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Irish blacksmith is horse portrait artist with soul

Irish blacksmith is horse portrait artist with soul

Sixth generation Irish blacksmith Tony O’Connor says he grew up “with a pencil in one hand and a hammer in the other.” His eye for equine beauty combined with his draftsmanship talent and skill, impelled him to study art in his native Ireland, and today, although the art of horse shoeing runs in his bloodlines, it is the poetry of painting that sustains him. In this weeks’ Clubhouse Q&A, O’Connor talks about his craft, inspiration and goals. Q: Please tell me about your background as an artist. Where did you receive your art training, and who are some of the […]

Tara and Afleet Trini

Afleet Alex’s son is a gift from her lost Dad

Every once and a while, Tara MacLeod’s father Billy would call to ask if she still wanted him to hang on to her tack-box filled with bridles and saddles from her youth. Someone, he’d explain, had expressed an interest in buying it. And when she replied that yes, she wanted to keep it stored at his home, where it’d been tucked away for 20 years, he’d simply chuckle with fatherly understanding. Although he wasn’t a horse person, he was an “animal person” who freely indulged his daughter’s passion; he bought those saddles for her way back when, and stored them […]

Oh the cuteness! Photo by Patricia McQueen

Suffolk ex-racehorses charm CANTER crowd

Thirteen ex-racehorses found new homes last week at the 7th annual CANTER New England Suffolk Showcase, and eight additional Thoroughbred ex-racehorses were sold shortly after the sales event, according to Jennifer Montfort, event spokeswoman. “It seems like this year we had a lot of serious buyers. It was awfully rainy, so you have to be pretty dedicated to come out and hang out in all that rain,” she says, noting that five prospective buyers showed up with trailers. “We had eventers and hunter/jumper people looking for prospects. It really ran the gamut,” she says, adding that buyers came from New […]