Scottsdale 2013: The Jumping

You didn't think I'd be able to blog about a horse show without including the horses, did you? The Scottsdale show this year was a more challenging place for me to shoot, that's for sure. The Powers That Be decided to switch around the arenas a bit. Most of our riders were competing in an arena that was covered with a tent but had open sides. Shade on top, intense desert light coming in from the sides. Challenging. It took a bit of adjusting, but I managed to get those inside shots to work- to a certain extent, but it wasn't ideal and I trashed a lot of pictures that just didn't work.

The warm up area was not covered, so I took as many pictures over there as I could. Funny thing though- the only decent option was from one angle, so some of the pictures looked a lot alike!

Forced into thinking more creatively, I took lots of shots that were not of the jumping side of things.

The Grand Prix was held on Saturday night. This a timed jumping event where professional riders compete for a $25,000 prize. Watching these horse jump 5 foot jumps takes your breath away.

This rider is Bjorn Ikast from Denmark. He's always in Scottsdale when we go and has developed quite a following from the girls in our barn. He came in 2nd place this year. Our girls were very brave and went to see him after the Grand Prix. He graciously gave them blue Grand Prix ribbons from some of the other shows where he'd won.

Next: The Artsy Pictures!