So the third month of the year is over already, how crazy is that! As usual, here's my monthly round up - there are a few shoots I'm not allowed to share yet as they're either a suprise or top secret for now!
First up was a shoot with Dali, Menace and Ben - three lovely thoroughbreds owned by Ellie and the EDPS gang. Tracey was also on hand for octopus waving duty! All three of the beautiful chestnut lads behaved themselves and looked so handsome in the photographs!
My second shoot of the month was with Amber and her little coloured pony, Tonto. He was quite a challenge to photograph but we persevered and got some lovely shots - he was a fidget monster! Tonto was off to his new home that afternoon so we braved the wild weather forecast to make sure Amber and Shelley had some memories to treasure.
With Cheltenham just around the corner, I headed off to Gloucester with Georgia from Back on Track. We visited Martin Keighley's yard to meet their festival runner Any Currency, and to photograph the race horses in the Back on Track products, ahead of a sponsorship press release. We also got to see the new navy mesh rugh which suited Any Currency very well. A week later it was Cheltenham Festival so I didn't get much work done - glued to the racing, managing to tweak a few logos between each race!
Becka and Caprice modelled on a shoot for us - a little test run to present to a company in the next few weeks. At the end they both enjoyed a good blast up the field; I'm not sure who was grinning more, Caprice or Becka! On the sponsored rider front, I'm glad to see that Rohan is recovering nicely after his little scare, poor Katherine! Jessie had a great time abroad and is shortly heading off to Joosland with Tom at the beginning of April. It was great to catch up with them a few weeks ago and watch them plan their music test which they will premier at the show in Holland. I'm looking forward to catching up with Rose and DJ tomorrow, ahead of a shoot with the lovely Alicia from Evo Equine! I'm so glad to have such lovely members of the team who always jump at the chance to help me out wherever they can!
With the Six Nations finale out of the way and all of my weekend dates booked up until September, it's crazy how quickly the year is flying by already. The eventing season is underway and the fields are turning a beautiful shade of green! The last week of March was a complete whirlwind, with several shoots postponed due to the spring showers, I had to catch those shoots up, in and around my already overflowing diary! I headed over to Oxfordshire to photograph several ponies, but that's a suprise for somebody so I won't spill the beans on that one just yet!
On the 23rd of March I headed over to Surrey to meet the lovely Ellie and her beautiful mare Clover. Ellie makes stirrup socks, originally as a little sideline after a riding accident and to raise money for Wilberry the Wonder Pony. Now, it's become a flourishing business and Ellie needed some photographs to use on her social media accounts and to add to her new website. With the launch of her new saddle covers, we had lots to photograph! Clover proved to be the perfect model!
Last Monday I photographed for Spidge during the BD show at Wellington - after a long day on my feet, I had an early start the following morning and a long drive up to Banbury. The lovely Jenny from Holdsworth PR had organised a day with Jo and Holly Bates. We enjoyed watching them both ride their show and dressage horses. The dogs, Tilly and Luna, loved getting in on the action and we were blessed with some lovely weather! During the shoot we photographed both the ladies riding as well as the Absorbine products, including the limited edition bottles to celebrate the Absorbine 125 year anniversary.
But the month wasn't over yet - with a pile of editing stacking up quite considerably, I was really looking forward to a few days at home to catch up on all of my emails, logos and of course working on the thousands of photographs that I had taken that week! Lissa Green has very kindly allowed me to join her and the team at Badminton Horse Trials this year. It'll be her first Badminton and I can't wait to capture the emotion, spirit and behind the scenes action from the event. Currently Lissa and Malin Head Clover are 9th on the waitlist, fingers crossed they make it through! I joined Lissa, the ponies and groom Zoe and headed up the road to watch Lissa ride Ali and another of her horses in a lesson. Ali was such a character and at only 15.2 he's an absolute pocket rocket. They have a busy weekend at Belton 3* but I hope to catch up with them again before Badminton - eeek it's not long now! Everyone was so lovely, thank you so much for having me Lissa!