Pers Crowell, 1910- 1965, was born in Eastern Washington and was greatly influenced by the rural geography of his small town which instilled his passion for horses. He graduated from Pasco High School and studied at the Phoenix Art Institute and later attended Chouinard's in Los Angeles. He worked at an advertising agency in Portland, Oregon, where his relationship with horses were a vital element in his daily life as well as in his artistic career and thus soon became his primary artistic subject.

McGraw-Hill published his first book in 1945 and four others followed--all about horses, in addition to the illustration of forty or more stories by other authors. Crowell spent his later years with his wife Donna living on a small farm near Beaverton, Oregon, raising Shetland ponies. He passed away in 1965.