Horse Shows in the Park ~~ Gainesville Equine Photographer

It's been awhile since I posted horse photos! I haven't been to many shows lately, due to not being around a lot on the weekends and because I haven't been showing. But I snuck over to Canterbury today for a few minutes and caught Ella and her girls as some of them were showing at the Horse Shows in the Park Hunter/Jumper show. It was such a beautiful day for a horse show -- sunny but not too warm, with just enough breeze.  Wasn't there for long, so just a few photos:

Bailey and Sam in the 2'9 jumpers

Dee and Sterling during one of their flat classes.

A bit about best friends, margaritas, and horses

I can't remember exactly when Beth and I met. It was some time in grad school (but definitely not early enough!). And I'm not sure what we shared first -- our love of margaritas, or our love of horses. What I do know is that at a time in my life when I wasn't riding, Beth was there and convinced me to start again. I still remember our first lesson -- I told her it had been forever (hey, three years of not riding seems like forever, okay?) and that I was pretty sure I was just going to fall off, or look horrible, or not remember anything. And then I met Handsome, who was possibly the sweetest goofy gelding ever, and Beth's best friend. It's been a long time since that first lesson. I moved on to riding another horse, Beth reminded and taught me the beginning of my jumping skills (and I didn't fall off that first lesson. She didn't even put me on a lunge line!). And then Alex, Beth's husband, graduated from UF and got a job. In Georgia. Athens, actually. Which meant that my best friend, my riding instructor, my amazing margarita-making mate was moving. And trust me, I-75 is a long dang road.

Beth is still my best friend. We still talk almost every week. When we're together, there are usually margaritas and horses involved (though not at the same time!). So when she called a few weeks ago and said that she had a few of her clients qualify for the American Eventing Championships... and it was going to be in Georgia... and that she was probably going to qualify for it as well (just one more event!)... there really was no question. I was going. Three days at an awesome horse show, with one of my best friends, taking photos? Seriously, how can there be a question about that?

So for Beth, and for Christy and Holly, her two awesome clients -- you all ROCKED at AECs. Honestly -- you are all amazing people, and I had a great time with all of you!  All of the photos are on my site, so feel free to browse through. Just a peek for you here on the blog today:

Beth and "His Highness" aka Nike

Kelly & Roman ~ Gainesville Equine Photographer

As many of you know, one of the passions of my life is riding horses.  It all started when Mom and Dad bought me my first pony when I was in elementary school....

Don't laugh, now... remember it was the late '80's...

Anyways, horses have always been a big part of my life. So when Kelly emailed and asked if I would take some photos of her and her horse, Roman, I was delighted!  Kelly shows dressage (think dancing on horse back) and this past weekend, she was competing to earn her Silver Medal from USDF at Canterbury Show Place.  She was successful in doing so, and rode a beautiful test! A few photos from the morning:

Congratulations again, to Kelly and Roman!

HITS

The HITS (Horse Shows in the Sun) circuit is finishing up it's six week run in Ocala (this week was week five) at PostTime Farms. These shows attract top level hunter/jumpers from all over the nation.  Jared and I went down for a few hours Sunday afternoon to watch some of the jumpers and we certainly weren't disappointed!  We didn't stay for the Grand Prix this weekend, but did see the National Junior and Amateur Owner Jumper Classic. For those of you non-horsey types, the fences in this class are 4'3" - 4'6" and the class is "judged" on how fast the horse/rider go over a course of fences without knocking down any of the rails. Here are a few photos:

This cute little pug was "guarding" the announcer's stand.

Horse Show!

Horse show season has started again. This past weekend was our first show of the season, Horse Shows in the Park at Canterbury Showplace in Newberry, FL. It was a weekend full of working out the kinks, getting back into the routine and still having fun despite the weather (which rained on Saturday and was gray and really windy on Sunday). We have a new addition to our show team, Sunny and her pony Rosie, who show in the short stirrup division. I always have fun taking photos at the horse show, but I had a BLAST taking photos of Sunny. This is a little girl who LOVES her pony!! She is the true story of the fairy tale little girl with a little white pony. I love her smile and how she hugs her pony after every class. It was so great to hang out with Sunny and her family this weekend, along with my other friends and horse show family. Aja and I made our first foray into the hunter world, competing in a Medal class. I was proud of how we both did for our first time, but I also know now what we need to work on for the future. Don't worry -- we're not abandoning the jumpers, just trying some new things and expanding our horizons. Besides, I wouldn't abandon Bailey out there alone! She and Danny did great this weekend as well. Ella brought two of her greenies in training to the show as well. Both were super stars and did well in their classes. Here are a few of my favorites from the show, the rest can be found on my gallery site.

Despite the noise in this one, I love this shot of Jack -- looks like a painting to me.

Sunny and her pony, Rosie.

Bailey and Danny in the 2'6 jumpers.

Jack in his first horse show!

Super Hottie!