Collectors Corner! Ed Sandoval's Newsletter (Taos, NM)

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Collectors Corner!

Ed Sandoval Gallery's Newsletter

119 Quesnel Street, Taos, NM 87571

www.edsandovalgallery.com

edsandovalart@gmail.com

(575) 770-6360

My Horses: The End of an Equine Era

I love horses. These beautiful, elegant, intelligent companions are trusty friends, and I can't imagine my life without them. Actually, my first paying "art gig" was drawing a horse for the June 1970 edition of "Quarter Racing World" out of Roswell, NM. I've written about my horses often, and some of the adventures I've shared are:

Nellie the plow horse helping me make adobe bricks as a boy (read HERE)
Cinco de Mayo protecting me from bears and saving two elderly people from freezing to death (read HERE)
St. Anthony being stolen by creeps and spending a winter in the mountains all by himself before I found him (read HERE)
Patron, given to me by Lynn Anderson (the country singer), tolerating me riding him as Zorro around Taos (read HERE)

Horses are in my blood – after all, my great-great-great-great-etc. grandfather from Spain mapped “New Spain” (New Mexico's name back then) on horseback (read HERE).

"Taos Plaza Looking Northwest 1906" (Source)

Horses have been an integral part of northern NM’s history and culture. In fact, when the historic Taos plaza was modernized (I'm not sure what year), horse-and-wagon spaces were converted into automobile parking, but the right to ride horses was grandfathered into the law. To this day, you can ride in the plaza, which I frequently did over the years.

Horses & Wagons on Taos Plaza (Source)

Horses at Taos Pueblo 1917 (Source)

Taos Plaza with Horse-Drawn Wagons (Source)

Not everyone was happy when I rode around Taos. One day, when I was dressed as Zorro, a police officer came up and said, “I need you to put that sword away.” I replied, “Don’t you have anything better to do than harass Zorro?” LOL. I don’t think he found that amusing. It probably wasn’t amusing either when Patron left “apples” in front of shops. Although I always went back to clean it up, store owners gave me dirty looks and yelled. I guess I wasn’t quick enough… Oh well. Tourists and little kids, however, LOVED us. So many kids haven’t been near a horse, and I let them pet Patron and even gave them rides. It made their vacations, and their parents would pull out their cameras and take a million photos. Experiences like that make Taos unique (in my humble opinion).

Parades were my favorite, especially the Arroyo Seco 4th of July parade. One year, I was even the Marshall. As an Egyptian Arabian, Patron is a high-strung horse, but he always did well in parades (except if there were a flag flapping behind him). The parade in Arroyo Seco always had horses, which in hindsight probably wasn't the wisest decision since the main road through town is extremely narrow and packed with people.

One year (around 2017?), someone brought a horse to ride. Two things were ominously wrong: 1) the rider didn't own the horse and was unfamiliar with him, and 2) I heard later the horse had never been in a parade. Unless a horse is used to stimulating conditions (crowds, loud noises, etc.), he may just freak out, This horse did – he reared up and fell over backwards onto someone, hurting them badly. No horses were allowed after that...

We were having dinner with Thom and Lavinia Wheeler not long ago, and they reminded me of a funny horse story. Years ago, a couple wanted to get married at their house, and the bride-to-be wanted to ride down the aisle on Patron with me leading the way as Zorro. I arrived early, but the bride was... well... "nervous" and delayed the ceremony. We waited and waited, and Patron (knowing something was off/weird) got more and more antsy and started prancing in place. Finally, the bride appeared and told Thom she didn't want to ride Patron. Oh, he simply wasn't having that, so, before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her waist and hoisted her up into the saddle (she was a tiny, tiny thing). Ha Ha!

Leading the Bride on Patron

Heading to the Plaza

Riding with Thom Wheeler & Mentor Williams

I had Patron for years and years before wanting a second Arabian. Arabians Unlimited had received Toronado – Patron's half brother! – which made up my mind. Both were sired by THE Desperado. Toronado was the cutest, most adorable horse ever, with a white mark on his forehead that reminded me of a tornado (hence his name). He did NOT want to get in the trailer, but we put a rope behind his butt and sort of scooted him in. For a year, I had his stall set up in the enclosed portale at my gallery, with my portrait on the wall so he would bond with me. I'd open the door, and he'd stick his head in to see what was going on (and probably to get a treat). Such a curious, gentle, good-natured horse.

Toronado in the Snow

Me w/ My Baby

Toronado Getting a Pedicure

Time flies – Toronado is about 15 and Patron is well over 30. All this time, a woman named Maya came every morning to feed and brush them, check their water and make sure everything was okay. I fed at night. All was well until eight months ago. Patron's teeth have always been horrible, and the guy who floats his teeth said he couldn't do it anymore. His teeth were so bad nothing more could be done. Not only was he missing teeth, but the ones he had were so curved they didn't meet. Add in his age (30+), and he began to lose weight...a lot of weight.

Our vet suggested mixing Patron's grain with water and supplements. Since I was painting at home (mostly), Gwen (at the gallery) started the cumbersome dinnertime ritual. She didn't mind. As the daughter of a farmer, rancher and veterinarian who rode horses her whole life, she wanted Patron to be healthy. Filling a big pitcher with hot water, she'd walk down, crawl over fences, separate the horses (so Toronado wouldn't eat Patron's food), crawl back over to the grain, mix Patron's steaming vitamin-and-fat-enriched gruel, feed them, climb out to go back to the gallery, wait an hour for Patron to finish, go back down, climb in, toss them a grass-alfalfa mix and open gates so they could be together again.

Infuriatingly, people wandered by on Quesnel while Gwen was feeding, looked at Patron and berated her. "Why is that horse so thin?" "You need to feed him more!" Gwen explained, dozens of times, Patron was old and had bad teeth, but he was well fed and cared for. Next, we got regular visits from the livestock police – responding to accusations that we were starving and abusing the horses. The investigators always concluded Patron was quite healthy and frisky for his age. Even our vet stood up for us, saying it's VERY hard to put weight on an old Arabian. He knew first hand about the craziness. While giving checkups, "well meaning" yet judgmental people yelled at HIM and accused HIM of starving and mistreating the horses. He shouted back, "I'm the veterinarian!!!"

But we hadn't seen ANYTHING yet. Next, we acquired a stalker who was CONVINCED we were purposefully torturing the horses. I won't go into much detail, but these disturbing, bizarre encounters went on for weeks and weeks. She cornered Maya who fed in the mornings and accused her of underfeeding. Maya tried to explain the real facts but wasn't believed. Once, our stalker saw Patron lying down and called the livestock police (again). The investigator got there, and she screamed, "This horse can't get up! He's abused!" Patron saw them at the fence, became curious, got up and meandered over to say hi. The investigator turned to her and asked, "I thought you said this horse couldn't get up?"

Later, the "real" police got involved, but they knew this delusional individual was a problem from previous confrontations and told her she'd be arrested if she returned. Not deterred and angry, she started contacting others by phone in a methodical, diabolical campaign to destroy my reputation. We eventually filed a police report against her with lots of evidence, including video footage and nasty, insanity-laden voice messages that she left for me and other people and businesses. Needless to say, a restraining order is in the works...

"My Last Ride" (2006)

"Summer Pasture" (2006)

"Moon Horse" (1997)

I've painted and cared for horses my whole life, but some people just LOVE to jump to conclusions and think the worst of others. On top of the chaos with the stalker, a few weeks ago at lunch, a guy sitting at the bar turned to me and asked rudely, "Ed, how is it your horses aren't dead yet?" The vile comments didn't stop! I heard them in person, read them on local Facebook pages and the time came when enough was enough!

We often reach a point in life when we must let go. These beautiful half brothers had lived together in the Couse pasture for about 15 years, and they were so happy there, playing and chasing one another around, but we decided to move them away from prying eyes. It was a gut-wrenching decision but had to be done – I just wish I reached this conclusion of my own accord, without feeling forced by constant negativity. They now reside away from Taos in an undisclosed location (for obvious reasons) and receive excellent care.

Patron, the most beautiful, regal, proud horse I've ever owned, will live out the rest of his days there. For now, Toronado is with him. Horses are social creatures. Inseparable for 15 years, they need to be together for this transition, to have one another as they learn a new environment and meet/bond with new horses. Eventually, I'll have to decide what to do with Toronado, but, for now, I'm glad they're together and having a grand adventure.

I hope others will take up where I left off, take up the reins so to speak and ride in the Taos Plaza. It's our history, our heritage and tradition! When the next generation rides, I hope they do so with pride and style – like Patron and I tried to do.

Winter Storms & the Importance of Fire

This past month, northern NM experienced storms that wreaked havoc on our electrical infrastructure. First, a wind storm (the likes of which NOBODY has seen) ripped through the area with speeds in excess of 80 mph, and in some areas even stronger! Countless poles went down, and power was knocked out for thousands of people. Ours came on in about eight hours, but some areas didn't get their power restored for weeks.

Then right at New Year's Day, a massive snowstorm hit. The snow was so wet and heavy that it broke branches, took out more lines and poles and transformers were exploding. It wasn't good. That time, power went out for just about everyone for at least 24 hours, but again many people suffered much longer outages.

Thank goodness we have an indoor kiva fireplace that really kicks out the heat (kivas are fabulous!) because we sure needed it. It kept the house warm while we moved refrigerator contents outside, lit lamps, read books and heated up soup (luckily, we have natural gas). And to feed that fireplace, we have tons of piñon wood – that's me in the photo digging out some dry pieces from the snow-covered woodpile.

If power outages don't last too long, it's kind of nice to get back to basics, like reading a book by lamplight. But it's so dangerous to people who have medical needs, don't have fireplaces, have little children, etc. We get in the habit of taking electricity for granted, and these winter storms were a wake-up call...