I [heart] Davids It helps me to say these things aloud, I think.

A few weeks before we went to Portland to visit my family, there was an article in the N&O about being “Carless in Portland.” In one part of the article, the article mentions the public art project in the Pearl district.

You’re probably familiar with the public art projects that have been cropping up in major cities the last 10 years or so. The city will pick an icon, such as a wolf, a catfish, or a mermaid, then ask local artists to paint these oversized beasts and place them throughout the city. At the end of a specified period of time, they have an auction for all the beasties. Well, Portland, a city where it’s not uncommon to see bumper stickers that say “Keep Portland Weird,” decided to do it a little differently.

According to the website for the horse project, the artist Scott Wayne Indiana “knew about the horse rings in many Portland sidewalks and thought it was a shame that we don’t tie our horses to them anymore. Scott decided to change that and tied his first pony to a horse ring in the fall of 2005 in the revitalized Pearl District in Northwest Portland.”

I had told my brother about it, and sort of wanted to hit the Pearl to find a pony. But my brother and his wife, who’ve lived there for years, had never heard of the horse project before. Our last night there, we were finally in the Pearl district, wandering our way toward dinner when look what I found!

Everyone else had already walked by it when I spotted it. I was so happy!! The best part is that they want you to help. So if you live in Portland, go adopt a ring, donate a steel cable tie, and put out your own horse!

See more photos at the all the tiny horses pdx photo pool on Flickr.