Thursday, June 11, 2009

Details


Be sure to enlarge this own; I love the details in it, especially the blades of grass at the bottom.

Not much else to say about the photo, but I wanted to add that I might get scarce for a few days. All my finals are done and I've been packing and cleaning...and Sunday I'll be graduating and moving out of the dorms for the last time! Thus, I'll be busy unpacking and reorganizing my life.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

The Call to Memory


There is little that can pull Toler's attention away from a patch of clover flowers and long, rich grasses. When it is time to go in, it is all I can do to tug up his head and hold him up by the bottom of his halter, moving fast enough he has to trot away from his grazing. Either that or I have to bribe him. But there is something that calls his attention away no matter what his activity--grazing, frolicking, socializing with his ladies, even pretending to be afraid of something while on a trail ride (it's a good excuse to be silly, after all)--the distant sounds of geese, their honking hanging on the air, like a whisper. He'll stop, pick his head up. Eyes wide and ears pricked, he'll tilt his head to the side and stare, sometimes with mouthfuls of grass falling from his open jaw.

To say the look is adorable is a gross understatement. It melts me every time. And then I watch him, his silent gaze at the sky, searching for the birds whose honks pull him away into his past. I always wonder what exactly he remembers--hearing geese while at pasture with his mother, standing beside her all legs and jaunty angles. Perhaps it's of his first pasture mates. Or maybe, during his first week away from Little Mary (his mother), it was the sound of those geese that made him stop fretting and really see the world. Sometimes I wonder if he really misses his old home in Canada, if he's happy here with me. Then every once in a while I'll call to him at the gate, and he'll pick up his head, eyes wide and ears pricked, and he'll tilt his head to the side to stare.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Little Butt


Here's another of the little colt, well, of half of him anyway. :p He has a cute butt.
Shots like these are why I LOVE working with the hasselblad (and why I'm going to miss it so much)--be sure to click on the photo to enlarge it. The hasselblad catches so much detail and vibrancy, it transforms the ordinary.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Un Petit Prince


Taken May 10th, just a few hours after this little guy was born. I had my borrowed hasselblad out at the stable with me (attempting to take the initial photos for my project), but as I had planned to shoot outside I had it set for the sunlight and didn't think I'd need my "lightmeter" (I was using my dslr as a lightmeter). Big mistake. I walk into the barn to find my riding instructer/barn owner and a close boarding friend helping this little guy to stand and nurse (from a bottle). The mare had no milk and didn't want much to do with him. She didn't outright reject him, but she certainly doesn't care.



So, I took three rolls of film, all with different guesstimated settings, and only a roll and a half turned out (better than I thought). As far as I know he doesn't have a name yet, but he's positively the sweetest little colt. He had a rocky start--he got a substitute colastrum, and the next day had to go in to the horsie hospital where he spent a night. He's back with us now, and if you didn't know that he wasn't doing well in the strength department, you sure wouldn't be able to tell! He has another week to go before he makes it out the first-month woods, though, especially as he still refuses to drink his formula, despite nearly hourly attempts.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Happy, happy horse


A bonus post for the day. This was taken over Memorial Day weekend, when I went home to shoot the last rolls of film for my photography project. The first day I went out to shoot (with my mother acting as trusty horse-holder and poser), the arena was really, really soggy. It kind of had the consistency of a slushie drink--gloppy at the top, and complete soup at the bottom. Toler took one look at it and HAD to roll. There was no stopping him. (This, of course, after we'd spent thirty minutes brushing him and shining his coat and combing his mane and tail.) He got down and rolled, groaning in complete bliss the whole time. Afterwards, he felt so content with himself he didn't want to cooperate at all--just wanted to make mischief. So I took one roll and saved the rest for the next day, after snapping a few with my digital, of course.

Make up


Yes, I've been away from this blog for a while...school's been catching up with me. Tomorrow is the last day of classes, though, then a "week" of finals (mine are Monday and Tuesday) and then I graduate!

Hells yeah!

Pre-graduation-shit-gathering aside, I thought I'd post a few pictures today. They were all taken at the same time as the previous post; same location. =)



There was a stand of birch trees (the property was named for "land of the birch") and they were all loosing their papery bark, undoubtedly assisted by some deer I'm sure, but they were gorgeous. Some looked like wounds, others like they were finally breaking free--like caterpillars into moths, I suppose. You'll probably believe me when I say I took a lot of pictures. ;)


I really liked how the tree had an "inner glow" to it.