Michael Vick Rides Barbaro ??

I love this story about artist, Steven Chandler, and his folk art. Funny how the FOB think they can control everyone from horse rescues to artists..... They got themselves memorialized in a portrait for their efforts and I would say this artist hit the mark dead center.
You can read the whole story here -
http://www.fineartregistry.com/featured_artist/chandler-steven.php#at

The Georgia Red Mud Painter
Fine Art Registry™ Member, Steven Chandler

Michael Vick Rides Barbaro

Once upon another time there was another supremely gifted "athlete," a horse named Barbaro. Barbaro won the 2006 Kentucky Derby going away and was set to becoming the first Triple Crown winner in decades. Tragically, however, coming out of the gate two weeks later at the Preakness Stakes, Barbaro shattered his right hind leg. His racing career was finished and after months of intense medical care he had to be euthanized.
As Michael Vick's story was dominating the headlines this past summer, something was gnawing at Steven. Dog fighting, reprehensible. Horse racing, noble. "The sport of kings," even. Missing entirely from the Barbaro saga were the less noble aspects of horse racing – the selective breeding of horses for speed only, not durability; the shipping horses off to meat packing plants once their racing careers are finished; the doping and cheating that goes on. In other words, cruelty to animals but, unlike dog fighting, of a legalized sort.

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(conclusion)
Tiring of the flame wars, Steven seriously considered taking the painting down. His supporters wouldn’t hear of it. The controversy raged on. People accused him of playing on Barbaro's tragic story simply to make money. To prove his sincerity and to challenge the Fans of Barbaro crowd to prove theirs, he offered to keep the painting up for auction but to donate the proceeds to a charity for retired racehorses, got in touch with one and announced his plan.
In the end, his critics' indignation remained open, but their wallets remained closed: the auction was won by none other than Fine Art Registry™ and will become part of its permanent collection.
Never one to back down from a fight, the Fans of Barbaro may have gotten more than they bargained for. Some of the sentiments they expressed have inspired Steven to memorialize them for all time with a new painting, Friends of Barbaro. Ouch!
The color of the sheets may have changed but Steven makes it plain that the intolerance remains the same.