Page 158 - Speedhorse February 2018

“My mother recognized my passion for drawing
horses early, and she kept me in drawing materials.”
John Moorehouse
by John Moorehouse
For Ginny Harding, a longtime love of horse rac- ing that began in the early 1960s has continued to this day.
After purchasing a young filly that came from racing bloodlines, Harding was hooked. “I quit a good paying job to go to work as a hot-walker for trainer Sonny Field before finding myself in the role as the first female licensed jockey’s agent in California,” she said.
The winner of the 2006 Mildred Vessels Special Achievement Award, Harding still breeds and raises Quarter Horses today. She also paints and draws them. As an artist, Harding has built quite the portfolio. Her work can be found in private homes, museums, galleries, racetracks, and on the covers of magazines, including that of the annual Speedhorse Broodmare Issue in June.
“When I was very young, my ‘hobby’ was draw- ing horses. When I couldn’t ride them, I would be drawing them! I had never imagined that my hobby would become entwined in my profession and would end up being my career—a career that I love,” Harding said.
Ginny has the ability to capture her equine subjects in the finest of detail. She says the horses are her inspiration. “You need nothing else than the great horse. The horse itself is my inspiration. It’s never ending.” Her work can be seen on her gallery’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ horseheavengallery.
Ginny takes a turn from the visual arts to the written word here as the latest subject of our “The Lighter Side” feature.
Q: Where were you born?
A: In Houston, Texas.
Q: What is your favorite movie and why?
A: That’s a hard one because I love many clas- sic human interest stories, from “To Kill A Mockingbird” to “Lonesome Dove”!
Q: Any interesting facts about your family?
A: My father was career Navy, my mother a house- wife, but both were raised on farms and shared my love of animals. My mother recognized my passion for drawing horses early, and she kept me in drawing materials.
Ginny received the Mildred Vessels Special Achievement Award from the American Quarter Horse Association in 2006.
Q: Do you have a nickname? If so, what is it and how did it come about?
A: My sister has always called me Gingerbread.
Q: What is the strangest personality quirk you’ve seen in a horse?
A: We have a 14-year-old gelded son of Dash Thru Traffic that got hurt here on our farm as a yearling and he has become our entire family’s endearing “pet.” There is not a latch on our place that he can- not open, so chains and locks have to be in place when “Baby Huey” is around.
GINNY HARDING
156 SPEEDHORSE, February 2018
THE LIGHTER SIDE