Wow. How lucky I am to be invited into horseowner’s lives and to get a chance to talk and get to know different parts of the horse world that I had no knowledge of.
Last month, I met Dana and her two horses Doughboy- Standardbred and Carmen- senior Thoroughbred. I got to photograph them at a private facility for Standardbred racing complete with a full size track. I also got to hear the plight of the racing industry. Normally, this facility is packed with trainers. But harness racing in BC is in a recession right now, and the majority of the barns at this place are vacant and the track is quiet.
Dana’s worked in the industry for a while, and shared candidly hard stories about what’s happening. But, she also shared her story of Doughboy. A winning racer, Dana worked with him during his career and fell in love. He was out of her league, until injury had him on shipped on a truck. Dana heard about it and went right to the yard where he was held, and refused to leave until they sold him to her.
Doughboy is a big buy, who loves his groceries. I haven’t been around many standardbreds, but his size really suprised me. I almost pegged him for warmblood had I not seen the tell tale neck tattoo. He’s a cooperative guy who does what Dana’s asks. He’s the grounding force for Dana’s senior mare Carmen.
Carmen, is of course, the star of this shoot. At 26+, she’s still got that red-head fire. No snuggling with her, she’s all business. She’s now retired from 3 day eventing, but loves being ponied around the track with Doughboy. Carmen came from the track into Dana’s life when Dana was only 10 years old. She’s the horse of a lifetime, and I’m so grateful to have had to the chance to meet and capture all three of them.
ui
