Just as races are announced at Belmont Park Race Track with the call "The horses are running," so too did Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi announce the kickoff of the "Horses of a Different Color" program. The kickoff took place on Tuesday, April 15 at the Nassau County Museum of Art with some 30 to 35 painted fiberglass horses lining the walkway from the parking lot and the terrace entrance to the museum.

The program, which will help raise money to preserve open space and promote sports and tourism for Nassau County, still has openings for sponsors. Suozzi announced that Frank Castagna of Castagna Realty was sponsoring three horses. On Tuesday, Castagna added another: he is sponsoring three for the Americana Manhasset and one for Wheatley Plaza. Angela Anton, publisher of Anton Community Newspapers, is sponsoring a horse, as are King Kullen, the Carltun restaurant in Eisenhower Park and several others listed in Suozzi's column in this week's newspaper. The county has about 26 to 50 sponsors and wants to increase that number to 100. For $4000, a sponsor commissions an artist of their choosing to paint a horse. The horses will then be placed throughout the county. Any organization, club, business or private individual is invited to sponsor a horse.

Suozzi credited Stuart Held, executive director of the Nassau County Sports, Entertainment and Tourism Committee, for coming up with the idea, selling sponsorships and for being in charge of moving the horses all over the county. "His daughter was the one that drew the flag-draped horse that got us extra press," said Suozzi.

That "extra press" was the comment by some that the American flag should not be draped on a horse's rear end. The horse in question was at the museum, as was the artist, Pauli Suominen of Mt. Sinai, who created it. Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, Suominen is a Vietnam Marine veteran who was a carpenter by trade, but an artist by passion. With his love of art and nature, he created the painted horse.

When asked for a comment on the criticism, Suozzi took the high road and said, "I see it as a wonderful celebration of patriotism, art and horses and telling people what's great about this county." Looking around, he added, "We have about four flag horses here - and one is a zebra! It's great art, it promotes local artists and it's an uplifting experience in all our lives. It is also a vehicle to promote what we have here in Nassau County."

A search for designs began in the fall of 2002 with a call to Nassau artists to submit their ideas on how they would paint a horse. The response from the creative community was very strong and over 200 drawings were received, including six submitted by Debra Ann Kasimakis, owner of Pandagraphics Design Studio in Hicksville. Two of Kasimakis' designs, "Sport of Kings" and "Elvenhall," were chosen.

"It's been an incredible experience for me to be able to create not one, but two of these amazing animals," said Kasimakis. "The 'Sport of Kings' is a very stylized idea whereas 'Elvenhall' is much more realistic, so they presented two very different challenges." Kasimakis' horses are being sponsored by King Kullen.

Kasimakis, a 1971 graduate of Hicksville High School, began her early career around watercolor landscapes, many featuring scenes of Long Island, which were widely distributed throughout North America. Her painting "Shangri-La" is currently on sale at the Nassau County Museum of Art. In addition, Kasimakis has developed a line of jewelry known as RockCandy, designs gift baskets and creates Debby Dolls art sculptures. She is active in donating pieces to be auctioned off in order to raise money for arts education and the study of Long Island marine environment, two areas of great interest to Kasimakis.

Villages all over the county will be involved in the Horses of a Different Color event. Horses will be present in the gardens of the Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn and at the Nassau Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, as well as the Tilles Center, along Franklin Avenue in Garden City and in groups and herds in areas throughout the county, including the Nassau County Breeders Cup Race at Belmont Park Racetrack. The horses will also be featured in a June 1 Newsday 8-page insert, during parades in Elmont and Garden City on June 6 and at Belmont in mid-October.

Suozzi said there are about 59 horse breeders on Long Island who are important to the local economy and help preserve open space as well as adding to the quality of life. "Horses are nice to look at and nice to bring children to see," he said. Besides horse racing at Belmont Park, there are riding trails, horsemen's associations, horse jumping, horse shows, dressage competitions and horse farms which are another vehicle to preserve open space in Nassau County.

The horses will be on display at the Nassau County Museum of Art through May 5. For more information on Horses of a Different Color, contact the Nassau County Department of Sports, Entertainment and Tourism at 571-3922.