The late Sam Savitt wrote and illustrated more than 100 books, and his horse charts are known throughout the world for their beauty and educational attributes. Savitt was a founding and active member of the American Academy of Equine Artists.

This week’s cover, The Open Ditch, is a tribute to steeplechasing that Savitt painted in 1977. He said, “I created this painting to let the viewer feel what it’s like to gallop into a big fence and take off boldly into space without being able to see the landing side. This is a picture of ‘heart’–a story of horses and what they face as they race over a Grand National course. Their blood is up. The ground trembles beneath their thunder. Clods of earth follow their flight as they leap bravely upward.”

Savitt’s widow, Bette Savitt, continues his legacy through her studio in North Salem, N.Y.