Myla Pearce of Pueblo West, Colorado on Life, Lessons & Legacy

Myla Pearce shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Hi Myla, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What do you think is misunderstood about your business? 
My main business is painting model horses. Although I also do photography, painting on canvas and digital drawing, the model horses are my main source of income. Folks outside of “the hobby” look at them as toys and don’t realize that one piece can sell for several thousand dollars. So they don’t think I have a real job. I’ve had people grab a model off a display and look it over like a piece of produce at the grocery store then start stammering when they see the price.
In the past, one time a friend called, asking if I wanted to join them on a shopping trip and I had to turn them down. I said I was too busy with work and they asked, surprised, “When did you get a job?” I was kind of dumbfounded. I didn’t really know how to take that! That’s when I realized that some of my friends and family didn’t take my work at all seriously, yet I’ve been making a living solely from my art for over 30 years. I wonder what do they think I do all day?

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Welcome to Half Fast Farms Studio. My name is Myla Pearce. My work is in private
and corporate collections worldwide. I come from an equine and artistic background that includes owning and operating several horse farms, working as a farrier and horse trainer.
My art background is a BA degree in art studio and art history, majoring in painting with a minor in photography. I served my internship at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in PA. I’ve worked in galleries in PA and CO as an art consultant, am trained in
archival framing, earning my CPF, (Certified Picture Framer)and am currently a full time working artist .
I’ve been fascinated by horses since a young age and bring my experiences of their strength, beauty and sensitivity to life through my work. Growing up on a draft horse farm, then owning my own equestrian businesses over the years gave me the hands on experience to share that realism through my work.
Inspiration comes to me when I least expect it. Mostly it started with the horses. When I was young I wanted a horse but didn’t have one so drew pictures of them. Along the way, my work expanded in other directions to include sculpting, abstract and sometimes
just plain silliness. My vision is to share snapshots of life through my eyes with my audience.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
I learned at an early age that I was adopted when I was only four days old. That fact always made me question who I really was and why I wasn’t wanted by my biological parents. Since adoption records were sealed in PA until 2011 and I was born in 1959, I always felt like there was some mysterious part of myself I could never know.
It was such a curious thing to go to a family reunion and look at every person there knowing I wasn’t actually related to any of them. I didn’t feel like an outsider, and I did feel loved and cared about by my adopted parents, but there was always a question, or actually so many questions.
When I was growing up and would go to a friend’s house and see them with their siblings, I would wonder if I had siblings. I was an only child in my situation and sometimes that played on my insecurities. I realized later in life that this also greatly affected my social skills. I preferred to spend time reading and drawing or doing those little paint by number kits.
When I was 8 we moved out to the country to live on a draft horse farm where my dad cared for, trained and drove the six horse hitch for the company that hired him. He also worked in the steel mills in McKeesport so he really had two full time jobs. I had always been fascinated by horses and drew pictures of them as far back as in first grade. My first sale was a drawing of a horse for a schoolmate I sold for a nickel. So moving out to live on a 160 acre horse farm was like a dream come true!
Of course I wanted my own horse so I saved my allowance and finally, when I was nine, I was allowed to purchase a beautiful palomino Welsh pony mare named Queen. She was mostly a driving pony, as she had been used in pulling competitions, so Dad helped me retrain her to ride western and neck rein.
When I was on her back, I felt like a warrior woman! I mostly rode bareback like a Native American. Our farm was surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods and miles of deer trails, then the suburbs surrounded that. From the time I was 9 until her passing when I was 18, that pony taught me more about people and life than any school, teacher or book ever could. I learned about responsibility, accountability, true and fake friends, made lifelong connections and earned respect. Just being on her back physically put me above all those on foot. It was amazing how people looked at and treated me so differently. I looked at and treated myself differently. She absolutely changed my life. I became an accomplished horsewoman and continued to develop my art skillls. I went to Indiana University of PA for art (IUP) and was a founding member of the university equestrian team, riding for them for four years in addition to designing their original logo. I got my BA and worked in the art field for years. She started the chain of events that led me to who I continue to be today.
In 2015 I decided to research through DNA who my biological parents were. It turned out that my maternal grandmother was an artist, which I discovered when I found her gravestone and there was a carving of an artist’s palette and brushes on it. My biological mother was also a very good artist and loved horses! It’s true when it’s said that your destiny is in your DNA. Your mission is to discover just what that is and that discovery and journey is truly empowering.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I’ve had to start over several times, Absolutely. But, 2001, that almost broke me.
Many years ago my husband and I had a business that we called Half Fast Farms. When we met in 1990 I was shoeing horses and had my own horse farm in Peyton Colorado called Hunter Haven Sporthorse Farm. He had Thoroughbred race horses and needed a farrier for his horses. I also started training his horses. We became business partners and then got married in 1992. In 1995 I sold Hunter Haven and we bought an 80 acre equestrian facility together just 6 miles away. We needed a name for our new farm. It turns out that I would take his slow racehorses and rehab them for dressage, hunters or other more suitable jobs. I also had draft horses and warmbloods. None of my horses were fast, except maybe to the feed bucket. On the other hand he had some amazing stakes winning horses, one was a stallion named Lord Pleasant that was a great race horse and later a producing sire, so his horses were definitely fast! One other thing to note was that the house that came with our new farm property had a big white H in the brick that was obvious as one drove into the property. So we knew we had to name the place something with an H. Fast horses, slow horses, hmmm, how about Half Fast? So our facility became known as Half Fast Farms. Don’t say it fast, say it Half Fast, 😉.
We were living our dream. Then on the morning of August 14, 2001, it all came to an abrupt heartbreaking halt.
My husband was unloading a semi load of large square 800 lb. bales of hay with our tractor. The load shifted, fell and killed him. Just like that our fairytale came to an end. I was only 44, really just getting started enjoying the life we were building. I wasn’t at all prepared to race and breed his horses, train and show mine and run that place by myself. Hiring knowledgeable help was nearly impossible. The facility was too small for hiring full time help but too big for just one person. We had about 40 horses at the time, some at tracks across various states, plus standing several stallions. I tried to keep it up and did for two years. The hardest part for me was having to walk across the spot where he lost his life on a daily basis as it was on the way to the north barn where my “slow” horses were. Anyone who is self employed and owns their own business knows how difficult it is already to make a living. Having to do it suddenly without my partner, the gut wrenching heartbreak, the loss of half our income and realizing I was actually holding the horses back from reaching their full potential because it was all too much for just me forced me to reassess my future.
The hardest thing I ever had to do was let go of that dream and that life. I sold our farm and moved back to a small property in the country in PA near my parents. Since I no longer had the horse farm for income, I turned to creating my art full time. I had never stopped creating, as I had a small studio space in the basement of our home in CO, but it wasn’t a source of income. I had re-discovered the model horse hobby around 1992 and had started painting models more seriously around 1996. I had been considering phasing out the farrier part of my business as I was starting to have shoulder issues and was looking at surgery to continue, so decided to retire from shoeing horses and finally did in 2000 with the art replacing the farrier income.
I’m so grateful that I was able to evolve in that way so it wasn’t a complete shock having to start from scratch in the art world. But there were so many days I kept asking myself why and looking back at all the memories. Sometimes I was so angry about not being able to fulfill our dreams and plans that we had. But there was no one to be angry with, nothing to be angry at. It was wasted energy. There were days I felt like a failure and that I let myself and my husband down. This new life wasn’t the plan. The person who I had spent years building from the young girl on the pony to a well known horse trainer and farrier, and the safety of the community where I was established was just gone.
I’m a planner and need to follow a “big picture” path I have laid out for myself. This new life wasn’t in the plan. There was no plan. I felt lost, chaotic, and some days just terrified. The only time I felt solace was when I was in the studio and creating. The studio became my safe place and where the world would just go away for awhile. It took years of struggle and teaching myself to stop looking back and feeling so much resentment. I put that energy into my art and learning to accept this new direction.
Today, 23 years later, I once again feel established and know who I am. I had to go through every bit of joy, pain, elation, and suffering. It’s been a rocky trail and a hell of a ride. Somehow I made it and I’m ok.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Whom do you admire for their character, not their power?
That an easy one, my dad. If there ever was someone that I looked up to for quality of character, it is him. I have seen him face so much adversity, so many hardships, so much negativity. He has demonstrated unwavering loyalty to family, his jobs and his country. He served in the army in the Korean war, came home and worked in the steel mills in PA from his teens until retirement. During that time he became a master electrician, was a grievance man, helping so many of his co-workers with issues and their rights, and then was voted the president of the 1408 local steel workers union. This was a time when the steel industry was in turmoil, strikes and shutdowns, and he fought through it all for the workers rights. All while this was going on at work, we were living on a draft horse farm and he was the caretaker, trainer and driver of a six horse hitch of Belgian draft horses! Either one of those jobs would be way more than one person could manage, but he did both and did them well! Plus he was an amazing husband for 58 years until Mom passed, and he is still a kind and loving father.
He has amazing work ethics. At 92 he’s still independent, active and incredible. He loves his friends, shares his knowledge and abilities freely and has a sense of loyalty that is boundless. Growing up I didn’t always recognize just how incredible he is, (what, doesn’t everyone’s dad drive a six horse hitch and be a steelworkers union president?) but as an adult I realize how nearly impossible it would be to achieve the accomplishments that he has. I’m so proud of him and so blessed that he and my mom adopted me. How lucky can a kid be to have parents like that?

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What will you regret not doing? 
I do regret not being able to keep the farm going that my husband and I had together. I try not to dwell on it too much anymore because of all the “what ifs”. What if we hadn’t bought that load of hay? What if we had had someone else unload it? What if I had kept the farm going, would I even still be here myself? I wonder if I should have stayed in Colorado instead of going back to PA afterwards, but my parents needed my help at that time. I may not have been able to help them if I had the farm. It’s painful reliving regrets and doing that makes a person question themselves only to receive no actual answers. So I’ve learned not to dwell on regrets because I can’t change the past.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/half_fast_farms_studio
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• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mylapearce?si=g1RuZnwbODV0aRUs