Stepping out

I'm having fun being a San Diego dog photographer today. It's a new project I'm working on and I'm letting the creativeness go anywhere it wants to.

Equestrian Open Show Photography: Rhythm

When I'm photographing an equestrian open show, where one class slowly leads to another, I find that the event almost has a certain rhythm to it. The morning English classes go first and they have the wonderful morning light, so I typically work fast trying to capture all the riders & mounts before the sun begins its furious pace of bumping up the contrast. Next comes the lead line and handling classes where I really start to see people having a good time and this is where I start to slow down and look for emotion. In the English classes I almost never see anyone smiling as most are too nervous to think of having fun. In the halter classes it's different as they point their smiling faces at the judge(s) hoping that it's their horse that has the award winning composition. 

After lunch comes the Reining classes and WOW, are they ever long. Each class (usually two) can last over an hour so I try to conserve my energy and go for the money shots (the slides). After Reining comes the Western and Western Pleasure classes. My day can last from 6:30am to 4:30 pm (or longer) but I always try to stay to the very end no matter what as it is usually the rider in the last class that ends up buying the large prints or licensing every one of their pics from the day.

Below, a handler adjusts her horse ever so slightly so that his feet are in perfect conformation before being judged. As I'm lining up the shot, if the horse's ears are not alert, I will sometimes make a slight whistling sound to help perk up the ears. I wonder if silent dog whistles would work? Hmmm...need to research that!

Early Morning Tranquility

In Competitive Trail NATRC*, riders are released from the start line in 30 second intervals (unlike Endurance and Limited Distance rides which normally have either a "shot-gun" start or a controlled start where many riders are released at the same time). I was hoping this amount of time would adequately separate each rider for me as I did not have a "Rider Up Ahead" sign in place like I normally do to inform riders of my presence. I was more or less pleased as it did provide some amount of spacing between each rider.

Rider number 44 passed through a grove of pepper trees and stood briefly in the clearing before advancing my way. The sun was just starting to rise over the hilltop and when I saw this scene present itself I thought how tranquil it was. I tried to get everyone's portrait from this vantage point but not everyone stopped to pose like that. Within 5 minutes the sun just overpowered the scene so I was forced to find another location to shoot from in order to avoid dealing with a nasty backlit shot.

* I assumed Competitive Trail was the same as NATRC (North American Trail Ride Conference) but I found out today that I was wrong. So, it is my mission now to learn more about Competitive Trail and hopefully get some great photographs!

Lunchtime Nibbles

Horse snacking on grass at a lunch "hold" during a NATRC event. The event riders (and mounts) were given 40 minutes for a needed energy and rest break.

Tassel

In detail: western saddle with decorative horsehair tassel.

NATRC Region 2 - San Dimas

The North American Trail Ride Conference (NATRC) - Region 2 held their event at the Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in San Dimas, CA. I forgot how beautiful this park is and even though I used to board my horse less than 5 miles away, I have no idea why I didn't ride these trails more often.

This was my first experience photographing a NATRC event and I had a lot of fun. The ride managers, the competitors and all the volunteers were so friendly and welcoming that I can't wait to photograph the events in 2010. As for being a competitor, sadly, I know that my crazy Arab/Welsh "Faline" aka "Pony" would never be a decent mount for this event. Given that both the horse and rider are judged in NATRC, Faline is simply too neurotic to compete in this sport.

Gallery images from this NATRC Region 2 event are now online.

Dressage Markers

Dressage markers on the side of an equestrian arena.

The markers let the dressage rider and the dressage judge know when a particular movement or action should be performed. The dressage rider must memorize and follow the correct path for a particular dressage test.

The number of markers depends on the size of the arena - 20x40m for preliminary and novice, and 20x60m for advanced novice and grand prix competitions.