Nervous Neddies

When I started looking into shooting horses with off camera flash (OCF - the lighting I use for all of my portraits), I was met with a lot of criticism, mostly from other photographers, who said it couldn’t possibly be done because horses wouldn’t tolerate it, they told me it simply wouldn’t work.

They obviously A) didn’t have any idea of the kind of person I am, and B) lack the finer understanding of working with horses in weird situations.

3 years on from where I started using the flash, and I’ve only had 1 horse who wouldn’t tolerate it (It was a unique situation where I didn’t really have the time I’d have like to have either), that’s an incredibly high success rate.

In that time, I’ve gotten very good at working with horses who are generally quite big worriers, anxious types who struggle with our human world and generally would have been excellent in the wild for their caution and flightiness.

I’ve also expanded my knowledge of subtle equine communication hugely in that time (I’m a lifelong horse woman and am forever open to learning about these wonderful creatures, you never stop learning with them!), which, when you combine it with my hypersensitivity, my secret superpower, I’ve been able to work with the more nervous types in such a way that we can help them wholly relax during the process, meaning the images we produce truly showcase their individuality.

So for those of you with an anxious soul, who want to book a shoot but don’t think they’ll be able to cope with it all, this blog is written to you, to help give you an insight into how I work, and how we can still achieve those beautiful portraits you desire.

My first rule when working with any horse, is that we always go at their pace. As humans, we like to do things fast, but our horses often want to take longer to process the things we ask of them, especially our worried over thinkers.

Once I’ve set up my portable studio, I’ll invite you to bring your horse in, reminding you at every stage where you might feel an internal pressure to rush (Recovering people pleaser here: I know how it can feel in the presence of other humans, how we don’t want to waste their time or put them at any inconvenience, but this situation is all about your horse, and I have endless patience for horses, so you won’t have to worry about “taking too long” - there’s no such thing!).

If your horse stops dead, head high, when they first see the set up, then we won’t ask them to move, we’ll simply let them see everything, think about it, process it, and only move forwards when they’re ready.

Slowly we’ll invite them to come closer, if they take a few steps and stop, then we wait for them, repeating the process until they’re comfortable enough to come up close.

I’m then going to let you know that it’s totally okay for them to put their nose on anything as they explores the unusual contraption I’ve set up - horses are very similar to dogs in the fact that smell is their primary sense, they explore with their nose more than their eyes, so we’ll allow them to do what is most natural to help them understand it all.

If this process takes us 30 minutes, then so be it. We don’t rush them, we let them process.

Only once they’re fully relaxed and happy will I move onto the next step: introducing the flash.

I’ll ask you to walk them a few meters away and turn them to face the studio, and with a pre warning, I’ll fire the flash.

I ask you to move them away so they don’t feel so trapped by the studio, when working with a prey animal’s mind, you need to remember that they want to feel like they’ve got lots of exit routes to escape the perceived danger, and that there’s enough space between them and it for them to feel like they’re not under threat.

Depending on their reaction, we can move in one of two ways for this step. Either we’ll do flashes with longer gaps between them, settling them between each one, or more frequent ones so it seems less of a surprise to them. This will entirely down to what we both feel the individual horse requires and how your horse is responding.
During all of this I’m going to be encouraging lots of stroking, scratching, soothing words, and the strategic use of treats, to reassure your horse every step of the way.

Everything is done gently, slowly, and without any force.

As your horse relaxes, we’ll begin moving them closer and closer until they’re ready to stand and pose.

Now I understand some horses genuinely struggle with standing, and for some they only have the threshold that allows them to stand for a few moments until they need to move again to disperse any stress that might build up in their system in this situation.
With some horses I have had to walk them in, pose, walk them out, and repeat for every shot, to keep them happy and calm - whatever they need, they’ll get.

Also, throughout the entirety of the shoot I’ll be monitoring your horse for any slight indication that they need a break, some are more subtle than others at communicating their stress (I’ve met quite a few that internalise their stress, the secret worriers!).
If at any point I feel like they need a moment to relax again, to be able to walk without being asked to pose or stand or move a hoof, then I’ll suggest it to the client.

Although my shoot packages say that you get a 45 minute portrait shoot, this is just a guideline, I structure my time for shoots to allow for a huge amount of extra time. I can never predict the kind of horse I’ll get on any given shoot day, so I need to allow plenty of extra time for horses that need it.

So for those of you with a worrier, I hope this has reassured you on how I can work with your horse on a portrait session to achieve beautiful images that you’ll treasure for a lifetime, without having to stress him out, where we can create an enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

If you’d like to finally book that shoot now that your concerns have been addressed, please do click here to use the online booking system to secure your shoot with just a £75 deposit, or get in touch if you’d like to discuss further before committing to a booking.