Excalibur and Anna

Excalibur and Anna

This is one of several hundred shots I took of Anna Twinney and her mustang Excalibur or "X" as she fondly calls him. Anna is one of the ten authors in the Horse as Teacher book and we met this summer, post publishing, when she came to meet me at my art fair in Boulder.

Later that month I went to visit the Colorado Horse Rescue and while the director was showing me around a buckskin in a corral caught my eye from afar. I was transfixed by his presence. It turns out he belonged to Anna and she was at CHR teaching that day. X is a Spanish mustang from Wyoming and I can never seem to remember all the details.....sigh....must be a sign of age.

An internationally respected natural horsemanship clinician, animal communicator, and Reiki Master, Anna has been featured on television, writes for national and international magazines, and is the creator of the "Reach Out to Natural Horsemanship" DVD series. Formerly the Monty Roberts Learning Center's head instructor, Anna teaches people how to create genuine, trust-based partnerships with their horses. I have had the good fortune to watch her work her gentle magic during a round pen session.

Well to make a long story short I was so mesmerized by X and also the American mustangs I was itching to photograph him. Anna graciously accepted. While I have lots of great shots of X by himself I was so impressed when Anna hopped up on his back without an iota of tack I had to work on this first! Not even a neck rope!

I bet you think she has been schooling him for a while and several days a week.....WRONG! What is even more impressive is he is only three so this is a wonderful example of the willing partnership a person can have with their horse.

Take good care,
Susan
windhorseOne Studios

windhorseOne Studios: New Work

Original Workup

I hope everybody had a happy Easter! I was sooo busy prepping all my new note cards today so I can run down to the printer tomorrow that I forgot it was Easter until later this afternoon!

Last night I started on this piece. I rarely create imagery with people in it but I am prepping some work for the Coors Western Exhibit held in Denver each year at the annual National Stock Show. They only take 2 photographers and they seem to rotate them out. They also take very few contemporary artists but YES they do accept them. This is an amazing show and much of the art sells on the red carpet opening night. I do have working stock horses in some of my work I can use but I dug this photo out of some folder on my hard drive and decided it was perfect.

This was taken last fall out at Return to Freedom at their annual fundraiser. I was exhibiting there and they had all the exhibitors in a circle around the show so we were able to watch. There were some amazing performances. They have a similar image on their web site so I cruised on over to check it out and I saw the man's name so I googled him. Turns out he his name is David Midthunder and he is an actor! It was a public event with all sorts of press and I never thought I would be using this image so of course I never asked for a model release! The good news is he has an email on his site so I can email him about using the picture.

I did some cropping to remove his identity and low and behold I think I like this version better! It leaves so much more to the imagination.

Workup Two

Here is a third version with some different cropping.

Workup Three

Let me know if any of these tickle you more than the other!

Have a great week!
Susan
windhorseOne Studios
www.windhorseone.com

Save America's Wild Horses: Get Involved!

Stop the Mass Murder and Imprisoning of Thousands of Wild Horses & Burros

Normally every morning I start out my day catching up on emails and doing all the marketing stuff I need to do (when I would rather be with my horses or working on my art!). Alas it is true, a good percentage of time is spent doing things we would rather not be doing! But I am writing this out of my own passion and desire to help our wild horses and their history.

Today I responded to a call to get involved in the future of America's wild horses by emailing Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, and the BLM to stop the slaughter and confinement of America's wild horses and burros. I encourage all horse lovers to get involved also.

Madeline Pickens, wife of billionaire T. Boone Pickens made a proposal last year to adopt all of the 33,000 horses contained in pens (prisons) by the BLM. She has currently reached a snag in her proposal and is looking for support. There is an email to Salazar that is already drafted with a small area where you can add comments if you like. It only takes a few minutes of your time and I encourage each and every horse lover to join this noble campaign.

To take action click on the image above or this link:http://capwiz.com/madeleinepickens/issues/alert/?alertid=12943361&type=AN.

To read more about Madeline and her cause please visit her website: http://madeleinepickens.com/

To quote Madeline: "The horses need your help."

Many thanks for reading!
Susan
windhorseOne Studios
www.windhorseone.com

Horse as Teacher: The Path to Authenticity With Horses Book- Part 3

After The Gathering: Number XXX4

I have finished my contributing chapter for "Horse as Teacher: The Path to Authenticity" and it has been edited and returned to me for final approval. Everything is right on track! I had to choose an image to go with the chapter so I chose this one. It is called After the Gathering: NumberXXX4. ATG is a series about the gathering and tragic captivity of America's wild horses. XXXX is symbolic for the number tag that hangs from the horses neck.

There are so many photographers who are doing a fabulous job photographing the mustangs in their natural environment that I decided to turn my lens to the horses who no longer have their freedom

The gaze of this horse meets you eye to eye, soul to soul for the eye is a portal into the soul. The chapter I wrote is one of contemplation and personal transformation resulting from the horses mirroring my psyche back to me. Pretty powerful and amazing stuff if we are open and receptive to it!

Happy Monday!
Susan
windhorseOne Studios
www.windhorseone.com

Mustang Series: After the Gathering

This is a photograph of a mustang after it was gathered in a BLM roundup. He has the good fortune to have been adopted and has great health. Not all of the adopted horses end up so lucky. This image hung recently in a juried art show down in Denver. I am committed to portraying the plight of the American mustang after they have been gathered. There are so many good photographers who are currently documenting the horses out on their ranges. The series, After the Gathering, is intended to educate and touch the hearts of many.

Last year we traveled to California to support Return to Freedom's (http://www.returntofreedom.org) annual fundraiser and met a lot of people dedicated to helping preserve the mustang and its god-given right to remain free. They have done an amazing job to provide a sanctuary to preserve the wild horses while educating people.

Check out http://www.freedomforwildhorses.com, where you can purchase really great articles of clothing. These are a really wonderful group of women who have watched the Nevada herds diminish. Their intention is to raise funds for the preservation of these amazing animals.

It is also my desire to help organizations dedicated to the preservation of our wild horses so I will donate part of the proceeds from this series in an effort to help.

Susan
windhorseOne Studios
www.windhorseone.com