Michigan Harness Horses - G I Jill

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Michigan Harness Horses

G I Jill

16 x 20 Oil on Stretched Canvas
2000 MHHA Auction Purchase

I had the opportunity to meet and photograph G I Jill when she was a three-year-old living at Schunk Stables in Clare, Michigan. I also lived in Clare at the time and knew the Schunks quite well, having stopped at their farm numerous times to watch horses and take pictures. Jill was very cooperative and although she managed to throw in a few very bored looking poses, she also provided some very good photographs.

That was in the spring.

That August, I had the opportunity to see Jill race at the Midland County Fair in Midland, Michigan. She had been a stunning two-year-old. Unbeatable and possessing a blazing turn of foot.

It was quite an experience. I don't recall ever having been to a county fair track before in which many in the crowds were sporting bill caps boasting a horse, but there were definitely a lot of supporters for G I Jill. And they were very enthusiastic.

Jill raced mid-pack the first time around the track and made what looked like a winning move on the backstretch the second time around, to the delight of her fans in the stands.

Then something happened. She began to fade and eventually finished the race back in mid-pack.

I don't remember that she looked particularly leg weary that day. She just wasn't her best. It wasn't until the following December or January that I learned she had been suffering some as yet undiagnosed physical problem that August. Further, after surgery designed to correct that problem, she suffered complications and did not survive.

All of this happened between the time I sent a final design to the owner and my next follow up call. In just a few months, the portrait had changed from a portrait of a potential champion to a posthumous means of honoring her memory for her owner, her trainer and all those others involved in her brief life.

Michigan Harness Horses ~ Horse Oil Paintings