Does life imitate art?

Last summer, I had the priviledge of cat/house-sitting in California and I fell in love. With a horse.  My husband doesn't like this horse, and my Mum humoured me with my facination.  But every chance I got, I took an apple to that horse and took his picture.

Then one day, while touring Calistoga, I found a painting and I've always wondered if it was the same horse the artist tried to capture.  What do you think?

And later that summer, my Mum took this photo of my Dad's dogs.  Below is a paiting from another artist in Calistoga.  I am so amused by these two photos and two paintings, I just had to share!