A cold, rainy, late spring meant entry numbers were a bit smaller at this year’s PQHB Futurity, but we still had a blast at Prairieland Park. Judge Ron Anderson kept us all entertained and Dale Clearwater once again won the overall high-point award. I was kind of wishing Dale had more than one horse in the working cowhorse, I got such great shots from his run.

The PQHB show committee puts a lot of work into sponsors and awards – all you need to do is purchase a nice prospect at next year’s PQHB Auction to be able to sign up!

UPDATE: This article was published in the Star Phoenix October 15, 2012. See more at FoxtailStudio.net »

Today I went out on a portrait shoot today for upcoming stories in WCVM Today and Vet Topics. And it took place at the Canadian Light Source Synchrotron! I can’t share any details until the article’s published, but here’s a panorama shot of the inside of the synchrotron. You can see the large circular track where they shoot the electrons around using magnets and the blue line in the bottom right is one of the ‘downlines’ that brings light off the main track so it can be used for experiments. Sometimes it amazes me that we build all these high-tech pieces of scientific wizardry, just so that we can see something better with our own human eyes.

I told them they should be angling for a guest appearance on Big Bang Theory.

I love the Exhibition, or the Ex, as the annual fair here in Saskatoon is called. It’s such a lovely mix of trashy and romantic. We used to live much closer to Prairieland Park, where the Ex is held – close enough to get the parking passes that you need to park on nearby residential streets. Also close enough to watch the nightly fireworks display from the front porch. We could walk over in the evening, and since I was working at the racetrack that summer, I had an all-access pass. This summer was the year for rides, so I tried out the Zipper. I think I will be content with the swings next year.

We still live on the south side of Saskatoon, but we aren’t close enough to see the fireworks any more.

I snapped this photo of three youngsters loafing in their paddock while out at Jill McDonald’s Ilsabrook Farms for the annual Oldenburg inspection. It was a gorgeous sunny day – perfect for shooting bouncy foals all done up in braids.

I love how this session turned out and I’m so excited to share. I was lucky to be asked to photograph Katee’s grad two years ago and this year it was younger sister Haley’s turn. Both girls are gorgeous! It was a cold, rainy day so we headed inside the Delta Bessborough for the photo session. Here are just a few of my favourites.

“The clock has run, the horse has run,
and which has measured which?”

- Cormack McCarthy

In the summer of 2007 I worked as a groom at the racetrack in Saskatoon, Marquis Downs. It was an eye-opening experience in many ways – although I’ve been around horses most of my life, I understand racehorses and ex-racehorses much better now. These photos were taken with the first DSLR camera I owned, an old Pentax which gave the photos a very gritty, grainy feel that I liked very much. I’ve gone back and photographed at the track many times since then, but I’ve never quite been able to capture the same feel that I did in 2007.