Flying...

A fun day photographing hunters and jumpers.  I'm learning so much and realizing how little I really know about horse sports!  But I can tell you that this particular horse and rider are in the Hunter class.  And apparently the judging for Hunters is somewhat subjective as compared to Jumpers where the scoring is very clear.  It was such fun watching the horses (and their riders).  I watched a couple of riders land in the arena - one when her horse refused the jump at the very last second and the other when the cinch on her saddle got lose and the saddle started to slide under the horse's belly.  The rider's family/trainers were all yelling at her to jump off which she finally did.  Much safer than to risk being drug under the horse's belly!  The horse was definitely spooked and it took them a while to settle him.  And I watched another girl barely make it out of the ring before she threw up - nerves if what I overheard is right.  So many of the riders are teens - full of nerves and hormones so no surprise I guess.  Unfortunately, she threw up on her horse as she hadn't dismounted yet.  No, I did not take any pictures.  

By early afternoon the light was truly awful and by 3 I decided I was done for the day.  I haven't had a look at the images under mid-sun yet (kind of afraid to) although I tried bumping up the EC by 1 to 2 stops to try to read the darks and whites in the horses.  At one point, there were SIX white horses cued up for a Hunter trial.  Under full sun.  Ugh.

Hubs went to a car show that was also being held at the fair grounds so he managed to find me and hung out with me for a while.  That was a fun surprise.  And he made dinner tonight - burgers and a salad.  I've been losing weigh again recently so I think he's trying to fatten me up.  

I have many more photos to go through so won't finish them all until sometime tomorrow I guess.  And then I will have to whittle the number of images down.  It's all fun, though.  

xoxo
Debbi