Friday

Shot from under the fence, lying on my back in the dust

Today was a busy day for both Monty and Debbie, with a packed schedule of meetings and office work to attend to.

That gave me chance to spend the morning photographing horses. The tree lined avenue is bordered by a series of paddocks, each with 2 to 5 horses. I thought I'd be able to stop at the gates and take pictures but hadn't figured on the friendliness of all the horses. The minute I pulled up at the gate, they would all charge towards me, jostling for stroking position. It was very sweet but didn't make it easy to get pictures.

Best Friends (and below) - these two horses came here from Argentina together

I've fallen in love with this horse - an Appaloosa, who looks like a collaged creation

Here he is again, with his best friend

The fences are all quite high as well, so to get a shot from over the fence line, I had to climb up on the seat of the scooter. I had a bit more success with what is my favourite position anyway, lying down and shooting under the wire. Even so it was hard to get the shots I was looking for because of the proximity of the horses.

In the afternoon I met a man who had come here to talk about establishing a full programme for Iraq returnees who, like the 3 in the film, had come back with PTSD and other mental health damage. It was interesting listening to him talk about fundraising and compare the way things are here with the UK. He said that 90% of fundraising money came from individuals rather than the Foundations - presumably these being the equivalent of Trusts and other grant making bodies. I don't know what the statistics for that are in the UK but I recently analysed the income we have had for DASH for the last few years and donations accounted for 1-3%.

After he left I had some more time to spend taking pictures and talking to the horses. On the way back up to the house I was thinking about the deer when suddenly I realised that there was one standing under the trees just looking at me. I thought it would flee if I took the camera out but it didn't and I got several shots before leaving it to its business. Just as I rounded the next corner there was another 3 of them and just like the other one they seemed happy to stand there posing for me. One in particular did a beautiful pose right in front of a big agave plant.

Almost perfectly camouflaged deer in the shadows

Posing for me like the perfect model

Over dinner we saw some footage that's going to be coming up on the Equus Online University soon of Monty working with one of the American Olympic show jumping medalists. It's always fascinating to see two experts talking together and how Monty can help someone who is already performing at peak level to improve what he is doing with changes that might seem subtle but have a dramatic effect. Want to know more? You'd better sign up for the Equus Online University then.