Family Portrait

Heather's husband, Keith, is a professional photographer. The other day he asked if I would like to have a family photo done of all of us together on horseback. Of course I thought that was a great idea! How cute would that be! This of course turned out to be quite the adventure in itself!
First the weather turned yucky on the scheduled day of pictures. We decided to wait. The next day when I go to feed I see blood running down Pilgrims face. Him and his pasture bud CJ had been playing their favorite game "face bite" and apparently Pilgrim lost. I called my vet and had 6 stitches put in for cosmetic purposes. Almost $200 later, I frantically call Keith to see if he can photoshop Scarface in the pictures...which of course he can.

After rescheduling due to weather, we finally got a nice day yesterday. The sun was out, it was almost 60 degrees...absolutely beautiful! I got my son and daughter both saddled and up on the ponies while Heather helped get Chuck up on her Sport Horse of Color, CJ. I worked on getting Pilgrim polo wrapped and saddled. Keith wanted the photos taken out in the field....which makes sense. I hadn't factored this in.
I should explain, Pilgrim has been working in the arena only for the last couple months. I rode him out in the field only twice since he came off his latest injury, both times after a significant workout in the arena, and both times were spent with me reminding him he could not have a "born free moment" and run off. He also works ok with other horses, but loves his buddy CJ a little too much, and spends all his time trying to touch him.
So as I get ready to get on Pilgrim, I hear a clicking sound.....the inevitable loose shoe sound coming from his left front. Sure enough his shoe is loose from all the mud we've had lately, and he's managed to snag it just right and bend it funky. After a call to my farrier and an appointment set up for Monday morning, I can't ride him to settle him in, just have to jump on a moment before the photo and pray he stands still.
I hop on and we line up for our family photo, all the horses calm and quiet....oh wait...except mine who is now loosing his mind. We are loose in the glorious field, there are two ponies between him and CJ, and I expect him to stand still? After a few moments of jigging underneath me, Pilgrim is completely irritated and suddenly decides to lose his brain (a common occurrence for him) and rears up. At this point I'm completely frustrated, stringing a very creative slew of curse words together as Chuck reminds the kids not to talk like mommy! I decide it's probably best (so I don't kill Pilgrim or vise/versa) if I stand on the ground next to Pilgrim for our pictures. After, I take him in the arena so we both have a good experience, get on and find my well behaved sweetheart again...awww, I just can't be mad at him! Keith takes a few pictures of just me and him together. Not what we had in mind for our family picture...but then again, nothing ever seems to work out as planned with us!
Heather called this morning and said there were several really good pictures, so I'll put some up soon for everyone to see!