Meet the lovely gang of ponies that I had the pleasure of photographing a few weeks ago as part of a suprise gift for Jessie McConkey. Suzie, Jess' mum had organised for me to come and take some black background photographs at their beautiful home, just outside Benson.
Becca, Louise and Suzie had spent the morning getting them ready. Before we began photographing the ponies, we got the dogs in front of the camera. I'm not sure they were overly impressed by the whole situation, they were just more interested in the treats being thrown towards them - however, how handsome does Eddie look, black dogs always work so well on the black background!
So it was on to the ponies; Louise put the finishing touches together including a light dab of baby oil around their eyes and noses to really bring them to life. First of all we photographed thed ever so cute, but cheeky Muffin. Known as Might Muffin, he is owned by Kylie Roddy - he's a cheeky mini shetland who is companion to Suzie's mare, Solar: "He's a massive character - and we are not giving him back!!!! (Sorry Kylie!!)"
Millie, the Danish Warmblood was up next - she's relatively new to the McConkey family, having owned her just for a few months. Millie is very photogenic and they hope she will be Jessie's junior horse. "She is beautiful inside and out and we have all fallen a little in love with her already!" says Suzie.
My next beautiful model was Wisch: Jessie's 13 year old German Riding Pony, she competes at PFEI with. Louise said he's very cheeky and looks like a little mini Valegro! He tested our patience a few times, we could not get his ears forward, he was far more interested in sniffing around Millie's stable, grabbing mouthfuls of haylage and generally looking the wrong way! Eventually we got the images we were after, little monkey! Jessie is just about to start this years Premier Leagues with Wisch, after a winter of training.
Sotto, sired by Glocks Voice had her modelling moment next. A smart rising 5 year old bred by Sue Wrennall for Suzie. She said that Sotto is incredibly smart and trainable; aerfect little dressage horse, fabulous movement and very cuddly personality. Having been there from the early days, Suzie and Sotto have a special bond - unfortuanately she isn't going to quite make the height that Jessie will need in a few years so they are currently on the look out for a wonderful home for her to continue her training in.
Thank you Suzie and the girls for a great morning! The images have been printed very large at 200x24 inches and they're going to look stunning in the black frames that Suzie has chosen to hang them in on the landing. I'm so glad Jessie loves them and I can't wait to see how they look once they're displayed!