Edmund Tarbell painted his youngest daughter Mary Tarbell Schaffer (1897-1991) standing with one of the family's three horses, New Castle Poppy. Schaffer was an accomplished rider and horsewoman, and Tarbell was determined to depict her mastery. She wears a competitive riding outfit, and her horsemanship skills are evident from the positioning of her hands on the horse, lead, and crop. Schaffer was progressive and independent. During the 1920s, when only a small percentage of women were driving automobiles, she drove her father to his appointments to paint President Herbert Hoover's portrait. Tarbell was a founding member of The Ten, a group of American Impressionists working in what was then considered a radical style of gestural, brightly toned painting.