horse

Oct

2021

Muskoka Horses in the Autumn

Muskoka Horses

Muskoka is known for its tourism not necessarily its horses. The bugs in the Spring and Summer can be a bit harsh on the animals, but the Fall, with the nice weather, it being a bit cooler but still nice the horses are much more relaxed.

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Last year I made some new friends up the street from the cottage. Also made friends with their horses. I had driven by their farm numerous times and seen these beautiful animals from the road. One day I stopped and talked to Stirling, who allowed me to take some photos. He put me in touch with his niece and sister who own and care for the horses. So, the first of the two photo sessions with these horses was planned and they were groomed nicely. (Aside from the rolling around on the ground after the grooming.)

Still lots to edit but here are a few sorted from both days. They were all taken early October. For me, the most beautiful time of year. I was able to capture some colour with a few of the shots. Nice to get some warm weather without the bugs. For the people and the horses.

One of toughest things about photographing horses, when you are in the field with them, is that they are such curious and generally friendly animals. When I want a bit of distance, they come right up to me, maybe they think the camera is food.

The buckskin horse in these photos is Kit Kat. Very photogenic. Kit Kat will often keep some distance as well, allowing me to get some decent 'posed' photos, whereas Bella, the champagne/white horse, always comes as close as she can to me.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them!

Horse Portraits

Some different portraits. Sometimes horses are like 8 years olds, especially when you are trying to photography them. They don't stop moving. I was taking some photos of a friend's boys years ago. They were 5 and 7. Mom was in the studio trying as she might to get them calm and posed. I finally had to ask her to leave the room. There was no way those two boys were going to sit still with her in the studio. Truth be told, they weren't a hundred percent better but I did get some great shots. Almost like with the horses here. They are such curious beasts. One of the biggest challenges, often, is getting them to stay far enough away that I can get a decent photo. They come up and are all curious about the camera! I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them.

Sep

2020

Muskoka Horses

Sep

2020

The White Horse

Up at the cottage asked a neighbour if I could shoot some of his horses. I'd been driving by his farm for years and last month while on my bicycle asked if I could take some pictures sometime. Stirling, the owner of the property, assured me that if I came by that this would be quite fine. Took me about a month to get back there and I wandered around for a bit with the horses and got some great shots. I didn't get the names but will next time I visit. I hung around for about 30-45 minutes and by the end of things the animals were quite comfortable with me. I'm showing just the one white horse below. True white horses, of which this is one, are quite rare.