AERC & UMECRA are all about understanding your horse and enjoying the outdoors
Recently I have had several requests for photographs from endurance rides to promote the sport. Photographing endurance rides is pretty fun when the weather is not super hot and humid. What makes it fun is seeing riders enjoying their competitive partners out of beautiful trails in the national forests and state forests of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana (that’s where I do most of my endurance ride photography).
This year I have photographed far fewer endurance rides. Our youngest son is preparing to go to Xavier University as a freshman and our older son is preparing to spend fall semester (Miami University of Ohio) studying in Africa. Usually, I consider photographing rides that my wife Patty chooses to participate in during the spring, summer and fall. However with everything that has been going on, we have missed several that she had hoped to ride. Even so, I wanted to tell you about endurance riding if you are not familiar with it.
On this web site, if you go to PROOFING GALLERIES then click on Trail Events / Endurance & Competitive Trail it will take you to various galleries of endurance and competitive trail rides that I have photographed over the past several years. What you will see is people having a great time out in nature and with their trusted competitive partner (their horse of course). Now if you are out west the experience of endurance riding is completely different because the terrain is completely different. Each region of the country has something different to offer. In Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky we have many rides in national and state forests and many times that means that as a photographer I am looking for clearings and scenic spots to captures images of the riders as they pass by. Sometimes it is close to impossible to shoot at 6am and 7am when many of the rides have their starts so I work with the ride manager to figure out places where I can get to where there will be enough light and all the riders will be passing by. As soon as I have most of the riders photographed I move on to another spot further along the trail to get another chance at each rider. As a photographer there are new challenges with every ride.
This ride started in heavy fog and mist. The early morning sun quickly burned away the fog and the rest of the photographs of this ride turned out great.
This year at Kentucky Horse Park (KHP) in Lexington Kentucky, The World Equestian Games (WEG) will include endurance ride competition.
http://www.kyhorsepark.com/events-competition-info/2010-world-equestrian-games/
There will be endurance riders from all over the globe participating in the challenge of horse and rider of endurance riding.
Unlike the photos that I have taken, the World Equestrian Games Endurance competition may have spectators all throughout the 50 miles of trails around and through the Kentucky horse Park. The grounds are beautiful, but present a challenge in that many times the horses can see other riders in wide open fields (very different than the narrow trails through deep forests). In any case it will be great fun to watch for those who have the opportunity to watch.
Here are two web sites where you can learn more about endurance riding and check schedules for rides in your area:
aerc.org is the American Endurance Ride Conference
umecra.com is the Upper Midwest Endurance and Competitive Rides Association
One thing that Patty an I enjoy about endurance riding is that it is really about you and your horse. It’s not about how much money you have, how flashy your clothing is, who your trainer is and how much you spent on your horse. It’s about getting out there, riding your horse regularly for training, and competing with others looking to have a great time on the trail.
Peter DeMott
peter@photosbypdemott.com
http://www.photosbypdemott.com
Chicken Chase Pioneer Endurance Ride – Recap and photos 2010
Each year the Chicken Chase Endurance ride is our rite of spring. Patty starts getting excited and tries to ride her horse on the weekends in anticipation of the first Endurance ride of the spring. Trailer gets packed up and ready, etc, etc, etc.
The weather during the ride was great. Many trees were in blossom and the grass in the pastures where we camped was lush and green.
On the first day of the ride, Friday, I was taking pictures of the riders coming into the first vet check. To find a good spot, I climbed a very steep hill for about half a mile and I was able to take pictures of about the first half of the riders when it started raining. I waited it out for a bit and thought it was over, but then there was a bit of a downpour. At that point I covered my camera with my down vest and headed back down the hill.
A link to my pictures from the ride is at the end of this post. Daniel is another photographer that was there, but he was not able to shoot at all on the biggest day which was Saturday. Friday’s ride was tuff with steep hills and longer miles (30 miles and 55 miles) This year the turn out was low however and even on Saturday there were only about 30 25 mile riders and 30 50 mile riders. Normally this ride is well over 100 riders. Hopefully some of these pictures will inspire some of you to come to this well managed ride next year.
One thing that I notice at endurance rides is that in most cases as the people ride by me, they are smiling big. Sometimes they have a look of concern or concentration on their faces because they are trying to anticipate and figure out how their horse is going to respond to me firing off my camera as they ride by. But other than that, everyone is smiling and talking about how beautiful the trails are.
This last trail picture is of my wife Patty on her horse Cocoa. In most cases the horses are at a fast trot or sometimes a canter as they pass by me on the trail. These still pictures do not show you just how fast these folks are booking as they pass by.
In the evenings before the sun went down, I walked around the camp and took various portraits. The ideal light just before sunset provided that soft quality that made for great portrait taking.
It rained some that night, but had stopped by morning and the day was very pretty. Thank goodness it did not rain hard all night long because our tent had about ten drips. Make a note, along with rain gear for my camera, I need to get tent seam sealer and retreat the seams on the rain fly of the ten. I was able to take pictures of almost every rider on Saturday, however it was too nice out. You see when the sun gets bright in the sky it becomes more difficult to find places with even light in the forest. Light becomes patchy with horses running in and out of shadowy and bright areas as they come down the trail.
At the dinner and awards on Saturday evening one rider came to me and asked if I could take some portraits of her dog. Her dog would be going into surgery next week for the removal of some cancer, but he is an oder dog and the cancer would soon have its way with the dog. I said sure and we were able to do some portraits. At first she said, I think just the dog, then I suggested that we do some with her in the portraits too.
LINKS to more pictures from the Chicken Chase Pioneer Endurance ride.
If you participated in this endurance ride, if you know someone who did, please send them here to look at the pictures. Also at the top of the proof page, there is a coupon code listed for 30% off for all orders placed within 30 days of the event. If you have any questions and you would like to talk with me about them, please feel free to give me a call at 937-478-6222
I also have some images posted on facebook. If you go to my business page, you should be able to “tag” pictures with who they are and the pictures will be posted to that person’s wall.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=164475&id=152303558213
Pictures from the camp area by Daniel are available at his web site here: http://www.picturesdanieltook.com/Endurance-Horse-Rides
To learn more about endurance riding as a sport go to the American Endurance Ride Conference web site here http://www.aerc.org and explore.
I also took some video clips at this ride that you can watch here (Just short little video clips to give you a taste of what endurance riding is about):
Last of all, I posted an album of some of my favorite images on my facebook business page. If you go here you are welcome to tag any photos of people you know so that these pictures will go to their wall (just please leave my information on the photos) and I welcome you to become a fan of Peter DeMott Photography if you like.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=164475&id=152303558213
Chicken Chase Endurance Ride in Clark State Forest in Indiana
Beautiful Trails, Great People
Every year in the spring one of the first Endurance rides that Patty goes to is the Chicken Chase Pioneer I,II,III ride. The ride is near Henryville, Indiana and is managed by Amy Whelan. The host for the event is Bill Wilson whose farm is used for the vet checks, for camping and for everything else that goes on. Almost always there are trees in bloom and the trails are wonderful.
April 16, 17, and 18th 2010 Chicken Chase Endurance Ride
This year my wife and daughter plan to participate in all three days of the event. As a rider you can choose whatever you want to participate in, one day, two days, or all three days, this is assuming that your horse is sound and able to complete each day. Endurance is a true team sport in that it is up to the horse and the rider to pace themselves such that when the horse arrives at several vet checks along the way it can pass the various tests to proceed. If the horse is out of shape and worked too hard the vet can “pull” the horse and the ride miles will not count. If something happens on trail and the horse becomes lame, he is pulled from the event.
Endurance riding is a great time
Here are some photographs from the Top of the Rock endurance ride at the same venue from last year. I want you to notice that all these riders look like they are having a blast. That is one thing about endurance riding and other trail events. Everyone seems to have a grand time participating in this sport. For more information about endurance riding go tohttp://aerc.org and explore the site. To see a listing of the competitions throughout the country and the world click on “competition” then “schedule” on the site.
These are still photographs, but understand that these folks are tooling down these trails either at a fast trot or sometimes at canter. I try to warn them I am there so that their horses don’t get surprised and spook, but as they come on by I have to move off the trail and get out of the way as they rumble by.
Funny thing is, if the rider is totally exhausted and running on empty, there is not someone telling them then need to pull from the event (if someone is experiencing heat exhaustion or something like that, of course that gets noticed and people step in). Most rides have limited distance rides of 25 miles, and 50 mile events, and in some cases 100 mile events are scheduled at a ride.
This year another photographer named Daniel will be shooting on Friday and Sunday and I will be shooting and selling images from Saturday. I plan to shoot for stock photos on Friday and I am going to experiment with video clips as well. I’m excited to post them here on my blog so that people interested in this sport can see more of what it is about. I will also be able to put the clips on my Smugmug proofing site for purchase via download and you can then embed them on your site, share them on facebook and load them on Youtube for your friends and family to see. This should be great fun and an interesting experiment.
Equestrian Trail Event Photography
My goal as the photographer for the ride on Saturday is to try to capture trail photos of every rider in the 25s and 50s as they pass me on trail. Sometimes this is difficult because riders will pass me in bunches of 3 to 5 riders such that some riders are blocked by the lead rider and then zip by. If I can get to two places where both the 25s and the 50s pass by sometimes I can get two shots of most riders giving them more images to purchase. After shooting all morning I have the images processed into 4x6s for sale at the event that evening and when I get home I process the images onto my web site so people can purchase 5x7s, 8x10s and larger prints, shirts, mousepads, and other items.
Come and See What Endurance Sport is All About
You are welcome to come an watch an event if you are not sure if you want to participate and some rides have novice or fun rides for beginners. Riders are more than willing to help you along and show you the ropes if you are a new participant. Don’t be shy, but also it is important that you NOT join up with the very competitive front runners who have very fit horses and lots of experience. If you try to keep up with these folks on a horse with little or no training you will have a bad experience. Many riders like to hold back and start slow so that they can enjoy the event and pace their horse to finish. These would be good people to stay with at your first couple or rides until you know how they run and so that you can get both you and your horse into shape for this type of event.
To Finish is to Win
There is an old slogan that used to be mentioned lots, ” To finish is to win”. Any newbe should have this in their mind on there first several events. Endurance riders know how to have a great time competing. The challenge of knowing your horse, navigating the trails, and enjoying the ride make for great fun for everyone involved.
At the vet checks and back in camp, I do the best I can to make some candid portraits of horse and rider pairs. If you see me at your ride, please ask for portraits like this if you would like one. I’m already there, so I don’t charge extra to take the portraits. I may have you move into better light or to an area with a nicer background, but for a portrait like this it is a very small price to pay.
After a long ride, it’s time for a tender touch and a long nap.
This post will appear on my web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com It will also appear on my facebook personal page and my facebook fan page along with a post on twitter. I am a portrait photographer in the Dayton, Ohio area specializing in on-location portraits of seniors, families and children. I also have a specialty in equine (horse) photography and will come to your farm or stable for your session. If you like my style I encourage you to follow me in any or all the above mentioned areas. If you are a photographer, I enjoy networking with other photographers both professional and amateur.
Snow day pictures in Dayton, Ohio: horses, snow and people, how fun!
My wife, Patty is a teacher at Miamisburg city schools. There is nothing more fun than a snow day and today would certainly have been one, except for the fact that they already had the day off for presidents day.
Riding horses in snow is great fun and with the snow coming down throughout the day Patty could not wait for the snow to stop to get out and ride. Patty does endurance rides and competitive trail rides in the summer and this was a great opportunity to exercise her horses. The snow was so deep that it was like riding through deep sand. However before she could ride, she thought it was wise to lunge the horses. They were very excited about all the snow coming down as you will see in the pictures.
As you can see the snow was quite deep. The next image shows Merlot putting his nose down in the snow as he continued around Patty.
Patty laughs as Merlot’s nose is covered with snow.
Below is Cocoa being lunged before his ride. I was too exhausted from clearing the snow from the driveway to trudge out to the pasture to take pictures of them riding, plus the snow was coming down so hard that my camera would have been soaked in no time. Now it is official. Another SNOW DAY with school canceled for tomorrow. More fun in the snow, more riding horses in the snow, how fun is that? Our neighbor was nice enough to run his tractor mounted snow blower up our drive earlier, but I was the one who had to dig a path to where we dump our manure so that the horses could have nice fresh new bedding after their ride in the deep snow of the 2010 winter here in Dayton, Ohio. The snow has not quit and it is now dark.
Cocoa is such a good boy. He gets a pat on the head before headed out for a ride with Patty.
With all the snow, now our third major snow fall in the last couple of weeks, I’ve listed several posts about taking better pictures in snow. You can find them linked to my home page on this web site: http://www.photosbypdemott.com This post will appear on my notes page on my facebook personal page. It will also appear on my wall on my photography business fan page on facebook and it will be tweeted on my twitter account. Please feel free to follow me in any of these locations.
Leading a Photographic Life, learning to live a creative life.
I was again listening to a podcast called The Candid Frame by Ibarionex Experello (available free on iTunes) and for the 12/6/09 episode there was an interview with Chase Jarvis. Chase is a well known younger photographer who has created quite a buzz with his discussion of the BEST CAMERA. The best camera being the one you have WITH YOU. I believe he has an iPhone app called BEST CAMERA and a blog and perhaps a book about this idea as well. He is also a very well know commercial / advertising photographer with many national and international clients.
In any case the discussion was about leading a photographic life and learning to live a creative life. It made me want to look over some pictures that I have taken and just share them here. I decided to look through my 500 GB drive and look at some memorable images and share them here. These are all recent images when you consider that I have been an avid photographer since I was in Jr. High School many, many, many years ago. So, since I have not taken any pictures for a couple weeks, here goes.
First, here is a picture of my home in winter. I’ve been thinking about it more as I think more about my country barn photography studio. Right now I don’t have a studio, but when we built our new horse barn we build in a large room and upstairs room in it so that some day I could make it into a portrait studio. It’s just not as fun right now to take portraits of people when the trees are bare, the grass is brown, and it is 16 degrees outside. With a studio I could take indoor studio portraits and shoot year round.
When I was in Jr. High School and High School I carried my camera everywhere I went. Now I carry my camera much less, but when I do the opportunities abound for a creative life. Chase’s challenge was to take pictures everywhere and use the camera you have, your cell phone camera. Almost everyone has a cell phone camera now and it is a matter of taking the initiative to get it out and use it where ever you are. I thought this was an interesting challenge and it just made me think of memorable images and pictures that would never have happened had I not had my camera with me. These next images were not taken with my cell phone camera, but they are memorable images from the recent past which I thought I would share.
The next four images are from the Peace Point Endurance Ride. The first image is in the morning before the endurance ride started. The photo of the children became the cover image for ENDURANCE NEWS, the publication of the American Endurance News Conference. The other is a point in the day when the water was reflecting the riders as they entered the river first to let the horses drink, then to cross past me as they continued to compete. One rider was using a sponge to cool her horse. She had great technique as she would drop the sponge in the water and bring it back up into her hand using a string.
The next three images are from two different vacations that Patty and I have taken in the past several years. They represent the beautiful places and the beautiful people we have encountered. It seems to me that I see many beautiful people and places where ever I go, however on vacation I make a particular point of recording the images. These make me think that I should be wearing my camera more often the way I used to when I was young. One picture is of a dance demonstration. Another is the wonderful place we stayed. and last is a fun exchange with a street vendor down the beach from where we were. It was fun to see this man and my wife interact as she expressed and interest in some of his wears.
I hope you enjoyed my little visual vacation. Pictures and portraits can bring back strong memories. I think that is why I enjoy taking pictures and portraits so much. This podcast challenged me to keep my camera more handy and if it is not available to use my iPhone to record images. It also made me want to start work on my country barn photography studio soon so that I can lead a photographic life, a life of creativity.
Kentucky Diehard Endurance Ride at The Nature Preserve at Shaker Village
The weather was near perfect for the Kentucky Diehard Endurance Ride at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill & The Nature Preserve at Shaker Village just south of Lexington Kentucky. I stayed overnight in an old Shaker Village meeting house before the ride on Saturday November 21, 2009. My room was on the third floor up a very narrow staircase with a latch door and simple decor (except the bathroom which was modern). The room light was a lamp in the form of a candle stick and a dim electric candle light bulb.
This building was about 300 yards from the stable at Shaker Village where most of the riders had their trailers parked. Stalls and running water was available.
The well kept trails were beautiful with rolling hills and taking the riders right past the buildings of the main part of Shaker Village then out into the countryside through meadows and rolling hills. Many areas had beautiful stone fences along the trails. The brochure says there are 3000 acres of original Shaker countryside.
There were lots and lots of smiles throughout this well organized endurance ride. This is a don’t miss ride for 2010.
The gallery is here: Kentucky Diehards Endurance
Learn more about endurance riding: AERC
The gallery is here: Kentucky Diehards Endurance
Spook Run Endurance Ride October 2009 near Henryville Indiana
I was planning on photographing both days of the Spook Run Endurance Ride near Henryville Indiana, but we ended up packing up and heading home after the first day. We arrived Thursday night and set up camp. I told Patty, “If it stays like this, this is going to be a great ride”. It was breezy and about 50 Degrees, but the weather forcase was for rain.
The rain woke us several times throughout the night. Waves of heavy rain kept coming. When Patty got up to feed the horse she stepped out the door of the trailer into water about 3 inches deep. It was getting much cooler and Cocoa started to shiver so we put a horse blanket on him. Start of the ride was delayed by one hour. Patty had her mucking boots, but I just ended up with soaking wet shoes (my hiking boots in the truck would provide me with dry shoes later on).
The rain stopped for a little while just long enough to get the ride started in heavy mist and fog. This is a picture of the start where they just walk for about 100 yards on a road until they meet the trail head where the pace gets much faster. I pulled my truck up into a driveway and shot out the window, but nothing that I would call salable images. Maybe a bit “cool”, but difficult to identify riders.
I stationed myself at about the halfway point for the Limited Distance group hoping that I could shoot them, then go back to where the 50 mile riders would be coming out of the trail into the vet check area. Patty came out of the woods with a friend she was riding with and as she passed she told me that Cocoa had tried to lay down in the creek (roll) and she was able to give him a swift kick and get him back up. Only, apparently his butt rug had gotten wet and apparently felt different to Cocoa and spooked him. He went into a bucking fit and Patty bailed off and landed in the mud for a somewhat soft landing. She was shook up, but said she was just fine and off they went. They were midway in the pack of riders doing the Limited Distance.
When I headed over to where the 50s would be coming out, it started pouring down rain so I gave up shooting for a while. I parked near where all the horses were coming in for their vet checks. I knotted off for a short nap and when I awoke, the last of the Limited Distance riders was coming in (I thought). Patty must be with the horse by the trailer, but when I went there she was no place to be found. I went back up to the timer and her and her trial buddy had not come in yet. That’s weird, as they were in the middle when I left them. After another 30 minutes I started to get concerned. Finally, very late, they both showed up. Seems they accidently took a turn that took them back through most of the entire loop again.
They both went through the vet check and did the second loop of the Limited Distance ride. Cocoa was a little off on the right front so Patty was not going to be able to ride him the next day. With the weather changing to much cooler and our horse blanket soaking wet from the night before, we decided that we would take up camp and head home. If we had a living quarters trailer, we could have had hot showers and dry clothing and we would have stayed, but since we did not we left. On our way home Patty was not feeling too well. I told her it was probably from her fall. Ya-know, even though you landed in the mud, I’m sure that was quite a jolt to your body. By the time we arrived home Patty was pretty soar all over. If we had slept the night in chilly conditions, I don’t think she would have been able to move in the morning. As it was, we both took nice hot showers and slept in our warn soft bed at home. She woke soar all over, but soon loosened up and is feeling pretty good after just doing some easy stuff throughout the day.
The pictures that I did get after the rain finally stopped were very pretty showing fall colors and a bed of leaves on the trails. Here are just a few.
The rider above is Janet Kirkpatrick. I owe her an 8×10 from the last ride (Cracked Oats Crunch). I have the list with some others that I need to send out soon, so she will have it soon. After the ride she was telling me that she ended up in the hospital because she had a gallstone between her pancreas and her liver and was in very serious condition with liver failure. They were able to create some sort of bi-pass and will have to go in again to remove the stone perhaps when she gets back. I imagine, you will want this picture too, so I will send both to you Janet. Take care of yourself.
This rider was in the vet check waiting for her time to go out again. “Hey Peter, can you take a couple shots of me here”, she said. She then pointed out where her children had woven a ribbon into the braids of the horse that had the name of their dog which had recently died. “We decided that this ride would be to commemorate our dog.” You cannot see the ribbon from this picture, but I saw it and it is there.
These next couple images show just how pretty the woods and the trails were.
And last of all, if anyone want to purchase images from the ride, here is the link to the few pictures I did take SPOOK RUN ENDURANCE RIDE.
Cracked Oats Crunch Endurance & Ctr
Endurance ride photography is both challenging and fun. For endurance rides I have to get up early to find places on the trail where the light is good and that say something about the ride. I want the pictures to bring back good memories of the event. The people in endurance and competitive trail riding are great too. This is a sport for people that enjoy riding their horses. There are no big cash prizes to taint the sport, just lots of competitive spirit and interesting interesting people.
This ride was staged at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and included a 50 mile endurance ride, a 25 mile “limited distance” endurance ride, a 25 mile competitive trail ride and a shorter novice ride on Sunday. The trails were wide and well cared for and the meadow gave us plenty of room for camping. The Appaloosa Nationals were piggy back with this ride with 13 participants from as far away as Canada.
Morning brought some heavy fog and mist until the sun came up.
The mist quickly burned off revealing a horse eating photographer in the woods. I try to talk to people as they approach to help the horses know that I am just another human being. This horse found the large lens interesting indeed.
At endurance rides and competitive trail rides there are vets, timers, pulse checkers, and other volunteers to help things work smoothly. Here Bill Cartwright logs the time in and time out for riders who have arrived at the vet check. Great job Bill.
Below is a special request for a portrait session at the ride. I have decided that I will offer no charge sessions at endurance rides. Of course, it is not exactly easy to find a time between everything that is going on during one of these events, but this one fit right in. Best time for these is evening.
The next two images are portraits of the winner of the appoloosa nationals , Cat Carter, with her horse.
Shannon Loomis always buys a hand full of pictures from each ride that I shoot where she is an participant. This is a picture of Shannon with our horse April. There was a minor problem with her horse and she could not ride him on the second day. Patty had brought April along hoping to find the right person to ride her since Patty would be riding Cocoa. Here April notices Cocoa across the meadow. They are good buddies, so Shannon had to keep April from trotting off to be with our other horse. From the looks of it both Shannon and April had a great time.
Here Patty waits for her out time. Is it time yet?, is it time yet?, how about now?, is it time yet….? as she teases Bill, the ride timer. Bills response was a very low tone, No, not yet, no, not yet, 10, 9,8,7,6,5.4.3.2.1… Okay, NOW you can go.
To see all the pictures taken during this weekend click on this link: Cracked Oats Crunch Pictures.
