Pony Keepers are a team of carvers and painters from A Carousel for Missoula, one of the first fully hand-carved carousels to be created since the Great Depression, and the first such to have been constructed by volunteers. For Shelly, the Adirondack Carousel turtle, Dick Withycombe was responsible for glue-up. Other carvers on the project were Rolf Tandberg, who carved the head, John Thompson, who carved the body, and Russ Agin who, along with Dick, carved the turtle’s appendages. Marlies Borchers painted the charming terrapin. The Ponykeepers team—carvers, sanders, painters and mechanics—after creating Missoula’s Carousel, stayed on to construct animals for local not-for-profits and for other community-built carousels, and to care for A Carousel for Missoula. They have recently begun accepting commissions for personal animals, with an emphasis on colorful, whimsical child-sized rocking animals.

Ponykeepers: EMAIL