The Polish Rider

The Polish Rider

A familiar face in downtown Kernersville, NC was Charles Horton, who would often pass by, no on foot, but atop a four-foot-high Shetland pony.  As a young boy, Charles once jumped on the back of my great-uncle's trailer to catch a ride to the store.  When he jumped off, he was hit by a car coming in the opposite direction.  His leg was severely broken and he remained in a coma for over a month.   Since his family was poor, they couldn't afford the best medical attention for Charles.  He never fully recovered and he had trouble walking after that.  He said he made good grades in school before the accident, but afterwards he said they couldn't teach him anything.

Charles couldn't afford a car, and it was too hard for him to climb onto a full-sized horse, so he spent years traveling around Kernersville on his pony, with his feet almost touching the ground.  I'm sure that there were people who gossiped about Charles, or thought him odd, but I thought he looked quite noble atop his miniature steed.  

He reminded me of Rembrandt's The Polish Rider, and so I decided to paint a portrait of Charles with Rembrandt's masterpiece in mind.  Not long after I finished his portrait and hung it in the front window of my shop, a lady stopped in to complain.  She said that her husband trained horses, and that she knew Charles's pony was being abused, because a pony that size was not strong enough to support a grown man.  My answer to that woman was that it had transported him for over twenty years and I know of no other pony in the world that had such an important purpose in life.

One morning when Charles came into my shop and out of the blue, he said to me, "See all those people out there driving big cars and living in big houses?  I'm happier than all of them."  I never worried too much about Charles after that.

This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.