A few weeks ago we were treated to a fabulous Sunday with Sherene, Leila and co, the family behind Sussex Lusitanos. For those of you that don’t know Sherene and Leila, they are passionate about the Lusitano breed and Iberian horses, and are recognized as the UK’s leading promoters and suppliers of Lusitano horses in UK. We first met them back in 2013 at Golega horse fair in Portugal and since then we have collaborated with them on some amazing projects – not least the visit of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art to Olympia Horse Show in 2014 , and our commission to photograph the riders and horses at the school in late 2014 – see one of our favourite photos from this shoot here.
So it was a real pleasure for us to spend a few hours capturing some of the beautiful “characters” who make up their herd – Ditadora, Zigzag, Quota and Huelva, their young mare. These horses have such incredible energy, character and personality. After a few hours photographing Sherene and Leila and the horses in their stables, in hand, being lunged, at liberty and ridden, we were about to finish. As we walked past the stables chatting, we noticed the beautiful head of this horse – Numerario. I was captivated by his magnificent head, neck and torso and though he is now 22 years old, he has amazing presence. Sherene tells me Numerario was bred by the Romao Tavares stud in Alentejo, whom we were lucky enough to visit last year (take a look at our photos of the beautiful stud farm here ) and he is by 1995 Lisbon Show Champion Embaixador . Numerario has sired numerous purebred Lusitano foals since arriving with Sussex Lusitanos at 8 yrs old, and many have achieved good success in dressage & showing.
This first shot has to be one of, if not our favourite photograph from this shoot. We love the soft rim and front lighting of Numerario’s head, against the dark background, and his expression. Ironically he wasn’t one of the horses we planned to photograph – sometimes its the most unexpected part of a photoshoot that gives you something special. We would love to hear which ones are your favourites too!
If any of you are thinking of an equine photoshoot, take a look through our portfolio here, if you’d like to talk through a shoot or some ideas, please do contact us.
