“The photos I have from my sessions with Jo and Nic give me the most wonderful forever memory and visual reminder of my beautiful horse ‘Alice’ which I treasure beyond words.“
It’s so hard for any of us to lose a beloved pet, whether it’s your horse, your donkey, your dog or your cat. We recently lost our own cat of 16 years, so, we know how it feels from personal experience. The silver lining is that we can all capture and bottle wonderful moments forever, through photographs. Obviously we’re biased, but horse photography is a great way to make some wonderful lasting memories!
Back in 2015, Helen booked a summer shoot with us and her gorgeous thoroughbred mare, ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Having spent an afternoon with them both, we could see Helen’s amazing bond and love for her horse.
“As a cheeky 6 month old foal she captured mine and my mum’s hearts when she bounced across the field to greet us when we moved to a new livery yard with Holly my other horse. She became mum’s little project at 18 months, and quickly showing the inquisitive, brave nature that got her into hot water more than a few times in her life!!!”
Sadly when Alice was four, Helen’s mum passed away, so Helen decided to adopt her, in order to keep her in the family. Alice & Helen went on to spend the next 20+ years together, forming an amazing bond, and having a lot of fun along the way!
“We evented, we show jumped, we dressaged!! We started eventing at 17 we didn’t go beyond BE90 competing as she was so precious. We were also lucky enough to be on a few riding club teams, and even the Festival of the Horse, with some success! She was sound and fit, still hacking out to the end. “
Roll on to 2019, and Helen contacted us to book in for another shoot, this time with Alice and the newer arrival on the yard, a 3-year-old thoroughbred mare called ‘Jazz’.
” The lovely precocious three-year-old Jazz came to live with us, and Alice became a caring, if sometimes bossy big sister figure keeping her in line and teaching her the ropes. They were great friends !”
We first booked a June date for the session, but for various reasons, it got pushed twice, and we eventually went to visit Helen and her two girls in late September. We spent a wonderful few hours catching up, and taking shots of Helen with both her horses, and the two horses together.
“We had arranged a shoot to capture my girls together for the future.” Helen says “Little did we know at the time how important that would turn out to be.”
The week after the photoshoot, we had an email from Helen, telling us Alice had sadly had to be put to sleep a few days before – just four days after our session. We couldn’t quite believe it, and were so relieved the shoot had happened, knowing how precious this horse was to Helen. If we’d left it any longer, the shoot just wouldn’t have happened in time.
We’re honoured to have been a part of your wonderful journey with your gorgeous horses Helen, thank you for choosing us!
If you’re interested in booking horse photography with us, you can read more about how we work in our FAQs here, or look through our portfolio here.
Drop us a line here if you’d like to find out more or book a space this summer!