Or, wait. Did I already do a post on a Fjord horse an older woman bought that I went to test drive? Oh well, bear with me! So a few days ago, Crystal& I went to Baddeck to see the Fjord horses that out just living out in hundreds of acres. They are living the dream. So we showed up, get spoken to by a woman from Holland woman who owns them. She is getting a divorce from her estranged husband and so all of Crown Jewels Resort property is wasting away. Which is a shame. If you check out their site, you will be incredibly sad to see that 2 people who were in love can end up hating each other so much that they let a place like that rot. Onto the horses!
So there used to be a lot more of them but they are being sold off due to the divorce. They are STUNNING. Odin's owner sent Odin back (going blind) and got 2 of the horses off this property. Her friend also bought 2 horses from them. So now there are only 5 left. They are living in luxury on hundreds of acres of grass.
They are all broke to pull carts& be ridden. They have done hundreds of trails and are SO gentle. At first, I was taking these shots from the side of the road because there were all kinds of signs up saying 'Private Property' or 'No trespassing' and I didn't want that lady's crazy extranged husband to come out and kill me with an ax. Plus the shots from the side of the road were fine ..although did make me wish I had a better zoom lens.
So, eventually I moved from the side of the road down into the little ditch by their field. This was working out better for me, as I was that much closer to the beasts! They weren't paying any attention to us, so I made Crystal make strange noises and jingle my keys while I tried to get some shots where they were actually looking at the camera. Photographing things is hard work ;) Although also very rewarding when you finally get one of the 2 subjects in the photo to look at then lens!
So after getting that close to the fence, I decided I needed a better shot of these guys more than I needed to not spend the night in jail. So, before I could change my mind, I was laying on the ground on my belly. Wiggling under a VERY electric fence, trying not to get zapped or stung by bees. Mission accomplished. I'm in their field.
Now I'm laying on the ground, inside the Fjord field. What next? I'm not sure ..I don't know these horses. Are chances good they might kill me? Crystal is laughing at me from the roadside. She wouldn't come into the field. She isn't quite the adventurer that I am! So, 4 of the 5 Fjords went down further in the field. I assumed they were running away from me. So I started photographing the one remaining guy.
He was a great subject. At first, he showed absolutely no interest in me at all. Hence the sort of standing away and looking off after his friends. So then I thought 'The photos looked nicer when I was on the ground.' Was this a correct thought? I have no idea. I'm still trying to figure out this whole photography thing. I've only been doing it semi-seriously since February. Mostly I just wanted to lay back down in that amazing field. Could have spent all day in there. Finally, laying down got Mr. Fjords interest!
Then, suddenly it was like he realized 'Hey there's a person in here and she wants to hang out with me!' so he started walking over. I'm not sure why I wasn't the least bit concerned he was going to stomp me out but I wasn't. I just kept laying there watching him walk toward me with a look of interest! I am such a horse whisperer ;)
Did I mention the lighting was perfect? Or, at least, what I would consider perfect as a barely-even-amateur-photographer. Something about these photos just worked for me. So I let the horse walk up super close to me before I bothered getting up and saying hello to him. This is my last shot and it's definitely my favorite one. Let me know what you think of my Fjord photos :)
Maybe a new Fjord purchase is on the horizon for me?! Anyone have a place I can keep him for free ;D
