Meet Courtney and her very pretty mare, who she's owned for 4 years - Passion. The weather forecast was far better than expected - with a week full of sharp showers, we kept an eye on the forecast but we were treated to a lovely morning!
Passion is an ex-polo pony and together with Courtney, they enjoy a bit of everything together. Being an ex-polo pony, she's very quick to turn and manouver, which Courtney said isn't always useful, especially when it comes to jumping. She does like to throw in a completely un-predictable run out now and again. But that's what makes her, her and Courtney just laughed when she told me the things Passion had done!
Located at a popular local riding school and livery yard, we started bright and early to make sure we were done before the morning lessons began. Courtney had been at the yard all morning making sure Passion was looking her best before the shoot. She was just putting the finishing touches together when I arrived.
We made use of the buttercup fields that the mares are turned out in for the majority of the shoot. The sun was particularly bright that morning, making my job quite tricky!
One amazing thing I learnt on the shoot is that the horses at the yard are all brought in "loose" and they walk straight in to their own boxes in the morning - how cool is that! I'm not sure there are many horses you could trust to do that without problem!
The shoot concluded with some black background images of Passion - her stable used to be the old tack room so we had a particularly narrow doorway to use for the shots, but Passion looks absolutely beautiful none the less! Her delicate browband really shows off her face!
It's Courtney's birthday tomorrow and she's looking forward to taking Passion cross country schooling with some friends - that sounds to me like the perfect way to spend your birthday!