The Artist was inspired by Ledger Art, a transitional art genre of the Plains tribes of the late 19th century. Ledger Art records pictographic chronicles of heroic deeds, ceremony, daily life, and sacred visions painted and drawn on accountant ledger book paper. With destruction of the buffalo herds and other game animals, painting on animal hides gave way to ledger paper, muslin, canvas, and occasionally commercially prepared cow or buffalo hides. Traditional paints and bone and stick brushes formerly used to paint on hide changed to implements such as colored pencils, crayon, and occasionally water colors.

The scenes of ceremony and daily life in Ledger Art became a way for the Plains tribes to maintain their cultural identity as they were forced to relocate to government reservations. Thus the Ledger Art became the “journals of their lives.” With the Robles Ledger Art Horse Series, the Artist suspends the horses in dynamic movement, running, leaping, in full gallop, telling the story of their valor. The horses are painted with symbols to make them run faster, untouched by the arrows of the enemy or the passing of history.