A Study in Contrasts

I keep wanting to write a big post to introduce all the amazing pictures that Ellie took last week, but first I just HAD to do that conformation study and then I was staring at another shot and realized that there's one more post I needed to write. 

Who remembers Izzy? She was my stunning black bay Oldenburg mare. She was talented and opinionated and so, so bad for me. This was really the trademark picture of us together. She balanced and beautiful, but but always a little behind the vertical and my leg. Gorgeous, but ready to take advantage of any chink in my armor.

And then I was looking through all the pictures Ellie took and I ran across this one. Not only is it an absolutely lovely shot, but it's just so reminiscent of the Izzy picture. The trees in this shot are kind of twisted and scary, but in Izzy's shot, the only scary thing was her.

I guess this is the shot that was always meant to be. Here I am, once again seated on a short coupled, fancy moving, eye catching animal, but this time it's fun and safe and everything it's supposed to be. I didn't care that Courage was having an uncharacteristic wild day--I was having a good time. We're forward and happy and that's what matters the most.

And it's all because of this old man. <3 I know every day that if it wasn't for my time with him, my life would be in a totally different place. I would never have been able to take on Courage without my time with Cuna.

Oh, and we can all just acknowledge that Ellie takes a mean trotting picture. Am I right?