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