Cowboy art for Dylan

Talk to Valleyford resident Kimi Corbin about her cowboy art and the passion and purpose behind each hand-decorated horseshoe comes through.

“It’s not about the money,” Corbin said. “It’s about what Dylan and I did.”

Corbin watched helplessly as her stepson Dylan Corbin fought a losing battle against leukemia; a disease he struggled with for almost half his young 11-year life before he died in February.

“He was tougher than any person I had ever known,” Corbin said through her tears. “He went through more stuff than any person should have to.”

Corbin credits the idea for the business to Dylan. One day while reading a horse magazine together, Dylan got the idea for the horseshoes by seeing something similar for sale.

“He pointed to the picture and said ‘Kimi, we could do that,’ ” recalls Corbin.

Dylan’s nickname of Squirt became the natural name for her business.

They began making the horseshoes in January 2006 while Dylan was in Sacred Heart Medical Center for an extended stay undergoing treatment. Making the horseshoes became an outlet for Dylan. Together they would work for hours on the horseshoes until Dylan got tired.

“When you’re in the hospital for 59 days, there is only so much you can do,” Corbin said. “Only so much TV you can watch and video games you can play. It’s tough.”

Dylan’s handprint is also in the company slogan: “A little luck goes a long way.”

“Dylan came up with the slogan,” Corbin said. “There is an old wives tale about horseshoes. When a horse throws a shoe, you hang it above a doorway; it will bring good luck to anyone who enters through it.”

After Dylan’s death, Corbin stopped making the horseshoes. In June while taking her daily 3-mile walk, she had an epiphany.

“He wouldn’t want us to sit around and mope,” Corbin said. “I’ve got all the stuff. I just need to do it.”

Creating the horseshoes is a three-step process. Corbin receives the used rusty horseshoes free from different farriers. She removes all the nails and gives them to her oldest stepson, Dalton, who sandblasts any rust and prepares them to be painted. Her husband Jeff provides black and gray spray paint.

Once dry, Corbin decorates each shoe using jewels, rope or other trinkets she finds while shopping at craft stores or second-hand stores. No two shoes are alike. Each shoe is a unique art piece.

“The main thing that appealed to me about the horseshoes was the story behind them,” said Jill Townsend, owner of Hurd Mercantile. “She needed a venue and I wanted to help her.”

Currently Corbin sells the horseshoes at different locations throughout the Northwest and Alaska. She sells them for $19.99 each, $35 for two and $50 for three.

This fall Corbin wants to learn how to weld so she can create other art pieces welding multiple horseshoes together. She wants to create items such as curtain rod brackets, towel racks and toilet paper holders.

“Life is too short,” said Corbin, whose perspectives on life changed watching Dylan endure his hardship. “You come to the realization its one day at a time. Be thankful for what you got. Family and friends they come first.”

“This will always keep Dylan’s memory alive in us,” said Jeff Corbin, Dylan’s father. “He will always be in my heart and never forgotten.”