After suffering through a loss and having her entire world upended, Meghan Guilfoil found healing through her two loves: painting and horses. “When I went back to painting again two years ago, I was looking for inspiration,” she says.
She started studying compelling photographic images of mustangs and then began painting these horses. As she was showing her work, people kept asking if they were her own horses. “They weren’t, but that made me hunger for authenticity in my work. When I paint, it's not a hyperrealism, but more about capturing the spirit of the creature.”
Meghan soon learned about Wild at Heart Horsemanship, a farm in Franklin that had mustangs. After reaching out to its owner, Aria Johnson, she was able to visit and learn what she does with the mustangs. She was also able to get a better understanding of the breed. “They spend their early years living in nature with their herd, so their relational capacity is very family oriented,” she says. “They want to get to know you and learn what you’re about and, in turn, you have to earn a relationship with them.”
Wild mustangs are found primarily out West in California, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona, but they’re also in Chincoteague in Virginia. “To maintain herd sizes, many have been removed from the wild and put in holding facilities,” says Meghan. “These horses have been taken from what they know. They've lost their families. Some of them have had babies in the wild, and are separated from them. These facilities, which are meant to hold up to 20,000 horses, now house over 60,000. Some even end up in slaughterhouses.”
The lucky ones that are rescued by sanctuaries around the country are adopted out and given a new family. “They really do absorb these families as their new herd. When they find a home that really respects their individuality, they latch onto that in a very authentic way.” Another quality that’s fascinating to her, and what many people recognize when they rescue a neglected or abused animal, is that the mustangs seem to know they’ve been given a second chance.
At Wild at Heart Horsemanship, there’s one horse in particular that especially touched Meghan’s heart. Ella was taken from an owner who severely neglected her and kept her in a 10x10 dog kennel. “When I met Ella, I could see the suffering in her eyes. I went through a terrible divorce, and it was as if Ella knew my suffering too. There was a connection there that she could really share with me because of her own story.”
Meghan was so touched after meeting the mustangs on the farm that she painted them as part of a series called Rescued to increase awareness of these beautiful animals’ plights and to tell their stories before and after adoption. Many before stories are as heartbreaking as Ella’s. A portion of all work sold will be donated to help spread the word and create more opportunities for adoptions. “We're seeing this new movement of art advocating for causes, and while it's been mainly in photography, it's now in film and music, and the fine arts are joining that movement.”
Most of the farm’s horses were adopted through the Mustang Heritage Foundation that helps train and re-home them. “The greatest way to save a mustang is to give it some training so it can acclimate to domestic life,” she says.
Every year, the Foundation holds a competition/spectacular, and this year it was in Franklin. “I reached out to them and told them about my series of paintings, and they jumped right on board.”
The Franklin Art Crawl, which takes place the first Friday of every month, boasted a Western theme in June. “Most of the artists who participated already had relationships with the Mustang Heritage Foundation, so that was great. We did some pop-up art around town at different venues like 55 South, The Parker House, and Frothy Monkey to let people know the ‘Mustangs are Coming’ and spark people’s curiosity. In and around Nashville, we build everything off of this Western tradition in a sense of the equine and the cowboy/cowgirl and it's interesting to see people glorify this Western culture but not really know much about it. This was a really cool way to open people’s eyes.”
To kick off the spectacular, Meghan debuted her Rescued series on June 19 at Stable Reserve. The Mustang Spectacular itself took place at the Williamson County Ag Expo from June 20-23, and rescued mustangs and their trainers came from across the country to compete.
Mustangs are very intelligent, and can be trained as ranching horses, cutting horses, and more, and they're great companions. “And, you can get a mustang for around $120,” says Meghan. “Instead of spending upwards of $20,000 on a quarter horse that's not broken yet, you can save a mustang’s life."
“As an artist, you try to find what makes your heart sing and what really inspires you. I feel like art calls you to a real story and a true suffering that everyone experiences in life, but it's also so grounding. People are longing for a connection, and this is impactful beyond helping the horses. It's good for humanity.”
MustangHeritageFoundation.org
MeghanGuilfoil.com