Michelle Wrighton Fine Art and Photography

The 10th Light Horse Bunbury Troop also put on a riding and Tent Pegging display at the Dardanup Heavy Horse Show at Heritage Park.  Although Tent Pegging originated as a Military maneuver in which cavalry soldiers would gallop through enemy camps, using their lances and swords to remove tent pegs to collapse tents and cause confusion in order to gain the upper hand in a surprise attack.  Over time, tent pegging was used as a cavalry drill for weapons practice and as part of Military tournaments and competitions.  The Australian State Mounted Police also used Tent Pegging for demonstrations of their riding skills, but it was not until 1964 that the first Australian civilian tent pegging team was formed.  This equestrian sport was recognized Internationally in 1982, and International competitions are now conducted by the Federation Equestre International.

If you would like more information about the equestrian sport of Tent Pegging, please visit the Australian Tent Pegging Association website for more information.

LEST WE FORGET

All images from the Tent Pegging display can be viewed on the Events section of my South West Photography website.

Today was a rather auspicious day – its been a long time coming, but I am very excited to finally be setting up my studio gallery:)  I had planned to just move the boxes in, but got a little carried away and started unpacking everything.  I felt like a kid at Christmas unpacking all of my art supplies, books and art magazines – many of which I havn’t seen for well over 18 months!  My mind is racing with all the things that I want to paint and draw, I really don’t know where to start first – oils, acrylics, colour pencils or something in graphite.  I’d really like to have a go at some plein air oil paintings – all I have to do is step outside my studio for inspiration in every direction, from the beautiful landscape to the baby lambs and calves that are being born on all the farms around here – including ours, but thats a subject for another post, as I really need to catch up on posts that I meant to add last week but ran out of time to!

Following on from my last post with photos of the Clydesdales from the Dardanup Heritage Park Heavy Horse Show, I thought I would share some of the photos of the Team Australia Liberty Horse display performed by brother and sister team, Sam and Sasha Watson from Horses and Horsemen.

The performance shows the willingness, agility, intelligence and responsiveness of these magnificent animals and the incredible relationship that can be created between man and horse.  The display involved a number of different and often very difficult maneuvers, with the liberty horses following instruction and direction from voice and subtle body language cues.  What I found most amazing and awe inspiring was the willingness and enjoyment all the horses displayed, they were clearly enjoying the performance as much as the audience was, even the six month old weanlings were eager and willing to perform even with the noise and distraction of the large crowd and bright orange safety fences!

I was specifically taking photos for reference material for future paintings (and have already flagged a number of shots that are going to make a wonderful new series of paintings) but here are a few shots of the performance which I can *highly* recommend as a must see for anyone who loves horses!

Team Australia Liberty Horse display © 2010 South West Photography

Team Australia Liberty Horse Display © 2010 South West Photography

Team Australia Nine Horse Liberty Display © 2010 South West Photography

Team Australia Two by Two Liberty Horse Display © 2010 South West Photography

Liberty Horse Display © 2010 South West Photography

Roman Riding Liberty Horse display © 2010 South West Photography

Next post will include some photos from the tent pegging display by 10th Light Horse Bunbury Troop.

All images from the Liberty Horse display can be viewed on the Events section of my South West Photography website.

x Michelle

Michelle Wrighton: Animal, Wildlife & Landscape Fine Art & Photography

FACEBOOK: Michelle Wrighton Artist

TWITTER: artistMichelleW

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I was lucky enough to attend the Dardanup Heritage Park Heavy Horse Show on  June 6, 2010 to watch some  magnificent Clydesdales in action and obtain reference material for future paintings.  There was also a riding and tent pegging display by the 10th Light Horse Bunbury Troop and the most amazing liberty horse display by Sam and Sasha Watson of Horses and Horsemen – a performance that every horse owner should see to get a glimpse into the incredible communication and willing relationship that is possible between horse and man – even with foals as young as six months of age!  As a horse owner, the liberty performance was both humbling and awe inspiring and something that you could never tire of watching.

I have hundreds of photos from the day that I havn’t finished sorting through so I will make a couple of blog posts to include a few from the Light Horse and Team Australia Liberty performances as well as the Clydesdales.

Clydesdale horse in harness © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdale in Harness © 2010 South West Photography

Traditional Clydesdale and cart © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdale team and wine cart © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdale team and single axle cart © 2010 South West Photography

Clydesdales in harness © 2010 South West Photography

Proofs from the Clydesdale Show will be uploaded and available for competitors to purchase prints from my photography events website South West Photography next week (the 10gig limit per month wireless internet is never enough and we have been shaped back to dinosaur dialup speed until next week:(

x Michelle

Michelle Wrighton: Animal, Wildlife & Landscape Fine Art & Photography

FACEBOOK: Michelle Wrighton Artist

TWITTER: artistMichelleW

BUY CUSTOMIZED ART POSTERS, ART PRINTS, T-SHIRTS & GIFTS: Zazzle

BUY CARDS, PHOTO PRINTS, CANVAS ART AND FRAMED ART PRINTS: Redbubble

The Standardbred Pleasure and Performance Horse Association of WA held the annual Winter Gala at the Perth Horse and Pony Club grounds in Herdsman.  I am totally biased towards the breed (having two of my own) and I strongly believe that they are *the* most under-rated breed in the horse world.  Thankfully more people like those that turned out for this show are seeing the incredible possibilities with this versatile breed as pleasure and preformance horses.

And I have to say that the presentation of these Standardbreds is absolutely impeccable and puts alot of other ‘fancy’ breeds to shame!

Coloured Standardbred © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Part bred Standardbred © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Breed Show © South West Photography

Standardbred Dressage © South West Photography

All of the proof images for the In Hand, Ridden and the Dressage tests can be viewed and ordered online at South West Photography.

Well after getting a taste of Cutting action at the last bit of the Ian Francis Cutting Clinic that I saw after the Paint Horse Champs back in February, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to watch two days of cutting on the 16th and 17th May.

Cutting Horse © South West Photography

Cutting Horse © South West Photography

Cutting Horse © South West Photography

Cutting Horse © South West Photography

Cutting Horse © South West Photography

Cutting Horse © South West Photography

All images from both days events can be viewed and prints purchased online at South West Photography

A small selection of photos from Fridays ridden events, dressage, English ridden and Hunter trial.

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

Quarterhorse Championship Show © South West Photography

The full set of proofs from this and other equestrian events can be viewed and prints purchased at South West Photography.

Wow what a long day!  Even with back up batteries and 6 x 4GB cards I ran out of memory beofre the end of the day…and I don’t know about the competitors who finished afer 7pm, but I certainly was exhausted by the time I left (lets just blame the heat shall we:)

As well as photographs from the day, I am pleased to also provide a video of the Show Jumping phase of the One Day Event.

The full length video is 55 minutes long and is available in both DVD and web format.  Each individual rider video is between 1 minute 30 seconds to 3 minutes long and are also available on DVD or web format.  All videos are recorded at 1080p HD, however they are only sold at 720p resolution for quality playback on most modern standard DVD players.

The full length video and individual rider videos maintain the ambient sound that was at the event, but background music only can also be provided.

This embedded youtube video is a compilation of the video taken showing some of the highlights.

And a few photos from the day.

Wallangara ODE - Dressage © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Dressage © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Dressage © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Dressage © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Dressage © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Show Jumping © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Show Jumping © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Show Jumping © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Cross Country © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Cross Country © South West Photography

Wallangara ODE - Cross Country © South West Photography

The full set of proofs from the day as well as the show jumping video can be viewed and purchased from South West Photography.

Today was a blast from the past, my first time at Orange Grove for many many years!  Only got time to share a few images from today:)

Orange Grove Official Gymkhana © South West Photography

Orange Grove Official Gymkhana © South West Photography

Orange Grove Official Gymkhana © South West Photography

Orange Grove Official Gymkhana © South West Photography

Orange Grove Official Gymkhana © South West Photography

All photographs from this and other equestrian and canine events can be viewed and prints purchased online at South West Photography.

After the Paint Horse Championship Show I popped over to have a looksie at the Cutting Clinic being held by Ian Francis.  I’ve never seen Cutting Horses in action before, but it certainly looks like fun as well as a whole lot of skill is involved in selecting the right cow (beast) from the group and then keeping it separated for the required time as it tries to return to its mates.  This is definitely something that I would love to have a go at someday!

Coolup Cutting Club © 2009 South West Photography

Coolup Cutting Club © 2009 South West Photography

Coolup Cutting Club © 2009 South West Photography

Coolup Cutting Club © 2009 South West Photography

Coolup Cutting Club © 2009 South West Photography

Coolup Cutting Club © 2009 South West Photography

Coolup Cutting Club © 2009 South West Photography

It was an honour to the be Official Photographer for the 2009 WA Paint Horse Championship Show held at the Murray Horse and Pony Club grounds in Coolup.  I must admit to feeling a bit sorry for the riders that compete in both the English and Western classes – the amount of gear that they need to drag along with them is incredible.  LOL and I wouldn’t like all the tack cleaning afterwards either!

There were some really stunning horses, and it was a really well organised event (especially conisdering the heat!)  The proofs from the show are available for viewing and purchase on South West Photography but here are a few of my favourites from the show.

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

Paint Horse Championship Show © South West Photography

All image proofs from the entire show are available for viewing and purchase on South West Photography.