This week has been a blast at the Stables! With all the nice warm weather and a nearly finished arena, we have been able to let the horses out to play! I am so grateful that everyone has at least one buddy that they get along with well. Freya so far has gotten along with everyone (well maybe I should say she tolerates everyone and loves cashmere). She is definitely my steady Eddie, peacekeeper.
Khaleesi loves running around with Amigo. It's fun to see them both run around together! Khaleesi is doing so incredibly well now. We were worried for a while because in the summer of last year she either got or had a flare-up of the West Nile Virus. It was pretty scary because she went from one day playing around and running to not being able to walk straight and constantly twitching. Thankfully with the intense care from Mountain Point Vet Hospital she was able to come home after a few weeks. It took her a long time to get to the point she is at now but we couldn't be more grateful for how far she has come. She hasn't fallen or tripped for a few months and besides sometimes dragging her front feet a bit she has made quite the recovery! We don't know much about how West Nile might affect her foal but we hope that she and it will be healthy.
Going through this experience with Khaleesi has made me see that Arabians are incredibly trusting when you put the time into your relationship with them. It is almost magical how I can now calm her nerves by just being around her and helping her through scary moments or places. She is one of my favorite horses to let play now because she runs with such excitement and energy but will immediately come right back to me and stand or follow me around whenever I call her. I can now see why some people are so passionate about the Arabian breed.
Finally, I ended this week with a new style of photoshoot for me! I have almost exclusively done photoshoots with either just horses or horses and girls all dressed up, but this time, Joshua Miller, a Fitness trainer (and my cousin) dressed up in his awesome Roman outfit. It was epic. We used Legend as our equine model and he couldn't have been more perfect! He is made for the camera! Whenever I start shooting he strikes a pose and holds it for minutes and then will subtly change it, all the while keeping his ears forward and alert. Credit also has to go to Abby Sivert for managing Legend while I took pictures! She is such an expert with handling horses and sees things to fix before I even see them. She is an absolute necessity for most of my shoots!
Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions of new, fun, photoshoots I should do with the horses.