The Heart of Ferdinand 

Modern Human Blunders

9” x 16” Oval

Acrylic and Oil on Canvas

Kentucky Derby winner of 1986, he was called “the gentlest horse you could imagine,” who had a fancy for peppermints. Every handler, jockey and anyone with a conscience, was sickened by the news of his slaughter in Japan, where he spent his final years in a breeding program. From a top career in racing, earning $3,777,978, to canned meat seems a chasm apart. But the distance exists in the soul of man, and his “use” of such noble creatures. To quote one of his grooms, “He came when I called him and would press his head up against me. He was so sweet; It’s just heartless, too heartless.”