The Old Boys

There are times when I think I've not achieved very much with my day.  And I can sit at my desk feeling restless and unsettled, almost like I'm waiting for something to happen.  Today feels a little bit like that.  However one important photo shoot took place today.  Ok, so it was a favour for a best friend.  The oldest horse at Lyn's place is dear old Con.  He's 30 this year.  That's old for a horse.  My 2nd horse Tickles made it to 30 but died shortly after this.  We'd decided we needed some special photographs of Con and as such it was important to Monty as well.  Monty falls under the category "The Oldies" when we refer to mixing up the feeds, however he's only a couple of years older than my darling Freelance.  

So today I took photos of Lyn and her horses.  She's had Con for 25 years.  I'm always joking to Lyn that horses shake their heads in dismay when they come to live with her.  It's truly appalling and the facilities are terrible...  Ok, so I'm joking here, because there is no better place for a horse to end up than on Lyn's gorgeous property.  We are loving having the barn, the stables, the wash bay (with warm water!), lights and the wonderful arena.  Doing little shoots like this is something I do gladly for Lyn, who is not only the very best equine artist in Australia and in fact the world, but one of the best friends I've ever had in my life.

If you are ever interested in seeing her work, click on this link:  www.lynbeaumont.com - she works quite a lot off my images and I'm sure she gives me too much credit.  When it comes to painting horses Lyn is the benchmark.  There's no other way of describing her.

Lyn lost a horse a couple of years ago, a horse she adored.  He was her special boy.  He was a big warmblood gelding called Finn.  He cut his leg very badly going through a fence and she took him to be operated on.  He then fell coming out of the anesthetic and broke his fetlock I think.  I will never forget the text message that Lyn sent me at 3am.  She was shattered and heartbroken.  

We often talk about Finn and how hard it is to get over heartbreak.  She said she loved the horse.  That when he was alive, she would go to tend to him and when she saw him her heart would just melt and skip a bit.  Even now the loss of the horse breaks her heart.  

I think that real love, whether it be over a person or animal, is like that.  There might not be any logic to it and it is frequently indescribable and unfathomable. 
"Do you miss him??  Every Day......"
Con.  30 years old this year.
 

Monty.  22 years old or something close to that?  Bit of a Bad Ass is this horse.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Joyous Family

Image
Another famous and successful thoroughbred family that I have a reasonably complete library of is the family of the champion racemare, More Joyous.  She is a bay mare, foaled in 2005, which makes her a year older than Black Caviar. More Joyous is by the great American black stallion (and one of "my Boys") More Than Ready.  She's out of the Sunday Silence mare Sunday Joy, who was out of the grand broodmare Joie Denise (who died not all that long ago). Sunday Joy won the AJC Oaks in and is a half sister to Tuesday Joy. All 4 mares were/are owned by John Singleton and reside at his gorgeous Strawberry Hills Farm at Mt White, NSW. More Joyous and Nash Rawiller.  Futurity Stakes, on Blue Diamond Day.  26 February 2011.  One of my favourite images of the great mare. More Joyous, like her contemporary Black Caviar, is now closer to the end of her career than the beginning. But it is one I've chronicled in a similar fashion to the way I have documented the
Read more

The Legacy of Eight Carat: From the Vault Volume I

Image
We have been back in lockdown here in Victoria. Lockdown 5.0 to be precise and as a result it made us go back to feeling like sad sacks.  After having seen off Lockdown 4.0 a teeny tiny bit triumphantly, where we saw off both Delta and Kappa variants (evil beasts that they are - curse you stinky COVID - curse you), we had literally only just gotten back to work before being very suddenly plunged back into Lockdown 5.0 after the visit of those very nice removalists.   'Thanks very much!!!!' we all shouted indignantly!!!!  A key difference with Lockdown 5.0 was that half the country also into lockdown at the same time which made us feel slightly less sad.  The Victorian Government doesn't muck about anymore when it comes to outbreaks.  Their reaction is swift and severe and not at all namby pamby.  I just wish the same logic would be applied to Sydney which continues to deteriorate, much to my dismay.  This week we took our first tentative steps out of Lockdown 5.0, hurrah f
Read more

The physical drain of riding horses

Image
Most people agree that the life of a jockey is a difficult one.  There are a handful that rise to the top, and do extremely well out of the Sport of Kings.  The vast majority however struggle with their weights, and do their best to avoid and/or overcome injury.  Anyone who has ever been pelted off a horse would know that it doesn't tickle!  And of course the older you get, the more it hurts!  We used to fang around on our ponies, bareback, in headstalls and leadropes, never wearing a riding hat.  Completely fearless, and I am sure that on the odd occasion I parted company with my horse, I used to bounce.  In fact I rarely used to fall off, unless the horse came down as well, I guess all those years of galloping around bareback meant my balance and ability to swing my body with the horse was pretty good.  I'd like to say that I could still ride the same, but age and the maturing mind catches up, and you start thinking of the consequences of 'what if I come off', which
Read more