Cross Country at Fair Hill

I had a wonderful time yesterday at the Dansko Fair Hill International. It was the cross-country phase of the event which is always a favorite. As a spectator you get a nice little hike in walking from jump to jump watching some of the top riders and horses tackle very scary (to me) obstacles. 

Honestly I don't know how some do it!

You can click on any photo to make it larger. 

More photos on my Facebook Page - Gypsy Mare Studios

Girls & Horses (and 1 boy too)

Girls and horses, what a great combo. Zoe and I went to the Columbia Riding Club today

to check out the horses and see some friends.

 Below, our friend Kayley and her gorgeous dapple grey, Layla.

 Zoe makes friends with a gorgeous spotted pony.

I used to take care of this horse named Pokey.

It was so nice to see him there and say hi to his owners.

This little boy and his overo paint horse were too cute to not share!

The horse looks like he's smiling to me.

This horse is named Barbie and her rider loves pink.

On the way out we ran into William the beautiful Gypsy Horse and his rider Maddie.

Love those feathers!

Saddlebreds in Sepia at Devon

The light level was low on Friday evening so I thought I would try some shots with my camera set to the sepia setting (there's a b &w one here too). I love how old timey they look and I love how the motion blur conveys the speed at which the horses were travelling. Several times that night I got a bra full of sand from the flying hooves! Click on each photo for a larger image if you wish. It's neat to see the rider's expressions a little larger than blogger allows for.

If you want to see all my favorite shots from Devon (over 100),

go to my Gypsy Mare Studios Face Book page.

I'm uploading them all to an album there. It's a public page so even if you are not on FB, you should be able to see them. Plus I almost have 1000 people 'like' my page and a few more would help me reach that number. Thank you!

PS. If I haven't commented on your blog lately, it's because Blogger is being a pain and not letting me! Trying to figure out why.

Go to Facebook for more photos!

Let the show begin!

Today is the first day of the Devon Horse Show but I got a little behind the scenes peek when I went to hang some of my paintings in the Caracol Inspired Jewelry booth yesterday (adjacent to the warm up ring if you are going). I wasn't able to get many photos of the horses but let me tell you, I was in heaven. Both rings were full of some of the finest riders in the country all preparing their mounts for the show.

 

All of my paintings were created from reference photos I had taken at the Devon Horse Show over the years. This bay beauty is a side saddle mount.

If you make it to Devon this year please be sure to stop by the Caracol booth!