Thistle in the pasture

We have a bit of a thistle infestation this year, but it's so tame compared to the blackberries and stinging nettles I cannot worry too much. Besides, I know the donkey likes the flowers.

My photographer friend came out and we helped run Mara back and forth across the pasture for photos. She's a difficult horse to photograph because she doesn't present well (show off) for the camera, and she didn't do much trotting or prancing, just full out galloping. Oh well, some of the pics turned out nice.

I love that the evil weeds actually *make* this photo.

Click to enlarge - her camera is so amazing. If you'd have been there, you'd have only seen an orange streak flash by as she ran full out. Human eyes have no way of focusing; the camera sees better than our eyes. My poor friend was on her knees in the thistle the entire time. In this photo, the sun is directly in front of the horse (gegenlicht), where in others, her body catches the sun and looks like a whole 'nother horse.



We were just in time, two days later Mara got her Winter coat. For this photo shoot I spent 3 hours brushing her, washing her face, tail and white legs (but not her body - I'm trying to never bathe her).

This is the first time we've done a photo shoot here in the Summer. Somehow my horses always had their Winter coats when she visited. Now I know the drawbacks of Summer photos - grass in the mouth! Ironically, our hay got mowed 2 days later. I hate photos of horses where the grass is so long you cannot see their legs. Oh well, I love this one.

More to come...