Capturing the First Week of a New Foals Life
Meet baby Clay. Clay is a sweet little colt born earlier this month and yep, that’s milk on his face. Cute right?! I was contacted by the great folks over at Dream Catcher Stables here in St. Augustine, Florida, within hours of little Clay’s arrival from womb to the pasture. They wanted to have his early days photographed by an equine photographer with the hopes of adding his image to their collection of stable art found in the aisle of their barn. He is part of the family now! Meeting Clay for his newborn photography session was so much fun for me. I knew he was a colt that was eagerly anticipated, especially by the local 4H team that meets at this barn. So being able to capture him in his first 24-hours was pretty special.
Clay spent his day eating, learning to use his legs and getting tons of love from the barn family. I was able to watch him lay on the ground and snuggle with his favorite human just a few feet away from his watchful mother. He was really enjoying being able to soak up all the scratches! I loved watching his super long whiskers on his muzzle as they disappeared into the palm of her hand.
A favorite moment for me was watching Clay untangle himself from his long legs as he attempted to stand after a short nap. It took a few tries! There is nothing like spending time with a newborn foal and being continuously mesmerized by their early abilities.
A week later, I arrived to update Clay’s image library and found a confident spunky little guy ready to show off his new moves! He kept close to his mare’s side and only stopped long enough to allow me to scratch him in all his favorite places before he was off again to mimic his mother’s behavior or investigate the other horses pastured nearby.
In just a weeks time this little colt had developed his own little personality full of confidence and pride. He posed for the camera and came close enough to lick the hood of my lens on multiple occasions. I could sit and watch mares and foals together for hours and often find that some of the very best images of mares and foals interacting come when you just sit and wait and be quick with the camera. Mares will connect with their foals, discipline them, and make the best faces when putting up with their silly antics. If you are ready, you can capture that brief moment of motherhood in its purest form.
There are lots of tips and tricks that I will cover in a future blog post all about getting great images of new foals. But perhaps the most important to leave you with for now, is just to simply have patience. Be willing to wait for the little moments to happen…because they will. Understanding horse behavior can help make the process just a little bit easier. More to come. But for now here’s a final parting shot of baby Clay.
Fast Horse Photography captures the connection between horses and humans and celebrates the joy that they bring to our lives through portraiture, commercial photography, and fine art prints. Based out of Northeast Florida and traveling from St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Daytona, Palm Coast, Gainesville, Palatka, and beyond.