their work exceeded our expectations and they proved that it could be done without stress to the horses.
Then in 2016, we invited a professional artist without any horse experience to come out and paint a single horse. Again, our intention was to prove up the concept that an artist without any knowledge of horses could safely and enjoyable paint a horse. Artist Scott Miller did an outstanding job.
These successful experiments caused the Friends of Dunrovin to officially launch the Equine Art Extravaganza in August of 2017 and it has continued every year since. Take a look at previous years' artwork.