I have TONS of photos for stock, and only chose the clearest or most interesting ones for this post. The rest will be gone through later to be posted on Nigav-Stock for everyone to use.
Unfortunately, since my new lens doesn't interact digitally with my camera (as in, I can't use the optimized settings) some of the photos came out noisy or blurry. I fiddled with my camera throughout the duration of my trip, but still, bear with me as some (a lot) of the photos are sub par.
So!
Thursday we visited the trade faire, where they have little tack shops set up (Dublin, Dubarry, SmartPak, etc) and you can buy clothes, saddles, equipment, even jumps! (I was drooling over all of the jumps!!)
I replaced my dressage whip I lost at the last barn I boarded at, as well as bought a new lunge whip for a total of $17! That's the price of one dressage whip if bought online or at TSC. (I got mine for $5!!)
Then we went over to another tent and I found Secretariat! They also had Frankel, and Sam, but I saw those AFTER I bought my Secretariat. Figures! Still, I don't regret it, because he is so beautiful. This is the first horse I've gotten on that mould, and ugh I'm in love! I don't know if this is only on the recent models of him, but he's painted with the metallic base coat and ugh it's perfect! He's next to my other new model, Jubilation!
(excuse the dirty saddle.... I need to dust them off from when they were at the barn still....)
I was so pleased to open the box and have him be LSQ!! I remember opening my Little Tahoma when I had her, and she had a huge rub on her barrel. Like, there was no saving that.
He's got one little flaw in his blaze, but I think I'm going to try showing him anyway. Maybe in a performance class? Make him a little fly bonnet to cover the flaw haha!
Then we went into the indoor arena (where they hold the events and vendor's stalls for Breyerfest) and Finish Line gave me a free tub (sample) of EZ-Willow linament. Which I was tempted to use on myself come Saturday.
It's basically a ton of essential oils in a gel base. I don't ride my aunt's horses hard enough for them to get sore, but that's because I'm re/training them with short sessions. Once we get to going on 6-8 hour trail rides or gallops, that might be a different story! ;)
I also got a whole bunch of magazines and books and brochures for medical supplies, equipment, tack, feed, etc. Tracy, the woman I went with, is a dealer of Cavalor and Tribute feeds, so I got a catalog and such for that, which I'm thinking about ordering from her if duMOR (or anything else we can get at the local TSC) doesn't work for us. Since she joked that it would be her excuse to come see me! (She can get them directly shipped to us though.)
There is a dealer in my area, but like John Marston, I prefer to work with people I know.
That- that's a quote from the game...if you.... didn't catch that.
They had awesome art there, too, which Tracy encouraged me to make some of. I might do a few busts and abstract equine sculptures, but I'm going to stick to models and resins.
So then we headed back to camp for lunch and passed these two chunky police horses <3
And this thing:
So then Helena took on the Cross Country course! ;)
She cracks me up.
Friday was Dressage. The horses had a lot of spunk!!
There were some nice lead changes,
and beautiful gaits all-around!
Saturday was Cross-Country, and man was that awesome to watch!!
Flawless jumps,
And brave, powerful horses!
This jump is an illusion. When you're approaching it, all you see is what looks like the next jump. However, there's actually a ditch at the base (you can see the hill drop in front of his hooves) so if you don't set your horse up right, he'll get caught off guard and won't have enough time to recalculate his approach. This rider took the easy way, but if you look behind the horse's shoulder, most riders go the shortcut.
I watched one rider take the jump too fast. Her horse was caught off guard by the ditch, jumped it awkwardly, and then refused the third jump, spooking away and unseating her. She was thrown right into the jump, and slammed her ribs into the wooden frame. She landed on her feet, but after a fall like that, I'd almost be glad I was disqualified because I'd be sore the next few days from that hit! She was alright, but her pride wasn't.
Oh, and we cant forget - SAM!
It was raining all day saturday, so some photos have a different type of "grain" to them. That's just the raindrops.
So sunday was, naturally, showjumping. It was phenomenal! 84 horses entered Rolex, and only 24 remained for the final day. No horses were severely injured, but some that did complete the cross country course had to scratch because they were lame the next day. They did hit the fences pretty hard, so it's understandable.
Even in the show jumping, there were TONS of fallen rails,
refusals,
and obliterated fences!
There were fantastic jumps, too!
and, of course, Sam!
And I met Tim Price's (below) parents on a wagon. We were going to the camp site, and they were going to a cross country jump, so we were on the same transporter. Tracy started up a conversation with them (not knowing who they were) and they mentioned that their son was riding. They said they were from New Zealand when Tracy complimented on their accent and asked where they were from (which is also when they mentioned their son, after Tracy asked if they were enjoying Rolex so far)
Well, Tim was the only New Zealander male competing.
So that was cool XD They were really nice, and it was awesome of them to come to America to watch their son ride.
He was in first place up through Sunday, when Michael Jung (Sam's owner and rider) stole First right out from under his nose.
Too bad I didn't have a better lens, this would've been a perfect picture!
The riders were just so charismatic, though!
And they love their horses so much!
(She's not falling, I promise, she's legit hugging her horse.)
She left the dressage arena Friday, crying and hugging her horse.
I cried, too.
I have SO MANY more to sift through. Like I mentioned before, I took two photos shy of 4,000 photos, so I'll go through them over the next few months and post them on my stock account. I think the clear ones will have a small price (like 10 points or so) and the not-so-good ones will be free since they can still be used, but aren't very good quality. I took so many photos I have a good arsenal of stock for myself as well!
That's it for this post!
Do you have a tutorial you want me to cover? Comment below or drop me an email and I'll do my best to fulfill it!
Over and Out!
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