One of my stopovers on my way home from New Zealand  in 2011 was in Los Angeles (the others were Tahiti, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, if you’re curious!). There, my travel partner Juli and I stayed with a friend of hers, Christine. Christine has a beautiful warmblood mare, Lea, so we went out to visit her and take some photos. This was my first horse & rider shoot of the new year, and I couldn’t have asked for better models! Christine had a perma-smile on her face, and who wouldn’t, being around a sweet mare like Lea? Besides that, the mare should teach equine posing classes! There was hardly a photo in which she didn’t have an earnest expression with her ears pricked, and she held each “pose” with plenty of time for me to capture the shots I wanted. I swear I could hear her saying, “Did you get my good side?” ;) To add to the perfection, there were cherry trees (or almond trees perhaps?) in bloom, which made for a beautiful backdrop.

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