My best friend came up from Connecticut recently to visit us. She and I learned to ride together as youngsters. We were your typical barn rats; coming early for lessons to groom and staying late to hand out treats. She was the third person I called when I bought Armani (after my husband and Mom). And she came up to visit him a few weeks later. The first photo is one she took then. Armani was 4 and 3/4 years old, rump-high, thin and unmuscled. He asks me not to show this photo to girlfriends.
Armani, the pimply teenager
This visit she saw Armani again, a year later. She kept saying how lovely he looked, like another horse. She also loved him under saddle. I've been really proud of the progress we've made together. But I only see the gradual change over time, not the night and day change a year makes. So I went back to the old photos to compare with today.
Armani today
There are two challenges to photographing Armani: Armani and Mom. Armani just finished his work out and wanted some grass. Since I was holding him, he kept wiggling and did not stand squarely. He also tends to "relax" after work. My mother had trouble with the digital camera, "But won't it run out of film if I take too many?", and also kept pointing out when Armani "dropped" something "naughty". "Oh no, you can't put that on your blog can you?" Hence my smirk.
Doesn't he look good though? Can you believe it's only been a year?
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3 comments:
He does indeed look like a different horse and a handsome, buff one at that.
Love the comment about running out of film. That sounds exactly like something my parents would say.
Armani looks great. Although, he looked nice in the before picture too,it just goes to show what the proper work and care will do for a horse. Your mom took a great picture and I'm glad she didn't run out of "film". I think you might want to think about a digital camera as a Christmas present for mom. I bet she'd enjoy that for pictures of her guy.
Definitely see the difference of him coming up at the wither!
I think he looked nice enough in the first pic but even nicer in the second - it's lovely to see the difference you can make in such a short time!
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