Legend For Humanity Artist Zan Economopoulos

While artist Zan Economopoulos is responsible for the amazing painting of the third Arabian Horse For Humanity, she credits her good friend, Lisa Blackstone, with christening him with the name Legend. from the very beginning he was destined to tell the history of the Arabian breed and display images of the most iconic Arabian horses in his dapple gray coat. Arabian horses whose spirit, beauty, gentle disposition and trainability inspired legions of fans for the Arabian horse breed, whose progeny form the gene pool of the horses we have today and whose accomplishments formed the foundation of the performance horses we celebrate today are showcased in this beautiful statue.

Finlistic Solutions of Alpharetta GA sponsored Legend, acquiring him from the Horses For Humanity project in 2016. Zan was thrilled to be commissioned with the first “themed” horse. Zan recalls “Goldie—the first Arabian Horse for Humanity—was already famous! With Legend, the mission was to inform and celebrate the history of the breed…to start conversations and share the amazing stories we all know by heart….to hopefully inspire a new generation of Arabian horse lovers! With Legend, Lisa gave me free rein as far as the concept and design". As a life long Arabian horse owner, inspiration was easy for Zan!

Says Zan, “Arabian horses were the topic of some of my favorite books as a child and young adult! Great stories like Walter Farley’s “The Black Stallion”, Marguerite Henry’s “King of the Wind” and “Miles To Go” by Linnell Smith. I was so horse crazy that when I was 10 my father bought me an Arabian,not just any Arabian, but a six year old Arabian stallion with a winning ______________! In hindsight, one has to wonder about his judgment, and while there was certainly a learning curve involved, Ibn Saka would lead my life down a very fortunate path.. He taught me about life, commitment, hard work and determination, and his foals paid for my college education when things got rough for my family. I owned him for twenty years and there is still a little bit of Ibn Saka in everything I paint”.

Artist Zan Economopoulos with Arabian Horse for Humanity

Zan Economopoulos and "Legend"

Choosing which horses to include was tough because there were so many possibilities. We had to give consideration to copyright-write issues and obtaining permission to use images. S so I spent some time contacting photographers and researching images that were in the public domain. I felt it was important to include images of the Arabian horse as the horse of the desert, embrace the stories of the journey of the Arabian horse from around the globe and to portray the versatility of the Arabian horse in different riding disciplines.