So, news-got married! That was fabulous plus we had a fantastic honeymoon in the Algarve in January, thus missing 12 days of the snowy weather. The winter was a long one, but then you knew that. The horses had a somewhat extended holiday and am really only getting back into the swing of keeping two fatties less fat by riding 2 a day atm. I have built a semi-permanent race track for them around the paddock and typically, we waited and waited for the grass and now I all of a sudden have too much even on the track.

They are both doing well, Nods in particular is looking positively svelte (relatively speaking) and we regularly go out for 90min hacks and are slowly building the trot work. In true Exmoor style he is clinging onto his winter coat and so feeling the heat these last few days-bath time for them both tomorrow! Vico’s had some physio as his enforced lay off led to some stiffness due to him compensating for his slightly wonky off fore but he feels great now and we are all set for our clinic next week.

Oh, and I have a new addition-a lovely Exmoor called Druid who I bought as a weanling last October. Despite being a nice foal he failed the inspection due to a white sole-an unregistered Exmoor colt weanling has an uncertain future in the sales rings so I took pity and ‘rescued’ him. He’s been staying in a big herd of youngsters and broodies over the winter and I’ll introduce him to my two soon and have him cut in the autumn. He’s still pretty unhandled so have my work cut out settling him in and getting his feet sorted. I hope to raise him as a useful riding pony and get him traffic proof-Vico is fantastic in traffic but Nods isn’t sadly although we continue to work on it. I will get some recent pictures of them all and post them soon.

Looking to my future I have decided on a master plan-I am training up in a couple of bodyworking methods, namely Equine Touch and the Masterson Method. I am very impressed with both modalities, neither of which use spinal manipulation but very much work on soft tissue and use the reactions of the horse to judge what may be causing any problems. To go alongside that I have also started an online business that aims to bring the more unusual and innovative equine products to the public’s attention. I probably need my head reading in trying to start a retail business in the middle of a recession but its going slowly but steadily. I really do have some good products on there and am really pleased to be able to offer products such as Ruggle It which has enabled Nods to live out without a bug rug on this year. Of course, I am also still doing the photography and am really looking forward to the SERC Championships in Perth again this coming July!

I must admit, apart from liking the idea in principle I had no experience of endurance prior to starting to photographing it! Hence this post being somewhat light on technical endurancey type information. My first gig was Abernethy 2008 for SERC Tayside and although I had helpfully been sent a map and directions as to where to stand, I wasn’t all that good at map reading back then *looks embarrassed*. So after a frantic journey in the car and a scramble up a grassy hill I was all set with a flask of coffee and a camera. I soon realised that a lot of coffee wasn’t a good idea when stuck out in the middle of a field with riders coming along at regular intervals, its even worse now that I tend to wear hi viz.

It looked like a lovely ride and I was jealous of the great turf they had to ride on and of the hills which are in short supply back home in East Lothian. I was also surprised at the variety of horses and ponies taking part, how everyone was smiling and posing for the camera (doesn’t happen that much in dressage tests!). There were Dales and Highlands, Haflingers and Welshies, arabs and cobs etc etc and something I still really enjoy is seeing fit horses and its great to see so many fit natives instead of the fatties you tend to see in the showring. I also love how you get all ages and lots of men taking part! Of course the downside of photographing it is not being able to take part in it!

Since then I’ve done a number of rides for both SERC Tayside and Lothian, including the Perth Championships in 2008 and 2009. It’s a lovely venue with some lovely spots for pictures although the light this year wasn’t so good for most of it. Seacliff was another that sticks in my mind as it was such a beautiful day and beach! Also this year the Lothian branch had 2 fabulous routes over a weekend (Broughton), completely stunning and again made me wish I could be riding but I’m so busy this time of year I’m afraid my own horse isn’t fit enough *ashamed*

So, in answer to some real and some imagined questions from riders as to what/why/how I do what I’m doing.

Why did you choose that location?

I usually ask the ride organisers for a good place to stand eg a canter spot, somewhere pretty with a good backdrop etc. Sometimes these or my first choice of spot isn’t suitable-could just be down to the sun being in the wrong place or a poor backdrop with some portaloos in the background that I hadn’t spotted before. A lot of rides take part on narrow tracks which means I have to shoot head on-this isn’t perfect and its not always the most flattering to the rider which is why sometimes I’ll be seen in a potato field up to my ankles in mud (Perth 2009), in a cornfield (Blairgowrie) but if the surrounding area is lower/too much higher than the track, that isn’t desirable or flattering either! I do also take pains wherever possible to be clearly visible so horses don’t only catch site of me at the last minute. I wear hi viz (also useful if I fall in a ditch for rescuers!). Of course, the only time people fell off near me was Broughton this year, when standing in the middle of a flat field in clear views of horse and rider for about 750 yards! Then of course sometimes you find a nice spot and loads of people go the wrong way and miss you-Perth 2008, the people who got lost in the start field at Perth 2009 and the fair few of you who went the wrong way at Hillhead 2009 disappearing over the bridge instead of riding underneath it..

Why don’t you put all the pictures of me up? You must have taken loads!

Well, several reasons. I put up all pictures I consider good enough both technically and from a compositional point of view. We aren’t a large outfit and have disc space considerations as well. Sometimes random dog walkers get in the shot (Hillhead 2009) There are various phases in a horse’s movement that rarely work on camera, sometimes the horse has his eyes shut, maybe the rider has their eyes shut, sometimes the light isn’t great etc etc For the first time at Broughton this year I had a camera malfunction for some reason after changing a battery and by the time I had changed over cameras I had missed a couple of you for which I apologise. My position at Broughton on the Sunday wasn’t my best choice (it was annoying that I wasn’t that pleased considering I nearly drove myself off of a cliff to get there but that’s another story). I am seriously considering using Noddy (my Exmoor) as a sort of hairy quad bike to carry me and my gear!
The previous year I had been up on the start of the ride but it was a very tricky position to get satisfactory side on shots. I was hoping the railway line would be more open but there was no way of taking side on shots there. Riders often don’t realise they must spread out at least 4 horses lengths apart a good fifty yards from me for me to get single shots-or ride abreast if they don’t mind sharing the frame . I’d get a sign but the horses would probably spook at it!

Where are my prints?!
We try very hard to get prints out within 10 working days. However, when we are very busy (eg now) it may take a little longer. For an event like Perth where I was there 2 days it takes another day to get the pictures sorted, a couple of days to upload and then there’s printing on top. Both of us have full time jobs in addition to this, plus kids and horses that we occasionally have to see and throw food to.

Why do you charge what you do?

We like to think we are pretty competitive. We can’t and don’t pretend to offer the sort of service that the big boys can but then again our smallest size print is 25% cheaper and our bigger prints cheaper still. Some of them won’t even sell jpgs due to the subsequent loss of print sales. I’m don’t mean to make out that its all bad (although if you can imagine violins in the background it might help ) I can spend anything up to 5 hours a day taking pictures, plus travel, then another few hours sorting and editing. Then there’s the uploading, emails, printing etc. There’s website costs, equipment costs, income tax etc etc, etc
It’s true that the likes of Uncle Bob, who have got themselves a decent camera and who is no longer limited by film, can catch a lot of lucky shots and this has damaged the photography industry as has giving shots away to the press or giving up copyright too readily. This is why so many smaller shows/events no longer have a photographer-it simply is too hit and miss to be financially viable. However, going out and getting one fabulous shot out of 100 is completely different to getting shots good enough to sell of every rider. I’m not about to do it for nothing-afterall, if I want to do an expensive hobby that I enjoy I’ll go and ride my own horse instead.

Riding and doing the photography means I meet people of all horsey backgrounds and disciplines. Many of the more traditional of them can’t see past the colourful riding gear and synthetic tack. They are fairly horrified at treeless saddles and bitless bridles. (I take my hat off to anyone who’s schooled their horse sufficiently that its controllable in an open space, in company in a bosal ) I remember one awfully posh woman berating me at Kettlehill last year, saying it was appalling that some riders had cantered down a field and ‘there’s no way on God’s earth a BD rider would do such a thing’. ‘Probably madam’, I replied (I can do posh) ‘because none of them can ride outside of an arena’.

Anyway, I’d like to thank Fee Hall, Sheila Bruce and Evelyn Frame plus all of our customers. I’d also say that I know many of you by name now even though I’ve never spoken to most of you but that probably sounds slightly weird!

Our first party was at a Becky Holden clinic in Fife. Becky is an in-hand, longreining and classical riding instructor and absolutely superb. Horses really seem to love her and she has a lovely way of encouraging them and taking her time so they get to think about what they are being asked. Vico was very well behaved and we arrived in style as had to book alternative transport at the last minute. He was told to not get used to his Equitrek lorry! Becky explained how to mobilise the shoulders to get V stretching and stepping across and we played with shoulder in and leg yield on a circle and on the straight in-hand. Becky then taught V what the outside rein was all about and got him going beautifully in long reins teaching him SI and LY plus rein back to trot to show the ‘sit’ required for piaffe. Vico was very taken with his reflection in the mirrors and the audience!

We then had plans to do some baby showjumping end of April but I was in a little car accident and had whiplash. Also we had entered some  combined training in May but unfortunately this was cancelled due to the weather!

Anyway, our next do was the Perry Wood clinic in the middle of May. I have a new tow car and was able to borrow a trailer so had the slightly nerve wracking task of towing for the first time (although I had practised!). Again the weather threatened activities but the organiser was able to shift venue to an indoor one at the last minute. Thanks again Barbara of Remus EC in Fife! Anyway, I was terrified because I always am-not of riding my horse but of riding him badly Perry was great, very funny and put everyone at ease.

So Vico! we warmed up as we normally would-I’ve always had problems with him in halt in that the halts are quite abrupt and not square. I needed to slow the walk down-he has a great walk, overtacks massively but I was pushing him out of his rhythm. In trot though, I don’t ask for enough. I am slightly behind his movement in rising trot so he had me doing this fiendishly difficult exercise of alternately rising for 2 beats, sitting for one. You can only do this when you are in balance with the movement. It took me a while but when I got it V really opened up in front as he wasnt being blocked anymore-we then worked on him stretching down and out.
Then we worked on shoulder in-again I hadnt been asking for enough for fear of him falling out through his shoulder. Perry argues that that doesnt matter when the horse isnt established and to ride the horse, not the movement ie ride the horse how it needs to be ridden- the movement can be tweaked later. So I had to ask for much more bend and concentrate on me looking in the right place. By this time V was going very nicely and we progressed to transitions in SI-halt, walk & trot on the long side and SI for 3 strides, straight for 3 strides, SI on circles of all sizes including volts etc etc in fact, we rode SI on both reins and LY for quite a long time including alot of sitting trot-but since doing the exercise in rising, sitting was much better. Vico was such a dude and looked amazing (mirrors!), never thought I’d see him go like that with me on top-really big, free trot-really felt I could do anything on him from just thinking half halt and getting it, to him being completely straight out of SI, 4 track SI and super SI at the end followed by some lovely lengthened strides.
Perry chastised me for not working him hard enough-says that he loves it and will thrive on hard work as lusos do.

On the second day we had a short session off of the horses on absorbing the movement in sitting trot and in canter and then feeling when the best time to do a transition up and down would be wrt to rider’s seat bones. OMG! all these years I’ve been riding canter back to front, why has noone ever bloody said!
anyway, I was riding somewhat below par and V felt tense and choppy. Perry had me experimenting with feeling as though I was tipping forwards.¬† Once again, I was behind the movement and when you lean too far back-your thighs tense (try it), tip forward slightly and your thighs release. So we concentrated on this and keeping thighs loose and looking up-really nice swinging walk and big trot. Revisited the SI, counter SI and travers and then tried some canter concentrating on timing for transitions up and down. Best canter ever, cant believe I’ve been riding it so badly for so long, poor horse. Anyway, canter transitions on both leads on the same rein so an intro to counter canter= very sweaty horse and rider!

Other things I took away-the bigger the horse the lighter the aids have to be-there were some real biggies there and all improved the lighter the aids providing they were off the leg. Also a really useful positioning exercise for the bolshier horse. Again, ride the horse not the movement and find the riding position thats acceptable for the horse and go from there.
V loaded straight up and travelled like a pro-excellent weekend all round and he didnt put a hoof out of place, well mannered ponio  I was over the moon with him!

Unfortunately the next day the ponies had their jags and Vico had a massive reaction to it. I found him on Tuesday evening barely able to move, he was as stiff as a board, unable to walk or put his head down to graze He was obviously hungry and thirsty but it took me over an hour to get him in so I could tie up hay etc for him. We got some bute for him and it took until Thursday afternoon until he was comfortable enough to roll and graze etc poor boy.

So, we have a few things planned including some dressage, clear round jumping, another clinic with Becky plus one with Perry in August. Just waiting to get my own trailer! June is a very busy month photography wise so may not get out much then.

Grass sickness is a devastating disease that has now been recorded in every county of mainland UK. The event is offering prizes in different categories and different routes for riders, cyclists and runners and dog walkers. There are also cream teas and activities for little ones such as face painting.

Please get yourselves down there for a fun day out.  Photos from the event will be available from our website will all profits going to the Fund.

More information about grass sickness can be found at the Fund’s website and they also do a mean line in stocking fillers, presents and cards. www.grasssickness.org.uk

I am not backward in coming forward and so emailed the Rancho Pavo Real stud in Suffolk to see if I could visit. Like other genuine and enthusiastic horse people I’ve met this way, they were really hospitable and friendly and keen to show off their lovely horses. They even answered my occasionally dumb questions and generously spent several hours explaining the gaits, conformation, types & history of the breed. Many thanks to Yvonne and Rachel for a lovely morning-I hope to see you again and have put the Paso Fino show in my diary for next year!

The Pasos are ridden with bosals (steering and stopping) and curbs (collection). The curb seen above looks impressively long but the backward angled shanks leave it with probably less leverage than your average pelham.

There are 3 fino gaits; the classic fino which is mega fast movement of the legs without much forward movement, the paso corto which is more of the speed of a working trot and the paso largo which is the speed of a canter. Very kindly I was offered the ride on Magnolia. I hadnt gone intending to ride and after some pathetic bleating about not having my hat with me, a suitable hat was found (not many have as big a head as me Rachel, must be our brains ). Kindly, probably sensing my terror, Rachel started me off on the lunge. Magnolia was a delight. Its really hard when you arent used to the movement to know how fast you arent going-although I felt like I was racing around the arena, I was informed I was hardly moving . Off of the lunge I got more of a feel for her extraordinary sensitivity. I cant say I was really riding but the mare generously let me be a passenger and I think I smiled for much of the time I was on her! They really are supremely comfortable and each one we met seemed to be a lovely person. I was particularly taken by Oscuro and even more so now I have seen him move in the video!

If you’d like to find out more about these lovely wee horses, please visit

http://www.paso-finos.co.uk/

anyway, a few pics.The first shows the bosal and curb. Luckily Rachel took away the bosal reins for me when I whimpered about 2 reins. Such a pretty mare, they all had beautiful heads.