Kate Esplen's love of horses and her intuitive understanding of their characters inspired her to draw horses, paint horses and make horse jewelry from a very young age. Her artistic expression over the years led her from the photo realistic pastel portraits of the horse's physical beauty toward more abstract equine paintings that better captured their real essence and spirit. Her abstract horse paintings use line and colour which are often mixed directly on the canvas with brush and a palette knife, and the occasional thumb, to capture the horses' movements. Her knowledge of their anatomy and their herd relationships add an intimacy to all her work.