Meet Dom and his fleabitten grey event horse - Tigga! I first met Dom last January with his pony, Silver. I was really excited to be invited back to see them all again! At the time of the last shoot, Tigga was recovering from an injury, but now fully fit and back out eventing, it was the perfect time for him to have his moment in front of the camera!
Secondly, Tigga will soon be going out on loan to a new family as Dom is looking to progress to a bigger horse that can take him even further. Tigga has done his job perfectly and is a big part of the family! Everyone really loved the black background effect form the shoot Dom had before with Silver, so this was the starting point! Dom's eventing "colours" are red, so Tigga was dressed in vivid red bandages - which stand out so well on the black background!
They've become very recognizable and synonymous with my business; it's something everyone always asks for on their shoots. Everything's TiggaDee Boo and Dom have a great partnership together - you can see from Dom's expression at how much he loves Tigga. There's a level of trust between them that allows them to work so well together out competing, and this is what I was there to capture.
Unlike Silver, Tigga was a little harder to get looking at me with his ears forward. Silver was a star and stood wherever he was placed and posed beautifully - we had to come up with some very inventive ways to get Tigga to do the same! Lorene and Paul, Dom's parents were on hand to help out and we did get a lovely family shot of them all together, along with Jack and Poppy the dogs.
The dogs were fantastic - they were very obedient and sat exactly where they were told. They would stay sitting whilst we got Tigga in position and then would look up at me as soon as I started snapping away!
We then headed out to the cross country field at the back of the yard. The logs and fences made great places for Dom to sit for some more posed shots. What I loved most was that between these set up shots, were little moments between horse and rider that I was able to capture - something that you can't stage!
Lorene said that Tigga was a massive part of the family and that they hope he can come back to retire with them in the years to come. In the mean time, it's time to look for something else that can take Dom along in his eventing career as he wants to be out there jumping even bigger fences than he already does!
Thank you Lorene for organising the shoot - it was fantastic to see you all again. I hope Tigga enjoys his new home and that the horse search goes well for Dom! Thank you guys!