A foal grazing, another horse behind

As a son of a miller, Munnings grew up with draft horses of all sizes and shapes as they came and went to his home at Mendham Mill. At the turn of the century, England's agricultural production was totally dependent on horses and few were able to be spared from work. Some of Munnings' early models were horses that waited patiently to have their grain unloaded at the mill, or others such as these two foals which had not entered the work force. They obviously had tremendous appeal as he names many of his favourites as early subjects in his memoirs. 'I could never see enough of the cart horses which were often in the strawyard all together - I adored them' (An Artist's Life, p. 22).

This work is a forerunner of the series of studies made on Exmoor during World War II when Munnings would follow herds of ponies and paint numerous compositions of mares and foals at grass.