About three months ago they started appearing. First as manila and priority mail envelopes, then as e-mails and eventually, as we approached the deadline, express mail and FedEx packages. Finally, on deadline day, we had collected a nearly two-foot tall stack of prospective artwork, poems and stories for our 15th annual Junior Gallery.
Then the hard work began—selecting those to appear in our Junior & Pony Issue.
One particular submission stood out to me this year, though. Anne Woodruff of Tennessee submitted two pieces of artwork from students at the Sarah Moore Greene Magnet Technology Academy in Knoxville. In her letter of explanation, Anne said that the students, fourth-graders Tranea Strickland and DeAngelo Summeour, had produced these lovely drawings even though they’d never met a real horse.
It turns out that their teacher, Laura Turner, introduced horses to her inner-city classroom through books such as Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague. Anne said they studied all about horse care and discussed how they would care for their own horse, if they had one. They learned about tack, and they handled horse shoes and discussed how farriers worked.
“They were also able to read many editions of the Chronicle that their teacher brought to school for them to use,” said Anne. “They enjoyed reading the articles and looking at the pictures.”
At the end of their unit, Laura asked her students to write a description or draw a picture of a horse that they would like to own for themselves. As you can see, DeAngelo’s picture here and Tranea’s story and illustration on p. 121 reveal their talents and show how horses captured their imaginations even though they’d never stood beside a horse or stroked his soft coat.
You’ll also see that throughout the Junior Gallery, which begins on p. 26, many other youngsters have expressed their love of the horse, through words and pictures. This year’s Junior & Pony Issue cover artist, Julia Jordan, 18, is also an inspiration, and she explains her thoughts behind her mixed-media collage on p. 122. I hope that you enjoy their artwork and writing as much as we do, and I thank everyone who sent in their work and wish we had room to publish them all.
Anne’s letter reminded me once again how those of us who love horses are so intertwined. Even though some of us live in the country and others live in the city, some of us ride and some of us wish we did, we all share a common bond in simply loving horses.
