Kitty Cantrell and Caroline Boydston have been long time partners in their love of equines and art. For years they have collaborated on numerous sculptures, both exclusive originals and commissioned pieces. Kitty would do the sculpting, and Caroline, in addition to adding the paint, would offer her input as an avid rider and equine enthusiast. But the dynamic duo had a vision.
“Horse people know what they want and what horses should look like, but that is very hard to replicate realistically,” says Caroline. “We knew that when we produced our sculptures one at a time, we could produce high quality, realistic sculptures. But we wanted to be able to offer sculptures like that on a larger scale.”



That’s where Starlite Originals entered the picture. Owned and managed by the Beckerman family in Los Angeles, Starlite specialized in producing top-notch animal sculptures made from porcelon; a unique material made by combining the finest cold cast porcelain and resin.
As a sculptor, Kitty had a long relationship with Starlite; Starlite Originals, under the Starlite Creations division, had produced her Kitty’s Critters line as well as numerous high-end, limited edition bronze pieces, including one of a life-size American Bald Eagle. Kitty knew that Starlite had always been interested in doing an equine line.
Caroline says, “We knew that Starlite was very careful and conscientious about their sculptures. They have a wonderful manufacturer, one that is especially good at replicating the detail and color of the paint. Once you a have a mold done, producing that is easy; but giving manufactured pieces the texture and detail of hand-painted sculptures is difficult. We wanted to create pieces that horse people would look at and go, ‘Wow, that is a Clydesdale!,’ or whatever breed we were trying to represent.”
Kitty and Caroline have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to capture the essence and spirit of the horse through their work. After viewing their work at a trade show, Leonard Lusky, President of Secretariat.com and Penny Chenery, owner of the legendary horse, commissioned them to do two, very limited edition pieces of Secretariat. One of Secretariat running free, without tack and another of the stallion, as he carried jockey, Ron Turcotte, across the finish line in his 31 length victory in the Belmont Stakes. Less than 50 pieces were made of both models.
“We were really honored by the commission and since then (with the help of Starlite) we have been able to come out with another version of Secretariat, as well as Seabiscuit, Ruffian and Man O’War. Working with Starlite has made these pieces more affordable to the average horse enthusiast. They have been wonderful in taking our suggestions seriously and I really commend them on how they strive to produce the best horse replicas possible. All the models look really good and Kitty, Starlite and I look forward to adding more beautiful equine sculptures to the line in the future.”
For more information on Starlite Originals visit www.sollc.com or call 800-726-9660.