M. Benfante, Horses of Bronze

Who can explain the connection so many people have to the horse? For many horse enthusiasts it starts early. It’s probably genetic.

I’m no different from any other horse crazed person. It’s a condition I’ve had for as long as I can remember.

While I’ve had the good fortune to own a horse at different times and have had horse(s) for the past 20 years, I didn’t start out with horses in my life. We traveled a lot before I reached the age of nine. My dad was a career Navy man so where he went, we pretty much went. Not to mention, horses were expensive and money only went so far for a family of seven.

My first memory of asking for a horse is when we were moving from the east coast back to the west coast. We were going back to California and my dad’s plan was to buy a place in the country where we could have animals and raise a garden and plant an orchard.

We arrived in Alpine when it was a small town of about 1500 people. The best thing about moving there was there were a lot of people that had horses! And, our neighbors across the street were the closest.

I was so excited because we were going to get a horse! But, the arrival of that horse didn’t happen; at least not for another five years. So, while I was waiting, I started drawing the neighbor’s horses.