Lipizzans!

A few days ago, the "World Famous" Lipizzaner Stallions show came to town. Over the years I have accumulated many memories of the Lipizzan shows. I have had the pleasure of seeing them several times. At one, I talked my parents into purchasing one of my very first Breyer models a very long time ago, it was the Lipizzan in the levade pose. I still have it (and have collected many, many more Breyers since). I drove through the closest thing Albuquerque can get to an ice storm one January to view them again. That was also the first time I thought of photographing them since I had been blessed with the gift of front row tickets!
The lipizzan show has always been very good about allowing photographs by the audience in the past. This tour was no exception. The only rule was no video and the venue also was fine with cameras. So, of course, I took mine. When I first arrived I was disappointed that there were not going to be any spotlights. It was all just under the coliseum's regular mercury vapor lights. I was worried that any images I took were going to be a waste as I had to set the camera to 1600 ISO and use the lens at it's widest aperture, 2.8. I thought I'd give it a try anyway. While waiting for the show to begin, I noticed the storm that had been on the horizon had gotten a lot closer. Close enough, in fact, that we could see lighting and hear thunder in a all but completely enclosed building.
The rain started, and so did the show...... well, for a minute anyway! Lightning struck one of the power poles just outside the building and the place went dark! A few moments later, I could see sparks raining down by the outdoor arena through the one open door at the end of the coliseum. I thought, well, there goes this show. After a few minutes, the power came back on but only the lights over the audience and the PA system. It was VERY obvious that the PA came back online due to the LOUD hum coming over the speakers. After trying to reset the power again, it was still humming and the coliseum staff finally cut it off and rerouted some wires and we again had sound without a hum. The announcer noted that there was a live wire down outside and that had created the hum but they were good to go again. I was ready, except for the fact, the mercury vapor lights were not yet warmed up. No worries, they did manage to get to almost full brightness by the time the announcer finished his introduction and soon he had us all singing the national anthem together.

This show is all lipizzans. They have only one Andalusian and that horse only does one solo. This is also a great show for the non-horsey sect since throughout the show they give a short demonstration on some of the dressage movements to help the audience know what parts are special. They show the difference between walk, trot and canter as well as collected and extended versions of each gait. They also point out several of the more difficult moves such as the two-tempi (a change of leads every two strides of the canter) and the piaffe (very collected trot with close to no forward movement). They show the moves but they also keep it short and sweet so they don't lose the non-dressage audience too much. For the audience members that know dressage, most of the moves are executed fairly accurately although once in a while the riders will let the horses get a little sloppy. However, horses will be horses, and they have good days and bad days and they do this show several times a week so they can get bored with it too.

After the show started, I made my way to the walkway over the entrance of the arena so I could see the dressage arena from the long end. This turned out to be a great place from which to shoot. I got to shoot directly down on a few of the riders as they entered and exited as well as seeing the patterns from a vantage point that made them almost symmetrical. Plus I could see just about the entire audience as well. It made the trip that much more fun and interesting for me since I didn't have the option of spotlights to light up the horses. I love the Pas de Trois, a ridden pattern with 3 horses, the Pas de Quatre with 4 horses and the Quadrille, which had 6. Between the multi horse demonstrations, they also showed the "Aires Above the Ground", the Lipizzan's specialty movements that were originally taught to them as maneuvers for war. They also offered up some of the history of how the horses were saved by General Patton from potential destruction during WWII.

Overall it is an entertaining and educational show for both horsey and non-horsey folks alike, without being too basic for horse-lovers or too specific for the non-horse owners. You can see more images from the show in my gallery.

Dirt Bath Drama

I'm well aware that chickens like to take dirt baths, but this hen kept bathing and bathing and bathing!

Lou and Auryn

Lou is big. He's a Belgian/National Show Horse cross and he can be either one when under saddle, so Amy, his owner, says. Auryn is smaller. A section D Welsh Cop colt, but he is oh so much more of a brat! At least to Lou, who mostly puts up with Auryn's juvenile self. Amy took me to the place she keeps them, together, at a local boarding facility.

For some reason, every time I go with Amy to see Lou, and now, Auryn too, a storm rolls in. This storm was dark and moody and while we were there, the area came under a tornado watch! Tornados are uncommon in the Cape Cod area and Amy was alarmed just enough to ask me what is the right thing to do in a tornado! Well, locate the nearest cellar, I told her, or, if all else fails you lie in a ditch, the goal is to not get hit by debris. I'm not really sure why she was asking me in the first place, I come from a mostly tornado-free part of the country too..... but, then again, I DO have a sister in Kansas! The barn owners had a cellar and were keeping abreast of the situation on the tv so we remained outside with the horses. I managed to get some images despite dark overcast.

We chased them around a little and I got a nice series of Auryn teasing Lou. Lou finally got tired of the bratty antics and told Auryn off. Amy then spent a little time with Auryn while I brushed Lou. The tornado threat abated and after Amy did horse chores, like fly spray, we left back for the house. I'm sure the fly spray all came right back off immediately because once we got home, I checked the radar and it was a downpour where we had just left. Maybe next time I go there the sun will shine!

Draft Horse Pulls

One of the places Amy took me to was the Barnstable County Fair. We strategically planned our trip to coincide with the evening Draft Horse Pulling competition. We knew we would have limited light since the pulls started in the evening.

Once we got there we moseyed our way to the main arena via the petting zoo. I'm not a big fan of petting zoos and haven't really seen all that many over the years. I don't mind the animals that get to interact with the public, but the caged, usually exotics bother me. This particular petting zoo had very few of them, fortunately but it had plenty of begging goats and llamas.

Well off to find the all-important horses. We found a few in a small barn, a 4-H display. The aisle was packed with people. There was one horse that has shoved itself into the back of his stall not wanting to be touched and petted by the adoring public. I looked at him for a minute and then turned to talk to someone. I glanced in the direction of the horse and he had come over and was sticking his had over the door and looking right at me. I went over to say hello for a moment and when I left he returned back the far corner of his stall. Horses often like me but I have never been sought out so intensely before.

Finally, we made our way over to where the competition draft horses were. They were just starting to tack up for their classes. All of the horses at this pull were Belgians and they were big!They were tall but mostly they were wide! I was fascinated by the shoes on their feet. really wide toe grabs and huge heel caulks. All the better to grip with I suppose.

The horses started to arrive right as the sun was beginning to set. The first team came in from the pretty side of the gate! Backlit and in step with each other they looked mighty fine for heavy drafts. All the teams came into the arena and found their places along the rail. Most of the drivers hitched the teams to the rail but one driver backed his team up and put their tails to the rail, got out a lawn chair, parked it in front of them and had a seat. Amy and I took to calling this team the refrigerator and the freezer. The Fridge is on the left and he's big. The Freeze is on the right and while not as tall, he's built solid as a rock and super wide.

Let the pulling commence. The teams come up to the front of the sled with the weight on it and the drivers back them up to the sled. A couple of extra hands is necessary to put the tree on the hook to the sled. the most important rule is to keep all hands an toes out of the way of the sled at this time. Many of the teams start pulling the moment they think the sled is hooked. A few teams wait for their drivers cue, very few.

As the night goes on, weight gets added to the sled. Once the team cannot pull the sled a certain distance within 3 attempts, it is eliminated from any further attempts or weights. Some of the drivers know their teams well and bow out before the load gets too heavy for them, many of the driver at this fair took that option, a few teams went on for the win with the big weights.

All in all it was interesting to view and photograph. I had fun pushing the limits of my camera's available light capabilities since I was taking pix for the fun or it. I also was able to get a good close-up look at the harnesses and try some detail images. Here's a link to many more Draft Horse Pull images.

Welsh Cob Foal in Maine

A super cute, 11 day old, Section D Welsh Cob foal was the main reason for the trip to Maine. He was a bit shy at first but eventually he approached the black unwavering gaze of the camera lens with the cover of a helpful tree. Soon he was too close to photograph and was rewarded with good scratches all over.

With some encouragement, via trotting out mom, he showed off his future dressage trot. Welsh Cobs and Welsh Cob crosses are becoming popular dressage mounts. There is North Forks Brenin Cardi on the west coast and the up and coming Quillane Apollo on the east coast and the sire of this foal.

After his workout, the as yet unnamed foal, went back to the barn for a good nap with the ever watchful mom standing guard. I had to go stalk other horses for entertainment. Another Welsh Cob mare.

Foliage in Maine

We stopped for lunch and behind the building several trees with bright red fuzzy flowers caught my attention. Amy had pointed them out to me from the road once and told me they were poisonous. I still had to go over for a closer look with camera in tow. I took some pics and when Amy's mom came out I asked her what they were. "Sumac," she said. "You didn't touch it did ya?" I told her that Amy had pointed it out in passing once before. I had assumed it was poisonous to horses, not people. Amy's mom told me that Amy discovered it once by playing in it and was covered in hives and itchy for a good long time after that. It's like Poison Ivy. Glad I didn't touch it but she did note that this may have been a non-poisonous ornamental variety.

Once we arrived at our destination, Karen's place, I immediately jumped into taking pix of the foal. (Baby pix, next post!) Afterwards I poked my camera lens into her garden while she and Beth (Amy's mom) went in to the house to talk business. There were lots of Bumble bees on the cone flowers so I stalked them for a while with my long lens. I switched to the shorty lens for a few still life images and scenes around the place. Too bad the plants were a little bug eaten, I still couldn't resist! There was a totally stray peacock feather sticking out of a container. The only one and no peacocks to be seen or heard in the immediate area. The day was overcast but bright so the feather really glimmered against its rough dark wood background.
There was a rather picturesque farm across the road with some flowers on the outside edge of the field. Of course, I couldn't resist taking a picture of Karen's barn either being all tidy and fresh looking and set on a grassy knoll! I get a little green-starved living in the desert, but I love all the other colors I get there.

Standardbreds in Maine

While in New England shooting some hunter/jumper shows with Amy Cody, I had almost a week of down time between show number one and show number two to do some looking around. I went with Amy's mom to Maine briefly. She had to stop by a breeding barn and then go over to a client/friend to see a 2 week old Welsh Cob baby.

The breeding barn was one of the largest red wooden barns I have ever seen. They just don't build them like that in New Mexico. It was fully three stories high and the horses resided on the bottom level. I could only guess what might be in the upper level(s) besides a lot of hay and storage. The farm also had more than one of these monstrous barns.

The farm mostly bred Standardbreds but they also did breeding for local mare and stallion owners as well. Inside, the ceiling was low and it was dark. The mural on the wall in the AI area was funny. All blue skies and green trees! Then sheer number and size of the support beams overhead was impressive. All the better for tons of hay I suppose.

I wandered out to the fields where the foals and yearlings were. Way off in the distance you could see the half cut hay fields. It was quite hot and humid so there wasn't much frolicking going on. In fact there was far more napping. Most of the foals were older and independent as they were, like the thoroughbreds, timed to be born as close to January as possible since January 1st will be their birthdate for life. Only the year counts. The small herd of mares and foals were well cared for as well as the yearlings in the other pasture. So nice to see breeders trim their foals hooves from birth. That makes for so many more successful futures with balanced feet. We didn't stay long, but I was able to take a few images of interest including this soft eyed, friendly broodmare.