Posts Tagged ‘photography
2011 Wild Pony Foals
If you are like us, you are counting down the days until the annual pony penning in Chincoteague. So at least now you can get a little preview of some of the 2011 foals that have been born already this year on Assateague.
Wild Island Ponies, is a website run by an Assateague Pony enthusiast – who mostly uses the site to document the ponies for her own pleasure.
Kelly now has up a list (and pictures) of some of the 2011 foals she’s spotted on the island – some during the Spring Roundup. You can check them out here.
It’s a really cool resource if plan to attend a swim (or even just visit Assateague) anytime soon. I personally can’t even remember some of the mares and stallions on the island – and talk about helpful if you had plans to buy a foal this year!
There are definitely some cute babies in the bunch this year – I can’t wait to see all of them at the end of July! For a complete list of the pony penning schedule you can visit our website. Hope to see you there! And don’t forget to come visit me and Minnow at the Chincoteague Pony Centre.
Trick Pony Update (part 1)
Ok I know I’ve been slacking a little on the updates to the blog, but in my defense….it’s so nice outside! We’ve been having such amazing weather lately that I’ve been spending lots more time out the farm with the boys.
So since I’m a little behind on keeping everyone a prized of what we’ve been doing – today’s post is just going to be a MASSIVE update on some of the things that have been happening around here. It’s a TRICK PONY UPDATE post! yeah!
On May 3rd I set up a little table at the West Bradford Elementary School Art Day. Many artists set up tables around the school to talk to the students about their personal artwork and what it was they do. As you may have guessed – my booth contained the only “animal artists”. The boys were a big hit and the school was a buzz with talk of the Painting Ponies. I loved seeing the kid’s faces when they watched the video of the boys painting. Their jaws would drop in disbelief and immediately the outpouring of questions would start.
We had little trading cards to hand out to all the kids, each containing a different photo of the ponies and Ammo the dachshund. It ended up being a really fun (but exhausting) day. There was talk of maybe having Minnow & Ammo come next year – which I think would be really fun!
Meanwhile I was spending a lot of time out at the farm getting Minnow and Ammo ready for their big school visit. I grabbed this shot of Minnow during one of our practice sessions. Aren’t the clouds in the background so cool?
I don’t know what it is about dressing the boys up in costume – but it just makes me bust out laughing. I think they know it’s funny, because they all start to pose.
Seriously, that boy knows he’s a Super Pony.
At the same time we we’re practicing a lot, I had family visiting from Oregon. They got to see Minnow & Ammo perform first hand – and I’m pretty sure they all think I need to run away and join the circus. (don’t worry, I’m not planning on it)
We also made a little upgrade to our pedestal from our Sponsor, Toys for Horses – now everyone will know who we are!
Boomerang of course couldn’t wait to try it out. I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s super cool.
And just for fun, here’s a little behind the scenes look at what else I’ve been up to…..
Planting my garden! Yeah! Don’t tell the ponies’ but as long as I don’t kill them first, there might be a few tasty carrots in the bunch for them!
So I hope you enjoyed out little update, I’ll be back soon with a Part 2 – because Minnow’s been busy learning some new tricks! Yeah!
Sticker Shock
Today I got a surprise package in the mail from Picthall and Gunzi, a UK based children’s book publishing company. Inside were two children’s sticker books that featured ponies. It took me a few minutes to realize why I had been sent these, but then I remembered!
Inside were two stickers that features my sister’s morgan cross mare, Jet. The stickers were created from a photograph I had taken of her galloping in an open field a couple of years ago.
It may be a small publication – but it’s still something to smile about….finally putting my photography degree to some use! As of late my photography has taken more of a back burner to running my custom framing shop and managing the art careers of a couple of painting ponies. Someday I’ll get back into photographing more, I’m toiling with the idea of a few picture books…so we shall see!
You can purchase these sticker books here and here!
Painting Pony DVD release!
For the past month my family has been working on a little project. My younger brother, Taylor, is a talented filmmaker and editor, and my younger sister, Laurel, has a special talent for photography. Armed with a fleet of talented trick ponies, and a Dachshund, we decided to make a new Painting Pony DVD.
With my brother up from his home in North Carolina, we spent one day shooting out at Iron Horse Farm. The ponies were amazing – performing their tricks over and over again so my siblings could get the right shots – even Ammo endured the hot day in his flannel stuntdog gear so we could capture him among the ponies.
I think the end result turned out fabulous! I think it really shows what life is like for the Trick Ponies (and Ammo). I especially love the music, which was mostly created by my brother (who is also a talented musician) along with his band, Cinder Cat – the music gives it a magic feel.
The DVD is available for purchase in our Online Shop. Give it as a gift, send it to a friend – spread the joy of Chincoteague Ponies! We hope it will bring a smile to your face.
And since we want everyone to be able to enjoy the magic of these special ponies and their Dachshund friend, we’ve uploaded the video to youtube. Spread it around! Share it on facebook, twitter, myspace, etc!
Special thanks to….
Taylor Hellhake from Depthink Productions
Cinder Cat
Laurel Hellhake (in collaboration with O’Leary Photographics)
Iron Horse Farm
and
Ammo the Dachshund & The Trick Ponies of Chincoteague!
The Boys
Yesterday was my mom’s Birthday – which means after weeks of waiting, I can finally post a photo of what I gave her for her Birthday! Yeah!
I took some really neat photos of the Trick Ponies and had my husband (the graphic designer) print them really large for me. I then framed them up at the shop so that my mom can hang them up at the farm. I think they turned out fabulous and I can’t wait to see what they look like on the walls. And I promised to continue the set with 2 more photos of our other horses….who can forget beloved Nitro and Jet – they may not be Chincoteague Ponies, but they are still part of the family!
Boomer
Minnow
Blitz
