Acclaimed racehorse forced to retire with bad knees finds success as best-selling painter selling more than $20,000-worth of his abstract works

Metro Meteor was a successful racehorse before bad knees forced him to retire

His owners let him experiment with a paintbrush and he proved a natural

He has sold art totaling over $20,000 and is the best-selling artist at a Pennsylvania gallery

Owner's donate half his earnings to charity and use the rest to pay his medical bills

A 10-year-old thoroughbred racehorse forced to retire from the track has found a second career as an accomplished – and highly lucrative - painter.



Slowed by bad knees, Metro Meteor was retired in 2009 and adopted by Ron and Wendy Krajewski in Rocky Ridge, Maryland.



Unable to ride the crippled horse, Ron, a local artist, decided to teach Metro to paint in order to spend more time with him and it turned out the horse was a natural.

After giving up the racetrack, Metro Meteor has found a new career as a successful painter who has sold more than $20,000 in abstract art

Once a successful turf sprinter, Metro Meteor is now making a name for himself as an abstract painter



Within just months of applying his first brush stroke to canvas, Metro has sold almost 200 paintings worth more than $20,000.

Metro is now the best-selling artist at Gallery 30, a small shop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which started selling his work four months ago.

'For his large paintings, there is a waiting list of 120,' Ron Krajewski told The Daily News .

However he still has some way to go to match his winnings from his racing career which totaled $300,000.



The Krajewskis donate half of Metro's earnings to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program and use the rest to pay his vet bills

'Art scholars are not going to have long lengthy discussions trying to decipher the hidden meaning to Metro's paintings. He is a horse,' explains his owner

Metro paints his latest masterpiece while owners Ron and Wendy Krajewski look on at Motter's Station Stables in Rocky Ridge, Maryland

Before his injuries, Metro won eight races as a turf sprinter and was considered among the fastest at courses including Saratoga and Belmont Park.



Metro's painting style features lots of colorful, sweeping brushstrokes, complete with specks of sawdust - not surprising as the horse paints by swinging his head with his paintbrush clenched between his teeth.



'Art scholars are not going to have long lengthy discussions trying to decipher the hidden meaning to Metro's paintings. He is a horse,' writes Ron on Metro's website .



'It is what it is. A painting you can hang on your wall and tell all your friends it was painted by a horse.'



Horse and owner typically paint for an hour or two, maybe four times a week.

Metro's painting style features lots of colorful, sweeping brushstrokes, complete with specks of sawdust

The Krajewskis donate half of Metro's earnings to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, a charity that seeks homes and rehabilitation for retired racehorses.



The owner of Gallery 30 also donates a portion of Metro's profits to a local animal shelter.



'We use the rest to pay for his medical bills,' said Ron Krajewski. 'The special treatment for his knees is very expensive.'



Metro suffers from arthritis, cartilitis or frozen joints, and rapid bone growth, among other health issues. At first, his prognosis was bleak and if he continued to deteriorate, he could die within two or three years, his owners said.



But recent X-rays showed that an experimental bone remodeling treatment had improved one knee, they said, and treatment on another knee will begin this month.



Video: Metro Meteor

