Bandit

When you are a horse photographer, the great outdoors is your studio. Booking a shoot, especially when you have to travel quite a distance, can be risky when the weather is not living up to it's sunny day forecast. Such was the case when I showed up to photograph Bandit and her pasture mate Hooch this past September at a beautiful spot in Caledon. Although their owners had held up their end of the bargain and had both horses groomed within an inch of their lives, Mother Nature was not so cooperative. The skies darkened, the winds picked up and we knew we were in for a late summer storm. The owners, of course, had hoped for a sunny day for their horses' portraits but I asked them if we could go ahead "just for fun" and do a short session before the rain, lightening and thunder was upon us. Promising I would return for the "real" shoot, we brought the horses to the beautiful hilly front pasture and let them loose. They didn't need much motivation to show off their high spirits as they raced up the hill above me and down the other side. The dark sky was a wonderful backdrop and the wind blew their mane and tails, especially Bandit's multi-coloured locks. I was sorry when our short session came to an end but excited to have captured the exhilarating atmosphere of a summer storm.

I did come back within the next couple of weeks to photograph Bandit and Hooch and this time the sky was as blue at it could be, and the trees that bordered the length of the hilly field had had time to intensify in colour.

The owners finally got their sunny day.

"Bandit is an 8-year-old black and white paint mare with the personality of a princess. She is 15 hh and is ridden western pleasure. Her owner, Stu, fell in love with Bandit from a photograph and knew he would be bringing her home to 'Jarvis Glen' in Caledon, Ontario."

"Bandit loves human attention and would happily join owners Sue and Stu on the other side of the fence when they are out playing with the dogs, Jarvis and Utah. Bandit especially loves to be groomed - her favourite is ear scratches. She will do almost anything for a carrot. She happily shares the barn with our 2 cats Lloyd and Lionel as well as Hooch, our other horse."

Congratulations to Bandit for being our January 7^th, 2008 Horse of the Week!