Amarillo Horse Statue of the Week: Diamonds are Mare-Lyn’s Best Friend

This week's horse statue is a special tribute to Marilyn Monroe.

Here's a refresher: In 2002, the Hoof Prints of the American Quarter Horse project was started in Amarillo by the AQHA. This project served to raise money for Center City Amarillo and promote public art. The AQHA purchased 20 fiberglass horses to start the project. Now, individual businesses and buyers purchase the horses.

Over 100 horses cover Amarillo and they add about 12 horses to the collection every year. The horses are painted by local artists and can have any unique design the buyer chooses.

There are even Hoof Prints statues outside of Amarillo. There is one in Pampa, Dumas, Canyon, and at the entrance to Pantex.

For our horse of the week, we chose Diamonds are Mare-Lyn's Best Friend (who comes up with these names? So punny.)

She was painted by Doris Alexander, who was one of the original chairmen behind the horse statue idea. Mare-lyn is owned by the Amarillo Building and sits at 301 South Polk.

Her design features images of Marilyn Monroe, a famous actress from the 1950's. Mare-lyn was one of the first horses completed for the Hoof Prints project.