I met the owner of Worth a Shot farm last summer during my horse shopping adventures. My vet insisted I go see a lovely gelding she has, and I admit, if it weren’t that he was an unbroken 2 year old, I would have snapped him up in a heartbeat. But besides my drooling over the horse, I also got to meet the farm’s other inhabitants. The farm proprietor also happens to breed beautiful Cane Corso dogs along with stunning warmbloods. One of her herd is the country’s lone passported silver dapple warmblood stallion, and despite being just a baby he’s quite the eye-catcher! So when the owner offered to help me with some trailer loading work with Smitty, I was keen to pay her back in photographs- and these are the results!
As I continue to grow my photography business, I hope to offer more and more of these black background shots. The silver dapple was an interesting color to photograph, as it is so rich and contrasts dramatically with that blonde mane and tail- and I hope to go back in the fall when this fella’s coat is even more dapply and extreme!
With horses, just like humans, it seems the first year of a relationship is critical to determining whether it will endure in the long term.
You go through this exciting honeymoon phase and often, discovering quirks and idiosyncrasies is charming and helps to create a sense of connection. Maybe it’s playing with the crossties (which I’m a sucker for), or finding out that your new pony just loves his ears to be rubbed. It’s all sweet, and endearing, and you just can’t help but get googly eyes when you set eyes on them. For Smitty and I, the highlight of our honeymoon period was our cross country school, in which I basically decided he was the best baby, ever.
And then you hit that phase where you know each other a little better, and have a tiny foundation on which you can build trust and start to grow. Sometimes this is an extension of the initial honeymoon phase, and all continues to be bright and beautiful as you take on new challenges and add shared accomplishments to your relationship history. Or maybe this is where you start to test each other’s boundaries, introducing your first fight into the mix. For us, this was the show in October. Success in so many ways, and yet, a few moments where the rose colored glasses became just a tish foggy.
Shortly after that, I sent him off the bootcamp, which in hindsight I wish I hadn’t done because I believe it lead, in part, to his unhappy stomach shortly thereafter. Here we enter another phase in our relationship, which is the general ups and downs of trying to figure out each other’s limits, make progress, and see if we will be a team in the long run.
Ulcers. UGH.
I’ve always heard it takes a full year to really form a partnership with a new horse, and is history is any indication, I believe that’s true. Smitty and I are next yet halfway to that marker yet, and we have so much to work through if we are going to be a permanent fixture. Yet I think in a lot of ways that just how horse, and human, relationships are. It’s a non-linear progression towards a forever shifting end goal.
Last week we discussed ponies versus horses, and both the cultural and sometimes ruling limitations that stop ponies from being more popular in the english disciplines. So today I’d like to ask the more personal question- what is your perfect size, and why?
Ivan and Foster were both 16.2h and uphill, and Smitty is fitting right into that category and will likely get much bigger. While it’s a lot easier to market a larger horse, I’m finding his constant growth (.5″ from September to December) a little disconcerting.
Already more like wrangling a giraffe at 16.2h | PC: Studio in the Stable
When I was horse shopping, I was looking at anything from 15.2h to 16.2h, though there were exceptions of course. I really quite like riding the shorter guys, in fact, and if I didn’t want to jump I’m probably stick to something 15.2 or 15.3h tall.
A 17h horse I tried in KY…
…. and a 15.2h pony from the same day
For me, I prefer to jump something a little bit taller than 15.1-15.2 hands simply because the fences look smaller from a bigger horse, and my balls went MIA a long, long time ago. Otherwise, I feel like my leg is ok on a variety of horses and would be open to a more vertically challenged prospect.
XC schooling baby Smitty
What about you? What is your acceptable range in a mount? How does your chosen discipline affect your preferences?
Branding is the art of aligning what you want people to think about your company with what people actually do think about your company. And vice-versa. – Jay Baer
All businesses and organizations can benefit from thinking about brand, since really, brand is the totality of how you/it/they are represented in the world. It’s feelings and visuals and messages all rolled into a ball.
The USEF just released their new branding, which includes a new logo, revamped website, and more. By changing their name to US Equestrian, they now feel like a more personal organization with an emotional tie to its members, rather than simply a governing body. To emphasize their new, friendlier, approachable brand they also rolled out a campaign they call “the Joy of Horse Sports”, featuring feel-good imagery highlighting the bond between horse and rider.
Old versus new logo
Branding is something I’m required to think about on a daily basis, since it’s part of my job. And I love it- branding is a mix of design and psychology that ticks off my greatest educational interests in college, and though it is exceptionally challenging to create a brand from scratch, building recognition through branding efforts is also exceptionally rewarding as well. It took me ages to come up with my own logo (always hardest designing for yourself!), but eventually settled on this design, which emulates my simple visual aesthetic. The circle hints at the aperture of a camera lens, but isn’t specific enough to discount the other types of design work I do- anything from wedding invitations to, you guessed it, logo design.
If you ever hire a designer for an identity project (or work on one yourself!), you know that the process of developing your visual identity is deeply personal. Not only do you want to somehow sum up the emotional values that make up you/your business of the present, but you also want to represent the aspirations you have for the future. Whether your goals are to become a household name, or the local go-to spot, a cohesive brand identity will never hold you back.
For the bloggers out there- what elements have you focused on to create your brand? How does your visual identity tie back to you? Does it use your eventing colors? Wedding colors? Did you make font choices or even naming decisions when you first created your blog/business/facebook page/etc. What branding challenges have you faced, in the past or currently?
Olympia was for me, the event of a lifetime, and a memory I will never forget. The equine performers and competitors were absolutely top-notch, and getting to see some of the world’s best showjumpers warm up, up close, was enlightening and inspiring.
My camera was my only companion for the night, though I did make some acquaintances while in the more personal viewing area at the warm up. But despite being alone, the entertainment was enough that really I didn’t mind.
You can see I was quite struck with this particular act, the Stallions of Portugal. The dressage and riding in this segment was really impressive, combined with lighting effects and an excellent soundtrack- well, what’s not to love?
Most of the images I took in the warm up ring you will have seen by now in a former post, but here are a couple more worth sharing.
Here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful weekend! I’m doing two photoshoots (assuming the weather cooperates) that I am super excited about, and I can’t wait to share them with you all!
After fasting Smitty for 12 hours before his scoping appointment this morning, I found Kujo in his stall instead of a baby warmblood. Mr. Crankypants was hangry in the extreme, and taking it out on his poor jolly ball with much angst.
A little juice soon helped him forget how hungry he was, and we quickly got to running the scope down his nose and into his stomach. My vet joked that I could probably scope him myself at this rate, and honestly, she could be right.
Right away it was obvious that his stomach was a happier place, as the red blotchiness of before was replaced with a shiny pink lining with only minimal discoloration. The pyloric ulceration we had found before was gone, and we were well on our way to a completely healthy stomach.
Smitty’s treatment so far has been thus:
3 weeks of Ulcergard (gastrogard) @ 1 tube/day
3.5 weeks of Abgard @ 1 tube/day
Introduction of Alfalfa mash 2x/day
Succeed GI Conditioning program, starting with 1 week loading dose
At that rate, it’s obvious that the Abgard has worked as a good substitute for the Merial products, which is amazing since it’s 1/3 of the price, and well worth the wait for international shipping.
The plan is to keep him on 1/2 tube of the Abgard until I run out, so approximately 2 weeks worth. At that rate we should be in the clear, and I will continue with the Succeed supplement indefinitely for its hind gut benefits. Whether we keep him on alfalfa will be a later decision, as I’m also hoping it helps him gain some weight through the winter.
All in all, the scope was a success and ideally we’re on the path to a happier, less hangry Smitty.
While I was hacking through London last month, one of the topics my guide and I discussed was ponies. Specifically, how the British in particular embrace ponies as suitable mounts for much longer than we do here in the States.
In the UK, pony jumpers are incredibly popular, and riders are eligible until the age of 16 to compete in the 148cm (i.e. pony) competitions. The European Pony Championships hold their showjumping event over a 1.2m (3’11”) course and with 45 riders representing their countries, it’s obvious that the idea of jumping ponies over height is not an anomaly there as it is here.
Even Jack Whitaker, though obviously being born into showjumping royalty, has to deal with his share of gritty pony wrangling:
And check out this well ridden course by a junior pony pair, liberally sprinkled with pony snark.
Pony jumpers, as well as other disciplines on small-statured mounts, seem not to be nearly as common in the States. Of course we see the adorable pig-tailed girls of the short stirrup classes, but when they get to be preteens, they’re already been riding horses for some time. Not to say this is wrong or right, since of course sometimes a taller horse that lacks typical the pony snarkiness is the safer option for a rider moving up.
But maybe it’s something else here that makes ponies, and short-statured horses unpopular after a certain age. Maybe older riders feel there’s a cultural stigma about riding a smaller mount. Maybe it goes with the bigger-is-better mentality that we Americans like to adopt. Maybe it has something to do with pony breeders, or the absence of marketing sport ponies to adult amateurs. Or maybe we need to see more Teddy O’Connor’s, or North Forks Cardi’s, in the top arenas before the vertically challenged equine becomes en vogue.
All I do know that after being involved with marketing and selling horses, that the ponies and <15.2h horses are the hardest to sell to the 14 and over crowd. Even a horse as cool and athletic as Riley, at 15.1h I wonder how easy he will be to market when the time comes.
Riding shorter horses can be a blast, but why do you think we don’t see so many shorter horses or ponies in the hands of adult amateurs? When did you make the move up to horses, and why? Would you consider riding something shorter if the right match presented itself?
Almost two months ago, it occurred to me that our current boarding situation was perhaps not the best thing for a baby warmblood.
While the care was excellent, the atmosphere could at times be chaotic. For instance the jumping ring was located in the midst of a mobile home park (well, double wides), and beyond worrying about training my young horse, I also would commonly have to worry about motorcycles being revved, doors slamming, dogs walking, and the general bedlam that comes with riding in about 40 people’s backyard.
The other aspect to Smitty’s detriment was the turnout. Not that there wasn’t enough- Smitty actually had one of the largest paddocks there, but he had it all to himself. For many different reasons, the other boarders wanted individual turnout for their horses, and so my big gangly creature was relegated to sniffing noses over the fence for socialization. I really felt like having other horses to be with would be necessary for his sanity and well being.
So I went back to a facility I had looked at when wanting to move Foster from the boarding-barn-that-shall-not-be-named. I remember getting the warm fuzzies until I saw their gigantor fields and knew I would never catch my horse if he decided not to come in.
But everything about it was just about perfect for baby Smitty. So just a couple days after Christmas, we loaded him up and made the 10 min trip down the road to his new home.
Bonus: New stall comes with a jolly ball!
So far Smitty seems quite at home- he lays down in his stall and out in the field, and he adores his new friend Brio, who at 24 years old is nonetheless quite feisty and makes Smitty try and keep up with him. Watching Smitty’s long legs attempt to gallop has been quite the sight.
I feel really good about the decision to move Smitty, and am also loving the new barn family myself (my tribe- equestrians and fellow winos- what’s not to love?). Though we’ve gotten iced snowed in, I can’t wait to get back out there and see our new friends and see Smitty become a happier, healthier horse!
So I did a thing last week, a totally fiscally irresponsible thing, and I have to admit, I don’t regret it one bit.
I upgraded to a full frame camera, which basically means more pixels, faster shutter speeds, and better low-light imagery.
And I’m thrilled!
As soon as I got my grabby hands on the new beast, I took it to the barn and convinced my friend to let me take a couple photos of her new pony. I’m super happy with the result, and I can’t wait to hopefully make good on my resolution to expand my photography practice this year!
As part of the process of removing my thousand or so Breyers from my parents’ attic, I also came upon other blasts from the past. Namely, the art that I produced in high school.
Before sadly tossing most of it in the garbage (because who doesn’t want an anxty goat man over their mantel?) I went ahead and documented some of my favorites. Art for me at the time was just as much a part of me as horses. I was the kid who constantly had a sketchbook with her, doodling throughout class.
I was inspired by energy and had a sharp sense of humor. I’d often put easter eggs in my work, like the chimp in the (rather beaten and warped) piece below. Sometimes it was sarcastic, sometimes it was a little dark, but a lot of time my art was just plain whimsy.
Yes, even then I was annoyed my salmon came out a bit red.
Some of my artwork was pensive stuff like the above, because what else does a horse-crazy teenager draw?
Other work I found was purely abstract, and more about trying new techniques than anything else. But as I was pawing through the masses of art, a couple stood out to me that were worth taking half-shadowy photos of before putting in the dump pile.
Sometimes I get quite sad about how long it’s been since I’ve drawn anything (over 5 years), but then again having a creative career means that at the end of the day I just want to horse and go to bed. And I have my photography as a creative outlet.
But still, it sure was nice reliving each piece of work again, just for a short while.
Red on the Right 
