Prints of original drawings to benefit Kids & Horses

Kids & Horses Therapeutic Riding Center, a non-profit center located in Minden, accredited by North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, is bringing back two limited-edition pencil drawing prints for sale as a fundraiser for the riding center. Both are images of horses who have provided dedicated services to therapeutic riding centers in their lives.

The first to be released was "The Spirit of Ghost Star," an 18-inch by 24-inch print, drawn by local artist Jonni Hill of Topaz Ranch Estates. Ghost Star was a quarter horse, owned by Sharon Evans of Pleasant Valley, Calif. "Star" had a distinguished career, both in the movies, and as a therapeutic horse for the blind.

"The drawing was done for a charity in Placerville, Calif.," Hill said. "The printing job was donated by Fast Draw Graphics in Placerville. The image was drawn in 1993 to honor the 30th birthday of 'Star' and the money raised from the print was to benefit a local charity."

"The organization that the prints were done for lost interest in promoting the image and I found myself with over 200 prints and I didn't have the right to sell them."

In 1994, Hill moved to Nevada and still had the prints in her possession. One day she was doing an art show and there was a booth to promote Kids & Horses nearby. It seemed like a perfect opportunity to have the prints continue to do some good so she offered the prints to the riding center as a fundraising opportunity.

The sale of the print was successful enough to warrant a second horse image to be produced. Three hundred limited-edition prints of "The Spirit of Charlie" were released for sale in spring 2002 with all funds from the sale of the print going to benefit Kids & Horses.

"Finding Kids & Horses was a great thing for me and a perfect place for 'The Spirit of Ghost Star' to do some good for someone again," Hill said. "The chance to do 'The Spirit of Charlie' was something also very special for me to do.

"Charlie was one of my horses, a gorgeous mustang that pretty much owned me," she said. "What makes Charlie so special is that, when I acquired him, he was well on his way to the glue factory, an illegal act for anyone to dispose of a BLM mustang in that way. He was an incorrigible monster, but he had a kind eye, something the people who had tried to work with him in the past had not seen. They failed miserably in his training, and in doing so, ruined him for the most part.

"The common bond between Kids & Horses and that of Charlie's story is all Charlie needed was love and understanding to turn him into a giving, caring dedicated companion. Charlie learned to be one of the strongest and safest of all of the trail horses I had. All it took was faith and a whole lot of love."

The prints are available through Kids & Horses. They sell for $30 each or two for $50. To order the prints call Kids & Horses at 267-1775 or Michael Lashkoff at 841-3930 in Carson City. One hundred percent of the money goes to Kids & Horses and is a tax-deductible donation.