Yorkshire 2011

If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr you'll know I went to Yorkshire for two weeks last month and that my trip up north is gradually becoming an annual visit to see my friends and indulge in horsey photo projects.

Myself and Becky decided that this year we weren't going to plan anything specific, Shadow was still recovering from an injury and therefore we figured spontaneity was our best option. Seen as we both share the same philosophy when working with horses and will never ask something of them that is impractical, forceful or discomforts them the choice to just see what she was capable of and happy to do at the time was the best option.

The focus of my photos on this visit were largely geared more towards documenting training sessions and Shadows ability to listen and respond to instruction as opposed to last year where I used her more as a model playing out a character that I wanted for photos.

For the images below Becky was working on teaching Shadow to bring her head in (which you can see in the middle image) whilst our friend assisted in draping material over her. Again we wouldn't have done this if we didn't think Shadow would be comfortable with it but she is a very relaxed mare and barely acknowledged it being on her and rather focused on her training.

Having a different perspective this year was interesting, as although I saw the horse for who she is last year, my visit in 2011 really highlighted the close bond between Shadow and Becky. I saw more emotion and a heart tugging motive that all Shadow wanted to do was please her friend, not because if she did it right she was rewarded with food but simply to see the big smile on Becky's face knowing her horse truly understood her.

I have a lot more photos of Shadow and other horses at the farm to work through which will be published online soon.