The Drafty girls

   You'd almost think it's spring, with sunshine and blue skies during the day! But the mornings , well, we still have this going on:

It warmed up beautifully for my visit to Shayla. It was a vet day, one of the Percheron stallions got his teeth floated (it took 2 people to hold his head up for the vet!) and Boe got gelded. Boe was a good boy! The vets liked how easy he was to handle for his needles and general handling. I think they expected a 10 month old colt to be almost wild. 

After that we walked down to the mare herd, visited with Gussie and took photos to compare our telephoto lenses. Shayla did end up getting the Canon telephoto that goes to 200. 

We even managed a couple of action shots, there is one weanling in the herd, Donna, who was feeling quite sassy. 

Airborne! She was also playing bitey face with Shayla's palomino quarter horse mare, Dolly.

Dolly was having none of it! Then Donna took off and that's when I got the first photo of her.

Mostly the mares were just basking in the sun. Not the crispest photo, but they look so attentive and sweet. 

They all are, or should be, in foal to one of their 2 Percheron stallions, with the exception of Eva (from my last post on visiting there) who was bred to their black Quarter Horse stallion. 

This one is Lady, a rare bay purebred Percheron:

It is quite something to stand in the midst of all these gentle giants. Several of them must be at least 18 hh if not more. 

Still no foals to report, Concho is at 353 days and holding... Daphne is at 343 and since she is a maiden, you bet Shayla has many sleepless nights going on! 

Oh look, sun!

 Yesterday was a taste of the warmer weather coming; almost to the above freezing mark! Beautiful and sunny was good enough for a visit to Shayla while Ted visited his dad. 

It was mostly a visit about photography, as she has a new camera to figure out- Canon TR7. So off we went to see the horses!

Lots of straw bedding for the mares whose date is the closest to foaling. Jayne is in with Concho and Daphne, who are both beyond safe foaling date and will probably go another couple of weeks. 

Concho (MY Buckskin Concho)

Mama Belle is having trouble with an arthritic knee so she is in a different pen as she is now having a bit of trouble getting around while we wait for the knee to fuse. 

She is, as usual, hugely in foal, and we got to see her baby bouncing around! She is at least a month away from foaling; knowing her history, probably another 6 weeks. 

Then we headed to the big pasture where the Percheron mares are, along with Gussie and Shayla's palomino mare who are both in foal to her black stallion, although Gussie isn't due until later in July. 

 Enjoying the sunshine!

Gussie recognized my voice and came over to visit me and get her scratches. 

Dolly looks more like a sorrel than palomino at this time of year! She is due end of April.

Dolly (DF Sunfrosted Te)

I'm getting to know the draft mares by name now. This one is Kate:

She has the longest mane of them all! There is one mare I like the most, a 3 yr. old that looks like a blue roan but may go grey. Eva! She is so friendly and huge!

We have matching hair!😆

Afterwards we spent some time exploring photo editing; Lightroom. It was interesting! Can sure do a lot to clean up a photo. 

What programs do you, my photographer friends, use and what would you recommend? Ease of use, efficacy and budget are the needs. 

I love my telephoto lens, as I shoot mostly outdoors, but what lens do you think is best for, say, outdoor wedding portraits, horse photos both action and still, for Shayla's Canon TR7? She already has the 50 mm portrait lens and is exploring how to use it; the above photo was taken with it.