The Old Boys

There are times when I think I've not achieved very much with my day.  And I can sit at my desk feeling restless and unsettled, almost like I'm waiting for something to happen.  Today feels a little bit like that.  However one important photo shoot took place today.  Ok, so it was a favour for a best friend.  The oldest horse at Lyn's place is dear old Con.  He's 30 this year.  That's old for a horse.  My 2nd horse Tickles made it to 30 but died shortly after this.  We'd decided we needed some special photographs of Con and as such it was important to Monty as well.  Monty falls under the category "The Oldies" when we refer to mixing up the feeds, however he's only a couple of years older than my darling Freelance.  

So today I took photos of Lyn and her horses.  She's had Con for 25 years.  I'm always joking to Lyn that horses shake their heads in dismay when they come to live with her.  It's truly appalling and the facilities are terrible...  Ok, so I'm joking here, because there is no better place for a horse to end up than on Lyn's gorgeous property.  We are loving having the barn, the stables, the wash bay (with warm water!), lights and the wonderful arena.  Doing little shoots like this is something I do gladly for Lyn, who is not only the very best equine artist in Australia and in fact the world, but one of the best friends I've ever had in my life.

If you are ever interested in seeing her work, click on this link:  www.lynbeaumont.com - she works quite a lot off my images and I'm sure she gives me too much credit.  When it comes to painting horses Lyn is the benchmark.  There's no other way of describing her.

Lyn lost a horse a couple of years ago, a horse she adored.  He was her special boy.  He was a big warmblood gelding called Finn.  He cut his leg very badly going through a fence and she took him to be operated on.  He then fell coming out of the anesthetic and broke his fetlock I think.  I will never forget the text message that Lyn sent me at 3am.  She was shattered and heartbroken.  

We often talk about Finn and how hard it is to get over heartbreak.  She said she loved the horse.  That when he was alive, she would go to tend to him and when she saw him her heart would just melt and skip a bit.  Even now the loss of the horse breaks her heart.  

I think that real love, whether it be over a person or animal, is like that.  There might not be any logic to it and it is frequently indescribable and unfathomable. 
"Do you miss him??  Every Day......"
Con.  30 years old this year.
 

Monty.  22 years old or something close to that?  Bit of a Bad Ass is this horse.
 

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