Standing Ovation by Ovation Riding: ‘Vivid Horses’

Every Friday, Horse Nation teams up with Ovation Riding to spotlight an individual or organization doing good work in the horse world. Today, we’re recognizing the team behind Vivid Horses, a coloring book with a cause.

Especially at this time of year, we love learning about ventures for a cause, which is why we’re excited to share the story today of Vivid Horses: An Equine Colouring Collection. We spoke with Zoë Carter, one of the project creators, to learn more about how this coloring book is helping equines in need.

HN: How did you come up with the idea for this coloring book?

ZC: I have been connected to horses for a long time and my first memories as a child are around horses and riding. I have been frustrated with the lack of horse colouring books showcasing realism and anatomically correct animals. As I expressed my frustration, my business partner Jodie Bernard shared her desire to expand her publishing experience to producing custom books. Several months later, we were holding our first printed publication. Each illustration was carefully conceptualized and their features and proportions were methodically discussed to represent authentic realistic horses and donkeys. Those who add their finishing touches to the pages can create their own masterpiece — perhaps featuring a horse that they know and love.

HN: Who is the artist and how did you come to work together? What do you like best about their work?

ZC: The artist is Leanna TenEcyke. Her beautiful work was discovered by our team during the Sheridan College Illustration Grad show in Toronto a couple of years ago. We were drawn to her illustrations due to the texture, quality, movement and thoughtful concepts. We instantly saw great possibilities. When reviewing artist portfolios for this project, her name came forward as a consideration and after we received her illustration sample for the book, we knew she was perfect.

HN: How will sales of the book help benefit horses in need?

Our cover “model” is a horse I helped to rescue in 2014 named Encore for a TV pilot I produced called Free Rein. He was taken to our foster farm where he was given the best of love and care. He slowly began to get well and improved physically and mentally.

After Encore was moved to his adoptive home, it was discovered that he was losing significant weight again. The sanctuary was operating under questionable practices and it was felt that for the health of Encore, he was to be removed. After a court case to get him home and safe, I knew that I would always work to help horses in need and Vivid Horses will donate $1.00 of each online sale to give back to different rescues across the country.

We chose not to partner with a particular rescue in order to reserve the freedom of giving when and where it is needed. For instance, Riva’s Remedies has been an active force with Encore and his healing and partnered with Northern Sky Creative Studios at the Royal Winter Fair. They will be matching our $1.00 per book donation for a total of $2.00 going to a local horse rescue of their choice.

Here’s the TV pilot featuring Encore and his original rescue:

HN: Where can interested individuals purchase a copy?

They can purchase a copy on our website at www.northernskycreative.com and always follow our contests and upcoming news on social media @northernskycreative. For wholesale purchases, I can be contacted at [email protected].

Our next book is going to feature equine photographers. We are planning a campaign to call out to horse photographers to submit their favourite photos. We will choose the winners and our illustrator with transform those photographs into pages for our next book as we promote the photographer on each page and their work.

If you know someone who deserves a Standing Ovation, we would love to recognize them in a future post. Email the name of the person or organization along with a message about the good work they do to [email protected]. Photos/videos are always welcome, and include a link to their website if applicable.