More riding photos and a new camera flash

Today Travis went to riding. It was a very nice day. Not too hot, not too cold, he listened and used his words. A very nice day. It was also the second time Travis has ridden the new horse, Scooby. Scooby is very big compared to all the other horses in the barn. Not to mention he is only mostly bomb proof. But Travis is good on him and I make sure to tell him that he needs to ride quietly on Scooby. Even laying down Travis is Taller than all the other kids! This was also the most crowded lesson he has ever had with 4 riders in the ring.

I was happy to get some photos of Travis on Scooby but I also wanted to test out my new camera flash. I actually bought it because I am doing the wedding photos for a friends' sister. She is reportedly not a super picky person but I know that wedding photos are important. I wanted to make sure the indoor photos were visible and not all blurry. The outside photos came out really well and I think the flash "filler" made for some nicer shots. I did comparison shooting to check it out (*note* the original photos are much nicer... I wonder what happened when I loaded them).

This shot is multi-purpose. It may end up being a new reference shot for my therapeutic riding scene for live showing (it shows the proper head gear set-up for the horses) but I was also impressed with how well my zoom works. This shot was from at least 20 yards away!

This is Kitty. She is a nice horse though is sometimes full of nautiness and mare attitude. Right now she is on vacation because she recently had some surgery on her leg. She was my indoor test for the new flash. I think it looks pretty nice actually. I took some photos without the flash of her and they are dark, blurry and aweful. You can tell a flash was used for this but I don't think it's horrible. I am more confident now that I will be able to get decent photos at the wedding. *phew*

This was my favorite shot of the day I think. Travis looks so relaxed and happy and Anna looks like she is enjoying the moment as well. I may have to crop it down at some point to have them as the focus. Hmm, let's see...

...aww! Now if only I knew how to clean up the image a little bit more. This is like a great poster for therapeutic riding. The outside of a horse really is good for the inside of a man...even if he is a little boy.