This Brookes student got a pony to do her art project for her

A Brookes Art student taught a horse how to paint as part of her final project at uni.

Teddy the pony usually takes around two hours to create one of his masterpieces. The pony's opus includes works such as "Straight From a Horse’s Mouth," and "Get Off Your High Horse."

Foundation student Elodie Poncin said the idea came to her after a ski accident in 2017 left her unable to ride horses. Elodie says the project has been a great success, and has "proven the neigh-sayers wrong."

Credit: SWNS

To secure a horse for her project, Elodie called up her local riding club. She says she begged Pony Pursuits in Headington, saying: "Please don't hang up on me, but can I teach one of your ponies how to paint?"

Fortunately, the club agreed and she was given was a Welsh cross pony called Teddy. The club allowed her to come in every so often to let Teddy paint on canvases by putting a brush in his mouth.

The 18-year-old is currently studying arts and design at Oxford Brookes, and says the project allowed her to combine her favourite hobbies: Art and horse riding.

Credit: SWNS

Elodie said she wanted to stand out from the other Brookes artists' final pieces by thinking of something completely out of the box.

A spokesperson for the university said Elodie's project clearly demonstrated the way Brookes encourages students "to discover new and innovative ways of expressing themselves."

Elodie has been very open with the struggles of teaching Teddy to paint.

She said training Teddy was exactly the same as training a dog. According to Elodie, the pony is "more like half-human and half-dog” than an equine.

Teddy, Elodie says, is the one who decides when to show his artistic talents. She said: "You can’t pressure a pony to paint if it doesn't want to so you have to let him roam if he wants to roam and to paint when he wants to."

Teddy’s completed his first paining on the 10th April. It took two hours.

This took two hours (Credit: SWNS)

Elodie said: "It takes a lot of concentration for Teddy to stand there holding a brush and painting a canvas for that amount of time."

But don't worry about Teddy not enjoying his two hour painting sessions. Elodie continually feeds him carrots and apples, and encourages him with stroking and lots of cuddles.

Elodie was extremely proud of the results of her project and what her pony had managed to paint – she is now hoping to get top marks.

The pony went on to create the final four projects were aptly titled: "Straight From a Horse’s Mouth", "It’s Pasture Bedtime", "Unbridled", and "Get Off Your High Horse."

Elodie was proud to prove her friends wrong who thought she was crazy when she first came up with the idea.

Credit: SWNS

She said: “I’m glad to have proven the neigh-sayers wrong. The coaching of Teddy required a lot of patience, a lot of attention, and a lot of respect”.

A spokesman for Brookes said: "Our art and design students use a wide range of creative and experimental approaches in the work they produce.

"Through the use of our specialist facilities and inspiration from our academic staff who are practising artists and designers, we always encourage our students to discover new and innovative ways of expressing themselves.

"The quality of our students' work is a clear demonstration of this encouragement translating into interesting art, as demonstrated by this piece."

Well, now you've heard it all – straight from the horse's mouth.

Featured image credit: SWNS: South West News Services

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Things you’ll know to be true if you’re a horsey girl

• This Exeter third year wrote her dissertation on Love Island making yours look really, really boring

•This Bristol third year wrote a whole dissertation about Eurovision