"I had the most striking photograph of my thoroughbred event horse, Griffin. I knew of Mary's exceptional talent so I commissioned her to create a sculpture from it. She used the photo and many more (and took tons of measurements) to deliver to me a 1/4 lifesize creation that perfectly and breathtakingly captures every aspect of my beloved horse. The artistry is stunning. I could not be happier or more moved by the true to life expression it provides. I delight in seeing it each day."

~ Victoria Klein

Dear Mary,

As you know, we first saw Cheeky Boy in your studio as a work in progress; we instantly fell in love with it!  It reminded us of the “kicks” you see the horses do in spring after a long winter; Cheeky Boy’s energy looks as though he is poised to leap into one of those flying  kicks!

However, when we received the finished work in bronze, we were stunned to see that it was even more beautiful.  All of the movement we saw in the clay was still there: a delightfully spirited young horse, with the beautiful roundness of the hind quarters, the arched neck, and the "feel" of the movement of the horse with the wind blowing through its mane, feathers and tail. But in bronze, it reached a new level of richness and depth and all of the movement of the clay came to a new level. 

Please keep of posted of new works still at the clay level; we loved being the “first” to have the bronze!
Mary, we are thrilled to have one of your pieces in our home!

Laurie & Mark

To the United States Dressage Federation, Life-size Statue Selection Committee in regards to Mary Sand:

I have known and worked with the artist, Mary Sand, for about 12 years. I have acquired many of her limited edition sculptures as well as commissioned sculptures of my horses. I commissioned Mary to create a sculpture of my first horse, a thoroughbred, standing in an alert posture, at the moment he was deciding to spook and turn and run. The second sculpture was of my young horse doing his first hunter course. I described the feeling I wanted to capture in each piece to Mary. I think it is very rare when an artist can actually “get” the essence of what the client feels when they see their horses, but Mary accomplished this. She technically represented the animals to perfection but more than that, she captured their signature postures and movements. Do you know how you can recognize a person you are waiting for at an airport or in a crowd before you can actually see their face by how the person holds their body or walks a certain way? There are the characteristics of your loved one’s movements that you can’t describe but you can recognize. Mary was able to capture this sort of essence of my horses in bronze. It is a much greater achievement than simply sculpting a “stylized” version of the animal from a photograph. If you notice, the “Young Hunter” is not jumping in quite perfect form; he is concentrating and jumping like a young horse new to his job. If you want your USDF statue to have life and movement and have people unable to believe that it is not a live horse, then Mary is your sculptor. Mary sculpts not only the action of the horse but some how she can include in her pieces, the feeling of the wind and the air moving around the horse.
Mary was always within budget and on time and she communicated with me at every decision point during the process of creating these commissioned sculptures. Most of the time I left the decisions up to her and I just gave her information like “My horse has a lot of dapples.” She was extremely conscientious about getting my approval and feedback about the slightest changes she would make.

Sincerely,
Lydia Williams