My First Donation Piece

As you know, I'm a big fan of the Misty Stories and Chincoteague ponies on general, so it really isn't a huge shocker that my first donation piece would evolve around the island of Chincoteague and their ponies.

My donation isn't being sent to a model horse show. Instead it's being sent to the Feather Fund who has a model horse auction every year during Pony Penning Week to fund their cause. Every year the Feather Fund holds an essay contest that gifts a Chincoteague Pony from the auction to a girl or boy. In order for them to be able to fund this they hold an auction that sells off model horses that are painted to look like the real herd members.

So my model is painted to look like Black Tie Affair AKA 'Ace'. 

Here's the real pony

The story of The Feather Fund is amazing and inspirational.It started in 1995, not yet known as the Feather Fund, when two girls wanted to buy their own Chincoteague Pony at the auction but did not have enough money to. A woman named Carollynn Suplee came up to them and wanted to buy them a pony. She told the family that she wanted to give back after surviving a cancer surgery and felt that God was leading her to do so. The two girls got their pony and named him Sea Feather. Every year after that Carollynn Suplee would buy a pony for a kid or buy a buy back foal until her death in 2003 after her cancer returned. She touched enough people for the Feather Fund to be started and continued in her honor.

If you'd like to learn more (and read the entire history on the Feather Fund) here's the website.