Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Jennifer has had a love of all things equine all her life. Her mother first sat her on a horse when she was just three days old, and by six months she was an experienced trail rider.
Coming from an artistic family, she developed an interest and talent for painting and drawing early in life, as well as for entrepreneurial pursuits. Her first profits from her art came from the sale of horse drawings to her classmates for quarters during lunch when she was in elementary school.
Jennifer started working on horse farms at the age of 13, cleaning stalls and tack for the chance to ride aged Grand Prix dressage horses. After schooling she continued working horses and went on to manage a Thoroughbred horse farm for eight years. At the same time she supplemented her income as a fine artist (painting Amish buggy drivers for tourists), a functional artist (signs) and a picture-framer. Throughout it all, she says, “Nothing made me happier than creating one-of-a-kind works of art with horses as my subject.”
The last two years of her life have been a wild ride, Jennifer says. She became a first-time mother. She and her husband bought their first home. She opened her first studio and became a successful self-employed artist. And to top it off, she has become an Official Trail of Painted Ponies Artist.
Jennifer MacNeill-Traylor has designed several Painted Ponies including: