I honestly feel bad for all of the people in this world who are uncomfortable around horses. I think they are some of the most magnificent creatures on the planet. I was blessed to have a best friend growing up that had horses, so I’ve always had that appreciation for them. 

Justin, Parker and I had the chance to see a draft horse show at The Ranch this past weekend. An incredible day for me because draft horses are a particularly special beast. Massive, to say the least. We went early for a university demonstration of cart judging. 1 Belgian, 2 Clydesdales and 3 Percherons. Amazing. I took a lot of photos, none of them fantastic, but I’d like to share and show everyone the story.

One of my favorite things about our trip to Grand Lake were the horses. I grew up with a best friend who had horses and took lessons as a kid from a neighbor, so I’ve been around these beautiful creatures my entire life. They are quite extraordinary animals because they are extremely smart and each one holds their own unique personality. I feel badly for the people that haven’t ever had a chance to be close to horses, Justin being one of them. They can be somewhat frightening beasts if your are inexperienced with them. Most of them don’t mean any harm, but there are the occasional firecrackers. Example: Flame, a horse that I was going to lease down in Longmont to ride whenever I wanted, turned out to be a fellow who had received little positive attention in his life. Still a young horse who needed lots of exercise and a lot of work was an aggressive firecracker. After meeting him I wanted to help him and spend the time with him, to be a positive human in his life, but wasn’t sure I could justify paying a fee to basically rehabilitate an animal into working condition. I think he really freaked Justin out when we met him because it was obvious he didn’t like the woman from the stables and whenever she was trying to strap on his saddle or halter he would try to pin us against the railing. Needless to say I never leased him because we found out that Parker was coming and you shouldn’t be riding horses while pregnant. 

But in Grand Lake I had a grand time photographing and playing with the horses. The best surprise was the new baby foal that really loved Cole. Sometimes the horses were allowed to roam free about the property and this is when we first met the foal and her mother.