Meet Rosie and her mare, Taylor. Rosie was lucky enough to be given a voucher by her husband at Christmas for a shoot with her 15 year old mare.
Rosie has owned Taylor for 10 years now and together they enjoy spending plenty of time together, out hacking, exploring the countryside. As I arrived, Rosie was just giving Taylor one last brush over before showing me around the yard.
With various outfits to choose from, we started the shoot with Rosie in a bright, colourful dress. It was the perfect choice to contrast against Taylor's dark coat. Taylor was very food orientated so it didn't take much to get those ears forward!
The love that Rosie had for Taylor was very evident and it's clear they share a lot of happy memories together over the years. Taylor was an absolute star throughout, she didn't put a foot wrong and was the perfect model. She pricked her ears when I asked, she stood patiently and was so polite!
We headed back to the yard for an outfit change in to something more casual. The lane leading up to the yard was very pretty - so that's where we headed! The archway of trees above curved above, allowing some gorgeous dappled light to fall on to the road below. Taylor loved being kissed and cuddled - I think she enjoyed being a model for the morning!
Rosie had one final outfit change in to shorts and a blouse - with some help from Amy to get on Taylor bareback, we headed back down to the lane. Taylor was on her best behaviour once again! She had the most impressive bushy tail, and laughing, Rosie said that's one of her favourite "features" of Taylor. So as they walked away from the camera, I snapped away as her tail swished this way and that.
Rosie was particularly keen to get some black background shots of Taylor, so we popped her in Shakira's stable. She stood there beautifully without any tack on, showing off that kind eye that Rosie loved, looking very angelic indeed!
As a thank you gift for all the help that Amy gives Rosie, she very kindly gifted Amy and her son, Archie a shoot voucher. I first met Amy several years ago at Cane End Stud. She got roped in to helping on several occassions getting Katherine's horses to put their ears forward, but her Mum, Angie had also had a shoot with her mare Kirsch - which is who recommended me to Rosie. Thank you!
Shakira was drying in the sun after a quick bath. Archie zoomed around the yard on his bike whilst Amy finished getting Kira ready. Amy had been worried how the shoot would go, with a very energetic Archie and a young pony, it could have gone either way! But we needen't have worried as both were on their best behaviour!
Archie, now 6, has grown so much since I last saw him, but he was still as cheeky as ever. Amy said the pair of them get up to so much together, and share a very funny, special relationship. They've owned Kira for just over a year now. At just 5 she hasn't long been broken in, but she's so good with Archie, you'd have thought she was much older than she was!
Shakira followed Archie dotingly up the lane, breaking in to a steady trot as Archie started to run ahead of us. She stood perfectly whilst Archie got in to position to give her a massive hug! The pair of them were right characters but listened to my every instruction, including the one where I asked him to pull the silliest face he could!
We finished up the shoot with some black background photographs of Shakira. She pulls lots of funny faces, so the challenge was to capture them! Amy did a quick whizz around whilst Archie had a look in the car to see if they had any of her favourite "treats." Typically, the one time you want horses to do something, inevitably they won't... we were just about to give in and call it a day, when right on cue, Shakira started laughing, smiling and poking her tongue out!
Thank you all so much for a lovely morning - it was an absolute pleasure!