Silhouette arrived at Winsong Farm early one morning, just before a huge rainstorm. One friend saw the photo of Silhouette on the flatbed truck and said, “I thought it was a photo of a horse with a blanket on and figured this horse has nerves of steel to travel on a huge vehicle, out in the open!!!!”

We’ve had a few visitors. Apparently the address given is our house driveway, not the farm driveway where the horse is located. Recently two HUGE motorcycles went up our driveway. We were babysitting three vizslas (happy, joyful, exuberant dogs). You add them to our three and you have six vizslas SCREAMING at the intruders. The dogs gather at the bay window in the dining room and bark their heads off. (Great FUN!!!) I find it absolutely amazing that they haven’t exploded through the window.

The bikers slowly, quietly and politely returned to the 15th Sideroad and continued west which brought them to “Silhouette”. Bill and I were bringing in the horses and went to talk with the two bikers. Turns out they were on an outing with their biker club. The goal was to photograph as many of the horses on the Painted Horse Trail as possible. The location for “Silhouette” was listed as 5220 (our house driveway).

I asked the bikers if they’d been to the Painted Horse at the library in Nobleton. They had. Then I asked, “Did you notice that amongst those black and white stripes there are other horses painted on the horse?” They were amazed. The good news is they had photos to refer to. Hopefully they’ll be able to pick out the additional horses on the horse.

I forgot to mention that the Painted Horse at the Professional Farrier Supply east of Orangeville glows in the dark. We plan on making a trip there one evening to see it after the sun goes down.

Turns out there are quite a few people who aren’t aware of the horses within the horse. The horse’s name is “Razzle Dazzle”. I’m wondering if the words “Razzle Dazzle” actually identify the painting technique. I haven’t studied Razzle Dazzle thoroughly, but I think I’ve seen three images with the painting.

I contacted the organizer for the Painted Horse Trail and 5000 maps with the 5220 address are newly printed! To help the people find Silhouette we’ve had a laminated sign created. It’ll stand at our house driveway and give directions to our farm driveway, thus thwarting the vizslas once again.

Some Background on Silhouette

During May an installation crew came to the farm to help choose the site for the horse. A cement slab would be placed on the ground using a crane, then the horse would be attached to it via each hoof. Overhead wires were a huge concern.

Bill and I had decided on a few possible sites which I presented to the crew. One was in the paddock, just northeast of our farm sign with the horse at the fenceline along the 15th Sideroad. I showed this to the people and explained that we’d create a fence around the horse so that the live horses in the paddock couldn’t come up and chew on it. While the crew was inspecting this site I told them a funny story I’d just heard. A friend has had a life-sized plastic horse for many years. They use it for stand-ins during rehearsals for commercials, movies, tv, etc. They paint it whatever colour is needed at the time. For one shoot they placed the plastic horse in their two-horse trailer, then loaded their real horse. When they got to the movie set they learned that the real horse had fallen in love with the plastic one. When they unloaded the live horse he started calling to his new friend. The further they took him from the plastic horse the more noise he made. The live horse was having a challenging time focusing on his movie job. My friend unloaded the plastic horse and placed it where the live horse could see it. Things quieted down.

After the shoot they returned home. The journey had cemented the friendship. When they unloaded the live horse the calling started. They took him to his paddock. He still called and called. They brought the plastic horse out of the trailer and placed him where the live horse could see him. The calling continued. They decided to lie the plastic horse on the ground. This did not help. Finally they covered the plastic horse with a tarp. The live horse said, “Perfect. I’m OK now.” And the calling stopped.

The fibreglass horse site location crew laughed at the story, then they made the decision on where Silhouette would be placed. They walked from the proposed site in the paddock, to the north, out of the paddock, across the farm driveway, through the 12’ tall cedar hedge and settled on the front lawn of the staff house. Silhouette would be at the fenceline, looking south onto the 15th Sideroad, totally out of sight of any live Winsong Farm horses!

I had to agree. This was an excellent choice. If Silhouette had been placed in the paddock there was a very real possibility that one or more of the horses there would become attached to the fibreglass horse. I had visions of me walking to Silhouette EVERY day to fetch the live horse…through rain, through, sleet, through snow and, yes, through 40 degree humidex days.