STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

It was nearly 25 years ago that Lyn Stallard and Terry Tischer organized Summer of Labs to raise money for Mountain Humane, then known as the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley.

They rallied artists in the valley to paint larger-than-life fiberglass labs that they assigned such names as Labrador Dali for Martine Drackett’s take on surrealist Salvador Dali, Napoleon Bone-a parte for his navy blue French uniform, and Spectaculab for his cool sunglasses.

A few years later, in 2006, they held a Dog and Pony Show in which they auctioned off another round of fiberglass dogs, along with painted ponies.

The ponies, like the dogs, were assigned names depending on their themes. A shiny red candy apple-colored pony was named Horsefeathers because it bore the plumage of an Andes toucan, an Andean hummingbird and a rare woodpecker.

A soft blue pony sporting soft dreamy clouds was named Sky Paint.

Now, one of those ponies is back on the market. Stallard is selling a cherry red pony on behalf of her friend Terry Tischer, who now resides in a residential assistance facility in Twin Falls and no longer has room for the pony.

“We bought it at benefitand we loved it. We thought someone else might now enjoy it as much as we did,” said Stallard.

The horse, named Lowrider, is of Hopi descent, having been created by Ramona Sakiestewa, an internationally renowned textile artist who has had exhibitions at such museums as the Heard Museum in Arizona.

Wanting to create a work of art that reflected the unique cultural mix of Indian and Hispanics in the Southwest, she contracted with a body shop to have her Pony painted and lacquered. She then wove a saddle blanket for it.

“We bought it at the benefit and we loved it,” said Stallard. “We thought someone else might now enjoy it as much as we did.”

You can contact Stallard at https://www.facebook.com/thatlyn/.