Vickie Knepper-Adrian

WOUNDED KNEE 

Released:  Summer 2008

RETIRED:  FEBRUARY 2012

Size: 7" Tall

Form: Running with Modifications by Artist

STORY TAG READS: On the frozen banks of Wounded Knee Creek, Lakota Chief Big Foot and his followers huddled together, hungry and exhausted. Driven off their lands, they surrendered and were surrounded by the U.S. 7th Calvary that had been ordered to peacefully escort them to a reservation. There was tension in the air. Troops feared the Sioux and the powerful Ghost Dances that spread through the Dakotas as the Indians frantically danced and prayed for the return of their way of life. A single shot rang out from a Calvary gun and chaos erupted. When the smoke cleared, peaceful Chief Big Foot and all of the Lakota lay dead in the snow. As the sun set on South Dakota, a single Native pony wandered the frozen plains in search of his beloved people who would dance no more. This Iowa artist postponed a career in the arts to raise a family, but has found her passion for painting rekindled with The Trail of Painted Ponies. Wounded Knee won first place in the Paint Your Own Pony contest held at the International Museum of the Horse in Lexington, Kentucky, in July of 2007.

LET IT SNOW

Released:  Holiday 2008

RETIRED: FEBRUARY 2012

Size: 7" Tall

STORY TAG READS: During the holidays as a child, all I wanted for Christmas was a big fluffy snowfall so I could build a perfect snowman, decorated with a hat and scarf, sticks for arms, a carrot for a nose and big black buttons of coal. Living in the Midwest, coal wasn't readily available, so Mom always had a tin full of buttons for the occasion," recalls Vickie Knepper-Adrian. Now, as an adult, this Iowa artist still finds something magical about "big fluffy snowfalls," and created the Let It Snow Pony, designed to take everyone back to a time and place when they, too, waited with anticipation for the holidays and the chance to build that perfect snowman.

TRIBAL PAINT

Released:  Winter 2009

RETIRED:  Feb. 2012

Size: 7" Tall

Form: Running

STORY TAG READS: Warriors from tribes across the Plains often wore feathers that were marked and painted in ways that told of their accomplishments in battle. In this fashion they would sometimes intimidate opponents who would be scared off after "reading" the stories related on the feathers. But sometimes they would also become the target of warriors who sought encounters with powerful opponents as a way of gaining personal power. With Tribal Paint, Iowa artist Vickie Knepper-Adrian, creator of the heartbreaking collectible, Wounded Knee, continues to use Painted Ponies to relate interesting and little-known stories about Plains Indian life.

WAR CRY

Released:  Winter 2010

NOT RETIRED

Size: 8.5" Tall

Form: Rearing

STORY TAG READS: On a barren, windswept hill in eastern Montana there stands a tall obelisk inscribed with the names of the 268 men of the 7th Cavalry who lost their lives on June 26, 1876, in the Battle of Little Bighorn. Custer's Last Stand is remembered by most Americans as a shocking defeat for the United States 7th Cavalry. However, for Native Americans, it is remembered as the last chapter in the Native American struggle to preserve and defend their homeland and traditional way of life. There has been no equivalent memorial for Native Americans' heroic sacrifice, until now. This gives War Cry its power and poignancy.

WARRIOR BROTHERS

Released:  Fall 2010

RETIRED:  JULY 2014

Size: 8.5" Tall

Form: Rearing

STORY TAG READS: A special bond existed between a warrior and his horse. They communicated on the most intimate and subtle levels. A whispered word, the squeeze of a leg or a shift in body position could often determine the outcome of a hunt or fight. As the Apsaalooke Chief Plenty Coups is quoted as saying, "My horse fights with me and fasts with me, because if he is to carry me in battle he must know my heart and I must know his or we shall never become brothers." A warrior also often painted his favorite war pony with the same pattern and colors he used for his own face and body, letting everyone know that they were as one, in heart and soul; that they were Warrior Brothers.

HOPI MAIDENS

Released:  Winter 2011

RETIRED:  JULY 2012

Size: 8.5" Tall

Form: Rearing

STORY TAG READS: Hopi Indians live in stark, desert conditions on three mesas in Northeastern Arizona. Hopi "kachinas" are stylized religious icons carved from cottonwood roots and painted to represent the masked spirits from Hopi mythology. The inspiration for Hopi Maidens is the ceremony that is held each year in which Hopi maidens and tribesmen dressed as kachinas dance and sing to bring rain for the upcoming harvest. Writes the artist, "One side has a woman's feel with 3 Hopi maidens and a Corn Kachina. The other side has 3 male kachina figures with the Sun Kachina. On the base is the beautiful Butterfly Kachina. I wanted to fill the pony with Hopi inspirations for long life, love, health and strength.

TRAIL OF TEARS

Released:  Winter 2011

NOT RETIRED

Size: 7" Tall

Form: Running with Modifications by Artist

STORY TAG READS: A dramatic and moving followup to the bestselling Wounded Knee, Trail of Tears respectfully remembers one of the saddest episodes in American and Native American history: the forced relocation of the Cherokee Indians from their Tribal Lands to Oklahoma during the brutal winter of 1838. This Painted Pony represents the struggle of the Cherokee people who were made to march more than a thousand miles under the worst possible conditions. There were many losses during this long march, it is said that a beautiful Cherokee Rose grew wherever a tear had fallen, in remembrance of those who were lost. Somehow the Cherokee managed to survive the cold and the snow, their dignity intact, in the belief there were better days to come.

Cheyenne Warrior

Released:  Winter 2011

NOT RETIRED

Size: 6" Tall

Form: Standing

STORY TAG READS: Dog Soldiers” were the military elite within the Cheyenne culture on the Northern Plains during the mid-1850s, when their homelands were besieged by fortune seekers and homesteaders. Respected as well as feared, these warriors were sworn to protect their people at all costs. To cover the retreat of a companion or village under attack, the bravest among them would stay behind and stake themselves to the ground with a “dog sash” secured to a lance, remaining there until death if necessary.

Crossroads

Released:  Winter 2013

NOT RETIRED

Size: 9" Tall

Form: Rearing

STORY TAGS READS: Expressing one’s faith in the positive power of a cross by hanging it on the wall or over a door in the belief it will protect home and life, is a tradition practiced round the world. With “Crossroads,” the artist pays tribute to those ornamental crosses often found in farm houses, prairie barns and Western churches that are designed with cowboy flair, and are forged by hand out of unique materials: cowhide and conchos, tooled leather and sterling silver stars, wood and nailheads.

Western Leather

Released:  Summer 2014

In Production

Size: 9" Tall

Form: Rearing

STORY TAG READS: This stunning Painted Pony pays tribute to the "Art of Leather.” Cowboys who drifted with the winds across the great plains were the first leather artisans. At the end of their long days, they would sit by the fire and create masterpieces with great love, using the only canvas they could find: longhorn leather. “Western Leather “ captures the romance of the American West.