The artist BETS, a native of Washington DC,sat on her first pony at the age of 3. She grew up riding in Rock Creek Park and in her early teens started working with problem horses as well as showing and instructing. With a love and talent for art it only follows that she would combine the two, horses & art. Bets studied at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, later continuing her study as a drawing major at a southern university. In the late 1970's the artist put her artwork aside and spent the next decade raising her son Michael, pursuing her accounting career as well as riding and showing pre-green show-ring hunters. Since late 1989, when Bets once again picked up her brush, she worked on her art as well as an intense study in equine anatomy. Discovering there was quite a void as far as information for the equine artist, she wrote and illustrated the book "So.... You Draw Horses?" Equine Artist Marketing Guide and Source Directory. Her book received press and kudos from the equine art community and became a wonderful resource for new and upcoming artists in the field. In the early 1990's the artist left the accounting field to concentrate on a successful career in the horse world. Training many green horses along with their riders in hunter, dressage and event disciplines. She continued painting with much success, her Wild Horse Series, which is still in progress, was very popular. The premier piece in the Wild Horse Series "Through the Fog" was presented to the pop icon Michael Jackson in addition to gracing the cover of a popular board game. Named the official artist for the Adirondack Wild Horse Preserve, Bets also designed and wrote the "JUST SAY NEIGH" slogan and logo for the Maryland Horse Rescue. Bets's style is unique and identifiable throughout her work, which ranges from impressionistic to realism. She is noted for her original images with their distinctive line and sudden impact on the viewer. Her portraits have been commissioned around the globe and she is well known for "capturing" her subject. As she says, "it's in the eyes".... Her son, Michael, a great kid who was in the National Guard passed away in 2003. Mike, her most avid fan, is remembered in each of the artists pieces. Bets carefully camouflages 4MIKE on every one of her works of art.