Horsey News

In personal horsey news, my daughter made the difficult decision to sell her beloved horse, Caesar, in order to find a horse more suitable for her desire to compete in Equestrian Eventing. Eventing entails competing in Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross country with a single horse. Caesar, while a wonderful horse, doesn't have the structure or power be competitive in Eventing and to put him through the stress of those disciplines would eventually result in injury.

We found a new family who will provide excellent care, ride him and love him as much as Erica has these last 5 and a half years. They are a well respected local family. While he's moved to another barn, Erica can go and visit him if she wishes.

Some recent photos of the two of them:






And a couple of my favorites:

Read more...

Last Horse Show of the Season

The last events for the day's horse show didn't start until after 5pm as the sunlight faded. I don't recall any of the previous show that finished up so late, but I liked the light coupled with the autumn scenery. The Girl and her horse did a great job.



The barn adorned the jumping gates with scarecrows and ghouls! Something new to "freak out" the horses. But it didn't bother these two - and I love that she's smiling.


For the end of the season, the barn tallies up the scores for each division. Last year, she took 3rd place in the Low Working Hunter Division, where the poles are set to 2'3" - 2'6" high. This year, she took 2nd (Reserve) in the Hunter Division, where the poles are 2'6" - 2'9" high. This is the highest division for this course.



She's also riding with the college club team, and will participate in shows where she won't ride her own horse, but will draw a random horse before riding. This should give her new experiences and challenges. I know she is looking forward to it.

Read more...

Black and White Days

I was challenged by my friend (who happens to be a runner / photographer / creative soul like me), Kyla to a five day Black and White Challenge. So we're going black and white for the next five days.

Here's a classic horse shot, from my daughter's last show of the season:


The great thing about black and white conversions - it takes away all those distracting colored items in the background (in this case, the porta potty is less obvious). Good to know, right?

I still find it hard to determine which shots look good in black and white. I think this one works because it's a simple photo to begin with. Caesar is a great horse to convert to black and white due to his variegated coloring.

More black and white to come!

Read more...

Senior Photos - A Girl and Her Horse

A few "keepers" from this evening's photo shoot at the barn with my daughter.

We got there late, just as the sun was setting, so the light isn't the best. We should have arrived 30 minutes earlier, but some of these turned out OK - thank goodness for high ISO!


I must have snapped 20 photos of her on Caesar, but this one was the only one remotely "decent". The moon and stars need to align perfectly - those who have horses know what we were up against in this field full of grass.





Then there are the outtakes.


I've convinced her to have another session - this one will be in the early morning, so at least we won't be fighting the clock for light and I hope to get some nice golden morning light. Stay tuned!

Read more...

Horse Jumps at High Speed

About 2 tenths of a second (estimated based on my camera specs of 5.5 frames / second):













I told my daughter I would buy a GoPro video camera if she would jump with it. I think it would cool to see it from her perspective. She hasn't warmed up to the idea yet....

Read more...

More Horse Show Photos

Despite the heat and humidity, the girl and Caesar had another successful horse show.





They went Up


Then Over


And goofed off with friend, Jordan


A great day for all of Meg's students.

Read more...

Horse Show - Jump for Joy

I spent all Sunday at the daughter's second horse show. I was well prepared to wait, and the weather was nice, the grounds were beautiful and there were so many pretty horses to watch.

But I only took photos of my girl and her horse.







My absolute favorite shot of the day - they look like they are riding on some expansive horse farm in Kentucky - every equestrian's dream, right?


And my least favorite - she's holding on for dear life. As I was capturing this, I was thinking "holy crap, she's about to fall off". Afterwards, I said a silent prayer that there wouldn't be any more close calls.


This jump, during the competition was better:


She competed in two jumping events. The first one was rough - you know those flower boxes in front of the jumps? I learned they are not there just to make things pretty - they are there to psych out the horses. And Caesar did not like them at all. During his first run, she had to hit him with the crop and yell to get him to go over. That's all it took - after Caesar realized it was all in his head, the subsequent jumps went just fine.



She took home a few ribbons - another great but tiring day. More to come in a few weeks!

Read more...

The Pursuit of One's Passion

Ever since my daughter received her driver's license, my exposure to her riding exploits has decreased dramatically. The last time I went out to the barn, there was green grass on the ground - I know - eons ago. While I miss the serenity of being out in the country, I don't really miss the mud, the wind, the damp and cold that accompanies barn life in the winter.

Nothing deters my daughter from getting out to the barn - she's driven out there in a blizzard (and got stuck in the snow three times), in sub-zero temperatures, wind and rain. If the country roads are icy, she'll (in my AWD vehicle) take the longer route that turns a 25 minute drive into a 45 minute one. She'll go out to make sure Caesar has the proper blanket on for the forecasted weather, to make sure his water isn't frozen over (it's happened this winter) and to let him out in the pasture for 30 minutes. She'll take an hour out of her day to spend 20 minutes with her horse - that's love and dedication.

This spring, she decided not to try out for her school's soccer team. Instead, she's focusing on riding and starting to compete in horse shows. Truthfully, I wasn't sure of her decision - I guess the not knowing what we would be getting ourselves (the horse competitions) vs High school soccer (looks great on college applications, we know exactly what to expect) was the driver. But I know I need to let my daughter make decisions for herself, so here we are, getting ready for her first horse show.

She participated in a Riding Clinic last Sunday and I played the part of proud mom. A Riding Clinic for an equestrian is much like a Master Class for a musician [OK, I bet that didn't clarify anything to most of you out there, sorry] - a skilled teacher travels to a barn and holds private coaching sessions. It's a great way for a rider to gain exposure to other trainers in the field, and of course, receive specialized instruction.

During the course of their lesson, others in the barn watched as my daughter maneuvered her horse around the arena, into a "posting trot", then into a cantor and finally over some jumps. The owners of the hosting barn started asking me questions about Caesar - "How old is he?", "Does she take him on trail rides?" and then the unexpected "Is the horse for sale?". Wow, really? [and I mutter there's NO WAY she's ever going to sell that horse]. The girl and her horse had made a positive impression - deservedly so. I watched as they moved in one fluid motion and realized she had made the correct decision to drop the soccer and pursue her passion.

I took many other photos that day, but this one is my favorite.

Taken after a series of jumps - both are a bit winded, but exhilarated and satisfied.

That's my wish for each day of life - to pursue one's passion and get winded, but to be left exhilarated and satisfied.

Read more...

What Goes Up .....

You know the saying - what goes up must come down.

Up she goes...


What I didn't capture is the girl's fall from Caesar after the above photo (I was probably frozen in disbelief). She was a little too high up, got bounced up and lost hold of her left stirrup, so down she went. You know how things appear to happen in slow motion when you see something wrong going on? Well, that's what it looked like to me.

But she landed quite gracefully on her shoulder with no contact from her horse (he moved right out of the way - good boy). She dusted herself off, got right back on and back to jumping.



Good Job, Caesar....


It's not a sport for the faint of heart, that's for sure.

But for sure, it makes her happy.

Shared with Tuesday Muse

Read more...

Horse or More Wednesday | Two Sides

My daughter calls this Caesar's dirty side because of the dirt on on his side. As a non-horsey person, I didn't notice. I did notice the tongue sticking out, but I guess that's not hard to miss!


And apparently, this is his clean side.

Even though Caesar is officially half Appaloosa and half Quarter Horse, the Appaloosa is certainly dominant, from the white "blanket" on his hind quarters, to his stubby tail and non existent mane. It's time for him to get a mane buzz.

Last week, Sherry at From All Directions posted a photo of a new filly born at the barn.
And Denise at Autumn Sky Ranch posted photos of her life long love of horseback riding.

I wish you a wonderful Wednesday. Please continue to keep the folks in Oklahoma in your thoughts and prayers as they deal with the aftermath of the tornado from Monday.

Read more...

Horse Or More Wednesday - Knee Deep

All the rain we received in April (and May) has resulted in lots of green grass.



The horses just eat it up (literally!).

And an update on the foal that was born about a month ago, who I thought had been moved to another stable - he and his mom are back! No recent photos, but I'm sure I'll get some this weekend.

You can check out more horse photos at Sherry's blog - From all Directions.

Read more...

Let's Roll

I think this one is perfect for Wordless Wednesday.....



Oh Wait - They had an audience, too....


Have a great Wednesday - we're digging out from our weekly snowstorm and still waiting on Spring....

Linked to Wordless Wednesday and Wordful Wednesday

Read more...

Best Friends

Horses are very much like people - with distinct personalities, moods, good and bad days. They also develop friendships with fellow horses.

These two, Caesar and Cody, are best friends. They've been boarded together for at least four years, but became a pair of best buds when we bought Caesar two years ago and our daughter's friend, Jordan, bought Cody. They now live in adjacent run ins, the girls have lessons together and take them on trail rides together.

It's no surprise when they are let into the pasture that they gravitate towards one another. That's what best friends do, right?



I added two texture layers to the above photo - Kim Klassen's Minus 43 texture in Soft Light (100%) and the same texture in Linear Burn (10%).

Here's the original photo:


I liked how the texture lightened the photo up and added a golden hue to the scene. It almost feels warmer, right?

Sharing with Texture Tuesday.

Read more...

Wordless Wednesday - The Jump

Yeah, there aren't supposed to be words for Wordless Wednesday, but I can think of a few, like:

"Jump, Caesar, jump!"
"OMG, I hope she doesn't fall off" (those would be my thoughts)
"I didn't sign her up to jump a horse" (again, my thoughts)
"I hope this jump doesn't ruin my newly trimmed hooves" (Caesar's thoughts?)

Have a great Wednesday!

Read more...

Animals At The Barn

Ever since we moved to the new stable, the visits out to see Caesar have increased - last week, we were out there four days and it would have been five days had there not been a sporting event conflict. I'll be honest, after a long week at work, I don't really want to drive 25 minutes, spend two to three hours there and drive back. I am actually looking forward to my daughter getting her license so I won't be playing the role of taxi driver. Of course, then I'll have other worries!

Last Friday, however, I realized that days like these are fleeting and will soon pass. So instead of taking a nap in the car, I decided to seek out my daughter in action.


Seriously, that barn cat cracks me up. He's always in the center of the action.


I wonder what they decided to look at.


Oh, they're looking at me, giving me the "why do you continue to take photos of us?" look.

And right after I snapped that photo, the barn dog showed up.

Read more...