Monday, June 7, 2010

Is it Spring yet? 6/7/10









Hmmm..... I guess where you are from defines Spring. Living in Phoenix, well not sure we really have a Spring, as today it is supposed to hit 110 degrees. While Wells NV, on the other hand, just last week was in the low 50's during the day. The horses did not know wether they should grow more hair or loose what they have.


Trying to shoot pictures in sleet is not much fun. (Actually the first day it was raining I didn't, the next day I figured out how to keep the camera dry. Yeah!!!) But seeing all of our friends and rodeo "family" was well worth the rain!

Between wind, cold and rain, I was looking forward to coming home. Now that I am home - not so sure. Guess it really is true - "Careful what you wish for"!!!! I have decided that I will just wish all my friends and family happy and joyous days - regardless of the weather.

Not sure where our next adventure will take us, but they always seem to be one!



PS did I mention the BBQ at Donna's Ranch? (a Nevada Brothel) ..........Guess you will have to check back for that one.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Great Friends equal Great Day! 05/24/2010




Ever have one of those days that you get to go spend with friends and get to just relax and have fun? We got to have one of those yesterday.
AnnDee and Stanton White needed some pictures of some horses for a sale they have coming up. Well, that involved horses needing to be roped on, and while Kelly's horse is still layed up from his little New Mexico adventure, AnnDee and Stanton were kind enough to let Kelly rope on one of theirs. Me? Well I got to sit at the bottom end of the arena shooting away!

We spent the morning roping (ok they roped - I shot pictures.....). And had a great time. Burley tried a little shoot dogging, which ended up being more of Karson dirt skiing behind the steer than anything! Go Karson!! I think I like ranch shoots more than events - more pressure, but less pressure at the same time. Funny how that works.

Once we got plenty of shots and everyone had enough roping, we had the most amazing lunch! AnnDee and Stanton you guys can cook for me anytime!! How does tonight sound???? Let me just say everyone needs to have more days like this.

Thanks guys! We had a blast, can't wait to do it again!
Check out the rest of the pics at http://www.ssylvester.com/ - under ranch shoots







Wednesday, April 21, 2010

What A Weekend!! 4/17/2010


So off we go to Bernalillo, NM for a National Senior Pro Rodeo. We arrived Thursday late in the afternoon, expecting to find pens......well there were pens, I guess. Not ones that I would put any living thing in, horses especially since they will try to self -destruct. So, that said, we built a hot fence, which we have always used. This time however was different, we had two extra horses with us that had never been in one, nor had Kelly's new head horse. All seemed well, so off to dinner with the folks. Once we came back, we separated off the one horse that we were told did not play nice with others, and all seemed fine.


Until we got up Friday morning. Kelly comes in and says that I need to come look at his horse he is bleeding pretty badly. Great, just what I need. Seems all three horses ended up in the same pen and had some kind of altercation. After washing Buddy's hind pastern off, trying to remove all the silt/sand that was in it (did I mention the ground there could put any beach to shame - welcome dust!!) I lifted the flap of skin and told Kelly "This is a bit out of my league to fix." Off to the hospital with Buddy, from first appearance we have tendon sheath damage as well as some tendon damage. So surgery here we come. The good news of this one was that no tendon or sheath damage! Yeah!


Saturday, Kelly borrows a horse, and not exactly sure what happens, but he catches his steer, dallies and goes left while watching his heeler catch (this is all normal). Well Mr Borrowed Horse tries to go down the arena, Kelly tries to make him go up the arena. Kelly looses and goes head first into the fence. And to think I missed shooting this (I was tempted to ask him to re-enact it so I could get the shot but thought better of it). No one was hurt except Kelly's ego.


Sunday, Kelly stays on his borrowed horse (what a relief!!) but between his missing and his heeler missing - enough said. He did however receive a bunch of ribbing from all the guys. Photos of the Performance - well, shot all day to find out I had a malfunction and got zero shots of the performance!! Buddy is picked up today and has to be babied since having surgery along with a cast on his leg. It was added for extra support for the trip home.


I am so ready for the weekend to be over!! But it's not.


Monday morning, we are awakened by a horse screaming for his pals. Seems this horse's new best friends were the three we had with us. Look out the window and low and behold hot fence is down. We jump up, and head out to catch them. Of course they were right there on the rodeo grounds milling about - NOT!!! One of the stock contractors tells us that they headed out the gate, down the lane and were headed up the hill to Walmart. (Did I mention Walmart is about a mile away as the crow flies from the rodeo grounds.) Yes, Walmart. Now panic sets it - Walmart parking lots and loose horses don't really mix and if they made it to Walmart it was going to be a trick to round them all up before one gets hurt. Oh wait - one is hurt and is running around with a cast on. It took 5 of us to catch them. We got Buddy caught before Walmart, but the other two decided to see how nice the parking lot was. Once they realized their pal was missing they turned around and came back at a dead run. I wanted to kill ALL of them! We get everyone caught and trek back to the rodeo grounds. All were promptly tied up until we could pack everything up and leave.


I have never been so happy for a weekend to be OVER.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Art Comes In Many Forms




Having recently gotten into cutting horses (can you say addictive?????). I realized that I had to have a new saddle to ride my new horse. Well when you go show, then you need new chaps because those western pleasure ones just won't do. So off on a mission I went to find me some "real" cutting chaps. Seems unless you live in Texas, they can be rather difficult to find.



In my photography travels, I met a saddle bronc rider by the name of Richard Lamoreaux. Not only does he ride broncs, he makes saddles and guess what? He makes the most beautiful chaps for the rough stock riders (Bareback riders, bull riders and saddle bronc riders). We got to discussing chaps, and well one thing lead to another and low and behold I now have a BEAUTIFUL pair of real cutting chaps.






I do not have any shows however til fall to show them off. So, I may just have to wear them to the grocery store!











So - Thank you Richard - I Love Them!!

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Russel Houston 4/9/2010


Got to spend yesterday morning with artist Russell Houston. What an incredible man! A smile that never quits and and amazing artist. Check out his work at RusselHouston.com, I am sure you will recognize his work. He was taking reference pictures for a new painting he is working on. It was incredible to watch his creativity at work.
He came out to shoot a bunch of shots to make sure he would get the horses action in his painting just right, along with the rider's. With a vision in his head and a "rough sketch".....let's just say his rough sketch is really a small painting and is something anyone would be proud to hang on their wall....so "Sketch" - I think NOT!!! lol
While refering back to his sketch, he would discuss with his model Jeff, what he was looking for from both horse and rider. Now I have been riding and showing horses my whole life, and when you want a horse to do an exact movement, good luck to you. It is not quite as easy as it sounds, but Jeff seemed to get exactly what Russell was looking for. (Then I found out they have been working together for ohhh about 30 years.)
Needlees to say it was a treat meeting and being a part of this creative process. Can't wait to see the finished painting.