The harsh ring of the cell phone woke me at 4:37 AM. “We’re an hour away” the voice said.

At 5:00, dressed in LL Bean fleece-line jeans, a parka, neck warmer & SSG 10 Below gloves (which are awesome by the way), I am warming up the truck & scraping frost off the windshield. It’s 30º this morning …  in Aiken SC.

The drive to Stable on the Rail from Hoof Pix® South is brief. I got there with just enough time to turn on some lights (awaken the residents who start to clamor for an early breakfast) and check that all is ready.

At 5:15, the Holly Hill Transport rig, lit up like one of those grandiloquent houses at Christmas time, crawls slowly up Powerhouse Rd. to the entrance. I am now convinced that these monstrous, air-ride semis can make the turn off the narrow street into the driveway here.

The driver opens the side door and I see two huge eyes surveying the frosty, dark surroundings. He literally trots down the ramp and drags me up the driveway to the barn.

Irish’s Journey from Gathering Farm to Hoof Pix® South is over.

After 3 years of going through the stressful process of finding a suitable place to rent in Aiken for February and March, I lucked out this time. The house I rented this year is so perfect, that I bought it. Yep… closed yesterday, which is why Irish and I stayed down here the extra two weeks.

“My” house is in the “horse district” of Aiken, meaning not far (walking distance) from the race track, and a block off from the infamous, oak covered South Boundary Ave. It’s only 7 years old, a virtual youngster relative to most of the houses here, in great shape, just the right size… not too big and not too small, not to mention … the right price.

What this means for Hoof Pix® is that I plan to come to Aiken in late November / early December instead of the first of February. I am finished shooting events in Area I by then and there are a lot of horse activities happening in Aiken at that time. Specifically, other disciplines that I want to photograph, polo, steeplechase, driving, fox hunting.

The Aiken community lives, breaths, markets horses… and I feel the pull to be part of it all, not only the riding aspect… but the artistic opportunities.  We shall see!

Irish is on his way to Gathering Farm and I am packing for departure to Maine tomorrow morning. Before closing up the laptop, I really wanted to share Thursday’s ride with Polly and Matty in the Hitchcock Woods. I brought along my cell phone to try to take pics through the ears of Irish. They don’t begin to show the expanse and beauty of the Woods, but fun nevertheless.

Hitchcock Woods is located just outside of downtown Aiken, a few blocks from the race track where Matty and Irish have been stabled for the past 2 weeks. This is the largest urban forest in the United States, a 2100-acre tract of land maintained by the Hitchcock Foundation for public use, hiking, horseback riding and carriage driving. To illustrate the extent of the trail system… here is the map one can download.  Make sure you have a magnifying glass!

It is very easy to get lost in the Woods, which we did on the two previous rides (but never seem to mind because the riding is SO awesome). This time Polly and I came equipped with the map and her iPhone compass!  Our goal was to make it to the “Ridge Mile Track” which is a mile long, oval track far out in the middle of the Woods.

Starting out from the stable, its a short ride down a clay street to a special Traffic Light for horses.  This allows us to safely cross the very busy Whiskey Rd. and get to one of several entrances to the Woods.

Along the way, we pass a very cute stable with two horses and Dinky, the Donkey!  Matty had no issues with Dinky, but it took a bit of persuading to get Irish close enough to say “hello”.

After a few wrong turns, we finally stumbled upon found the “Sand River” path which, we were told, would get us to the Ridge Mile Track. The path through the Sand River is narrow with very high banks on either side, then a steep climb up an even MORE narrow (knees to nose) path that opened to the Memorial Gate, the main entrance to the Woods.

Matty looking back at the narrow path from which we exited the Sand River

From there we found our way to the Track, trotting and cantering along the MOST glorious (wide & narrow) woods trails.

I think the Mile Track was Irish’s favorite part of the ride. Steeplechase jumps are placed all along the track making it a wonderful place to gallop … jump … gallop … jump (= condition).

Irish gazing down a long stretch of the Ridge Mile Track

There is a jumping area in the trees just inside the track. Lots of logs, post & rails, coups, even a gate hung between two trees to practice opening/closing on horseback. Polly and Matty showed us how it’s done!

Matty's ready to enter the (show or fox) hunter world

After too much fun on the Ridge Mile Track we pulled out the map, the iPhone compass and used Irish’s homing skills to get us back through more beautiful trails, to the Aiken streets.

Can’t wait to return to the Hitchcock Woods next winter, where we can get lost over and over again!

My time in Aiken is coming to an end (at least temporarily). Irish will ship to Gathering Farm in a couple days. FuzzButt and I head home Saturday morning. Just two weeks after I get back to Maine, my shooting season begins with UNH Spring Horse Trials. Two weeks is NOT enough time to get unpacked, re-establish the office, move horses back home, etc.!!

With the transition from my off season (relatively speaking) to my busy summer shooting season, comes some major changes to Hoof Pix®!

The most notable change (for which I expect to hear lots of ooooo’s and aaaahhh’s and even the distant pinging of champagne glasses) … is … are you ready? … sitting down?  … uh, well obviously you are sitting down….

…. a … (yet another) HOOF PIX® WEBSITE!! (I figure if I stay in this business long enough, I will eventually stick to one e-commerce design).

What’s so special about the new Hoof Pix® Image Galleries website?

• The registration process is MUCH easier and more USER FRIENDLY. You don’t even have to register (though I highly recommend that you do, makes re-ordering easy and tracking orders possible).

• Placing orders is MUCH easier. I can add all kinds of photo products at any time. I’m open to suggestions!

• Customers can now DOWNLOAD the low and medium resolution digital files (after purchase). Make sure you read the License Agreement!

• Want a private gallery set up with a password so that you can show images to only certain people, ex., perspective buyers? Maybe you don’t want everyone (especially your husband/wife/mother) to see the nanosecond by nanosecond series of you falling in the water?   No problem, just make the request!

• This new format makes it easy for me to offer specials and sales, coupon codes & gift certificates.

• There are a lot of other really cool features too. So play around. Click on things to discover slideshows and sharing options.

but wait … there’s MORE!!

In addition to galleries of the competition proofs, the new site will also showcase my growing collection of fine-art images, prints, posters and custom-designed greeting cards!  Even more wonderful for me is that you can purchase them on the new website too!!!

What’s Where …

The www.hoofpix.com address will continue to bring you to the homepage of “Everything Hoof Pix®” (where you are right now). I prefer visitors start here so they can be informed of current news, updates, hear about sales & event specials. But mostly be entertained by my award-winning blog posts!

Using the navigation bar at the top of this page, and that of the new website, you can easily go back and forth between the two sites and not lose anything from your shopping cart! How great is THAT?!

2010 Competition Proofs are now on the NEW website and can be viewed (& ordered) at any time.

2009 Competition Proofs are ONLY available on the OLD site and will be removed as soon as I get back to Maine (before UNH).

As always, ALL Hoof Pix®  images from previous years are archived and can still be ordered by contacting me.

Still Tweaking …

There are a lot of details to slog through to make it work and my OCD side is still fussing over minuscule details. So please DO contact me if you encounter bugs, or have suggestions.

Almost Forgot!!!

Here is the address: http://hoofpix.zenfolio.com/

Polly has been taking “Nell”, her lovely and talented Labrador, to private dog agility lessons taught by Aiken resident Wanda Gipp (Aiken Dog Sports). Nell has been doing SO well that Wanda invited them to join a class with a couple other students.

Of course, I had to tag along with camera and see if I could catch some fun pics of the pups being “agile”.

I photographed a dog agility clinic a few years ago back in Maine… in the winter… in a small, dusty indoor arena. Despite having to use a flash because it was SO dark, I had a grand time watching, learning and trying to capture moments that came much TOO FAST!

Yesterday was no different except that the lesson was held in a gorgeous, secluded meadow behind Wanda’s house in diffuse lighting (favorite of photogs) and shirt-sleeve temperatures.

The two other ‘students’ in the class with Nellie were “Rowdy” (a Standard Poodle) and “Koda” (an Eskimo Dog). To equate their agility talents to the eventing world … I’d put Nell and Rowdy at Beginner Novice level but Koda is definitely Intermediate or above!  In fact, Koda is owned by Vermont eventer Joanne Lawton who divides her busy schedule between dog trials and horse trials.

Photographing horses galloping/jumping is a piece of cake compared to canines on the agility course who zip back & forth and may or may not leave out a stride to the jump. In other words…. their movements are unpredictable and one has to be lightening quick with the camera!

I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of capturing these lovely dogs as they each in turn, tackled all the obstacles. Nell did a great job & showed herself to be a quick learner.  She has mastered the “contacts” which are the ramps and ladders and tunnels. The newer lesson for them yesterday was weaving in and out of poles, and jumping a winding course (= bending lines and roll-backs).

Nell

 

 

 

Polly and Nell learn to "weave" under the watchful eye of Wanda.

 

 

 

 

 

Nell took a detour from the course to show the photographer that she likes tunnels!

Nell looks to Polly for guidance.

 

 

Left out a stride!

 

Rowdy ready for the Puissance!

 

 

 

After making their runs and practicing new obstacles, Nell, Rowdy & the rest of us sat back and watched Koda negotiate every obstacle, with tight turns and roll backs at incredible speed!

Koda

Koda zips (weaves) through the poles with little effort!

 

Koda through the tire.

 

Roll back while in mid-air over the jump!

"High Five!"

I realized that dog agility is much like dressage or any other discipline where an animal is part of the equation. Agility dogs, like competitive horses, are trained to respond to distinct yet subtle body movements of the handler (rider) as well as, variations and cadence of the voice, or no voice.

Wanda explained the importance of not continuously talking to and encouraging the dogs as it can be a distraction.  The simple single word “yes” can be a powerful tool when the dog has successfully finished a new challenge.

Regardless of the finer points of training…. all one has to do is look at those faces.

PURE JOY!!

Koda!

Nell- "I got it... I GOT IT!!"

Thursday was departure day for most of the BEventing horses. The commercial transport arrived at 10:00 to take Spicey, Slipper, Tahd, Apache (Bluey), Tic Tac and Gibson back home to Gathering Farm and 8″ of snow.

 

Polly leads Apache (Bluey) onto the van.

Apache (Bluey) settled in for the ride.

Oliver, Joey and Dexter were the next to leave with Babette and Asheley. Babette’s plan to avoid a snowy drive was to go to Jan Byyny’s Surefire farm in Virginia, stay a few days, take a few lessons then head to Gathering on Sunday.

Polly, Matty, Irish and I were the last to leave but our drive was much shorter! We are staying another 2 weeks so moved the horses to the “Stable on the Rail” right in the horse district in Aiken.  As the name implies, the stable is adjacent to the training track, separated only by a tall wooden fence. Irish and Matty can hear the early morning gallops, but can’t see who or what is making the sound of galloping hooves.

From the stable, we can hack all around the track area, on lovely clay roads and even down to the Aiken Woods. I will post more about SOTR with photos soon.

Babette leads Tahd to his ride home