Round ‘Em Up

You’ve got to hike a little ways to get up there.

But taking snapshots of family and friends at sculptor David Govedare’s “Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies” has become an indisputably popular Northwest thing to do.

The herd of steel steeds overlooking the Columbia River near the Interstate 90 Vantage Bridge in Central Washington started being put in place in the fall of 1990. And it wasn’t long before more than a few two-leggers concluded that admiring the large-scale work from afar just wasn’t good enough.

So when The Slice asked readers to share their “Ponies” pictures, it came as no surprise that a high-spirited stream of these snapshots soon galloped into our corral.

“Here are some pictures we took of the horses on our honeymoon,” wrote Spokane’s Hether Schleigh in a note accompanying her photos. “It’s hard to see them very well from the bottom, so we decided to show all the other tourists how it’s done and we walked to the top for a closer look. It’s a lot higher and steeper than it looks!”

But just about everyone who has hoofed it up there agrees: It’s worth the effort. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 5 Color Photos