'We’ve gotten a lot more attention': Sask. horse busy filling orders for his artwork

A CTV News feature on a horse that can paint has resulted in an increased demand for his artwork from people throughout Canada and across the globe.

Tuff's trainer, Ella Wall, taught the horse to paint after seeing a trend on TikTok where horses use their snout or tongue to paint.

Wall started selling the paintings on Facebook, with the money raised covering the cost of medical care and supplies for the former thoroughbred racehorse.

After their story aired Tuff and Wall were busy keeping up with orders.

“We’ve gotten a lot more attention. We’ve shipped out a lot of paintings,” Wall told CTV News.

The story aired in various places across the country, but Wall got an overwhelming response from Ontario.

“They aired it in Ontario and bunch of people from their saw it and thought it was cool, so they ordered one,” she says.

One donor from Montreal wanted to order a number of paintings, but Wall had to explain that Tuff’s the sole artist and is finding it hard to keep up, so he offered to buy a $200 blanket for Tuff to help him keep warm during the winter.

This is the nicest blanket Tuff has ever had, Wall said.

One donor who lives in Dubai wanted some artwork, but since the shipping would be really high, Wall said she made a donation instead.

• Get the CTV News app for local breaking news alerts and top stories 

When they started the project less than a month ago, Tuff's dedicated bank account was pretty much empty, but with the outpouring of support in the last few weeks, it's now at $800.

Wall said it's a good cushion to help pay for a chiropractor to come in and help tough work through his injuries sustained during his life as a racehorse.

Wall says she never thought the story about Tuff’s artwork would get this response and is overwhelmed with the outpouring of love for tough.

“It’s not a very big thing if you compare it to what’s happening with the rest of the world, but for me it’s a big thing. Tuff’s my whole world and if he’s able to get the care he needs, that’s amazing.”

The pair has started to catch up on the orders and are continually shipping paintings out.

The life expectancy of a horse like Tuff is longer than that of a typical pet like a dog or a cat and Ella is hopeful Tuff will be in her life for another 10 to 15 years.