Disclaimer: This is a HUGE post, be warned 
Despite the fact that I do not ride, I absolutely adore horses. I got the idea that I’d like to do portraits of riders and their horses. I didn’t want to do the standard rider on the horse shot. I wanted something more. So my fabulous friend Tanya organised a few of her riding friends at the stables where she rides. She managed to persuade them that bathing their horses (which they had to do twice because the naughty monkeys had a mud baths after their first bath) and then donning pretty dresses and doing their hair and make up so that I could take photos of them with their horses, would be a good idea. I was extremely fortunate to have 4 gorgeous ladies, 4 magnificent horses and one little angel and her pony to photograph, complete with glitter
First up is the cutest ginger kid I’ve ever seen. Little Hannah rides Gulliver, a grey pony. It is quite obvious that he loves his mommy, because she walks with him and he just follows. When Hannah’s mom takes the lead Gulliver wants none of it. Of course Hannah is totally besotted with her little pony, you will see this in the images below.
Next is my beautiful friend Tanya and her Chestnut pony Twister. Twister was my best friend during the shoot. It had nothing to do with liking “me”, rather she loved the carrots I had in my bag. To be perfectly honest I really didn’t mind the “cupboard love”, pony cuddles are always welcome
Next is Hannah’s mom Tanya with Zorro who is a Fresian Cross Warmblood. This young lad is HUGE, and he is apparently only 3 years old and still has some growing to do. He was so cute, he has the flabbiest lips I’ve ever come across in a horse and you need to make sure you hold any treats securely so he can get them, otherwise his lips just knock them to the ground. He is such a sweetie
Next is the lovely Cath with her Fresian King Arthur. Wow, Fresians are such majestic horses, with THE biggest hooves I’ve ever seen on a horse. I have this terrible habit of saying they have fluffy paws, when in fact they just have very long thick manes and tails and this trait carries over to their hooves as well. Telling such a large beast he has “fluffy paws” does not endear them to you, but having that bag of carrots helped
Last, but by no means least, we have the gorgeous Saskia and her thoroughbred Rags. This lad apparently likes to lick you. I was warned, albeit only after I had been licked. He is very photogenic and does love the camera, but his licking habit caused there to be a number of photographs with his tongue sticking out. I will however save the funnies for another post. Today we are concentrating on the majesty of these beasts and the beauty of their riders.
And that brings this bumper post to an end. Thank you so much for your patience ladies, and for making your horses all clean and shiny, and also for making yourselves look all gorgeous and glamorous. A huge thanks also to Santie for being in the background and jumping up and down like a crazy lady with a magic wand to make the horses prick their ears up and look at me.
