Cindy Walker

Cindy Walker - Ghost Horse Studios

HORSES have always been a major part of my life and my favorite breed of horses are the beautifully spotted Appaloosas. A "Ghost Horse" is an Appaloosa "few spot" which is mostly white and does not have very many spots, however, these horses always produce colorful or "loud" foals with spotted coats. I am like that. Not very loud myself, but my creations can be pretty colorful.

For as long as I can remember I have been passionate about horses - some would call it more of an obsession. As a child drawing and painting horses seemed to come naturally to me, as I had their images imprinted on my mind's eye and I was always fascinated with the fact that there were so many beautiful and ornate things throughout history relating to horses.

I spent every waking moment playing with toy horses and I collected Breyer model horses and the "Best of The West" toys made by Marx, as well as a huge box of little plastic "cowboys and Indians". I painted the plain plastic horses to be pintos and appaloosas and I made special little saddles and bridles for them from yarn and string and any other scraps I could find. I even used to pose my horses in scenes I made up and photograph them with my cheap little 110 camera. Of course I quickly acquired a collection of books and pictures of horses. So, when I found out a few years ago that people actually had shows for model horses it amazed me and it just seemed a natural thing for me to customize horses and make "costumes" for performance classes.

During my life I have had several wonderfull horses myself and have trained horses for rodeo events like roping and barrel racing, gentled horses, rescued horses, conditioned horses for endurance racing, and trained Paso Fino and Tennessee Walking horses used for hunting quail on a plantation in North Florida. I am horseless right now but hope to have some horses of my own again soon.

MY ARTWORK is my passion. I have been making Native American Indian style quill and beadwork for over 20 years now, but I am not a Native American. I just love to bead! I hope you enjoy my work. I believe if you search long enough, and if you are lucky enough, you will find something you love to do and maybe even learn to do it well.

Each of my artistic creations is like a child to me. I first conceive an idea for a piece, then carry its potential in my heart until eventually I give it life. In a way that makes anyone who owns one of my creations like family. That is a nice feeling - the more I create the bigger my family grows.

My model horse regalia always places in the top 10 at the Nationals and Breyerfest and my customers report so many wins at the local and regional model shows that I have lost track. Over the last 27 years I have also taught classes in beading and won many other awards for my work. My Native American model horse regalia, water color and acrylic paintings, carved wood spirit horses, open fire pottery and other work is on display in private collections, galleries and shops throughout the US and Europe.

It takes many long hours, often sore fingers, lots and lots of careful research and some pretty hard to find materials to create my model horse costumes, but it is worth it all when I get an e-mail from some happy model horse enthusiast who has won at yet another show with one of my creations on their prized horse.

In addition to my 1/9 , 1/6 , 1/12, 1/32 and smaller scales model Native American saddle sets I also make customized model horses and dolls, full size beaded horse tack, needle felted Jack Russell Terriers, other dogs, pet portraits, twig style Fairy furniture, carved wooden "spirit horses", water colors, and acrylic paintings and collaborative scale model dioramas for show and display.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments or if you would like more information about purchasing my artwork.



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