Hundreds of Horse of the Year spectators have made their own mark on the history of the big event in Hastings in a painting commissioned by promoters and presented to the Showgrounds Hawke's Bay Tomoana hosts.
The first of an expected annual series of paintings connecting the show and the Hawke's Bay region, the 4 metres wide, 2m high artwork was painted square-by-square into a sketch horse show organisers commissioned from Auckland designer and artist Nick Beel.
Horse of the Year Show promotion and marketing executive Lauren Watkins said it became effectively a paint-by-numbers exercise as showgoers added their Resene paint touches over the six days of the event.
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Ultimately it met the target of a being a "100 per cent" by-the-people painting to be left with the Hawke's Bay A and P Society as part of the growing legacy of the show, which has now been at the showgrounds for 18 years consecutively since 2001, with a contract in place to keep it there at least another nine years.
