 "Alfayiz", Pastel on board, 20" x 18" "Alfayiz", is a beautiful Thoroughbred, with a racehorse heritage. His name means "Champion". Recently I was commissioned to paint the portrait of this handsome horse. It was my pleasure. Here is his story, shared by his owner: "To say that Alfayiz is the love of my life is almost an understatement. It was truly a blessing from God that we found each other and I am so grateful to have him in my life every single day. When I first met Alfayiz, he had fallen on some rough times. His owner had lost his job and his home, could not afford to feed the ten horses that he had, but also could not find new homes for them. This lead to all of the horses, including Alfayiz, being fed very poorly for about two years. Although from first glance he was not a lot to look at (skin and bones, matted mane down past his shoulder, dreaded tail) I fell in love with his spirit and personality immediately. Although he did not have the strength to trot or canter well, he gave it all he had and I knew that we would make a wonderful pair. Just a few days later, he came with me on my new journey from Illinois to Kentucky and we began our path to recovery. It took about a year of walking the beautiful rolling bluegrass hills and then another six months of trotting but we finally made it to a nice healthy figure and have never looked back. A few years after we came to Kentucky, I learned that he had actually been sold at Keeneland as a yearling to a sheik for $500,000. Since that time, we have done just about everything together. The property that we are on is 75 acres and we are blessed to have 300 acres behind the property to ride on. Our favorite things to do are hacking around in a big field, playing in streams, and the occasional cross country course. He is truly my best friend and I do not know what I would do without him. Thank you so much, Marie, for the beautiful pastel portrait painting of him, it is beyond stunning and I will cherish it for many years to come!" |
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