Life on the fast paddock

And finally, the horse.

The "horse power"...

The intrigued look

The dust...

The mirror

Horsey details

How many details of your horse do you miss everyday? Have you taken a time to look at him... Notice the real look on his eyes, get to know him on the ground before you mount. Let him be free and be a horse, and he will show you what he is truly made of. Notice that most bay and dun horses ears' tips are black. That he'll be curious and explore everything thoroughly, and be very intrigued about the mirror...
Just as you never fully know a person, you might never fully know your horse!

Capturing his soul

A rebel horse, who doesn't like to be tamed by these strange beasts who force him to do strange things. Still, he's ridden by a 12 year old ;-)

Why the long face?

I found this horse lost in his thoughts... with an absent look on his face... but since he is the horse of kings (as the French say, "Balzanes trois, cheval de roi!"), he kept standing there and patiently waiting for his owner.

Painting with light - Dancing Lusitanos

Some photos from this weekend... Trying some abstract techniques yet again :-)
Dancing Lusitanos, in Lousada, Portugal.

Quote of the day:

"In riding a horse we borrow freedom." (Helen Thomson)

Abstracting again

And aren't trivial moments the most beautiful of them all?

Quote of the day: "I guess that’s all forever is...Just one long trail of nows. And I guess all you can do is try and live one now at a time without getting too worked up about the last now or the next now." (Nicholas Evans, The Horse Whisperer)"

Ghost horse

Just because I missed posting something, I haven't got out lately, I miss my camera even though it's right here... A sort-of-not-so-old-photo.
This is a horse with a curious story. One day, he woke up, already in his elder days, and decided that no one would ever ride him again. And no one did. He did that decision for himself... Nobody ever truly owned him, and he showed that... now. After years and years of serving people.
(Portugal)

Risky business

I love photographing Horseball (can you tell?) because the action moments are more than many, and I love experimenting with new (if somewhat risky) angles. I was standing at the place where they usually go after scoring a goal... or trying. It was worth it, wasn't it? :-)

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)

The way to achieve your goal!

But who did? :-)

More moments...

Moments of joy, moments of pure wildness, moments of beauty.

(Lousada, Portugal)

Midnight Summer Dream

This kind of photos is highly unusual of me... mainly because I'm not a particular fan of "Photoshopping" too much. I like to adjust some color levels, brightness, contrast, sometimes do some sepia or B&W, and that's about it.
So here was my personal challenge of the day: to produce a photo that looked "Photoshopped" but isn't... apart from color levels. ;-) It's nice to experiment around, and this time I experimented with someone's, errrr, random water hose ;-) I'm not really sure whether I like this photo or not, I think it needs to grow on me. What do you think?

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)

The good, the bad, and the ugly (Horseball Part II)

There are some moments in Horseball where the adrenaline rush is so much that you can't figure out who gets more into the game... the riders or the horses!


Just look at the eye on the horse to the right... He's in a complete "I'm going to get you" mode!


Protecting the ball at all cost!


Just let go of me ;-)

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)

On to the movie - Opening credits (Horseball, Part 1)

I finally got some time to select some Horseball photos! I'll be posting them for the following days...


A girl in the heating up phase...


... discussing the game strategy...


Goall!!!!

... and a characteristic photo of the players after they have scored, or tried to score... everyone looking up!
I actually got so into photographing the game that I didn't notice what was right in front of me... this is not the only shot in which the gray horse appears to have a left blind eye. It's amazing that he is out in the field giving everything with the others!!!

And a "ramassage" moment. I have to try this sometime :-)

(Ponte de Lima, Portugal)

The Portuguese Riding Costume... "O Traje Português de Equitação"

Yesterday I received an unusual request: a mother is sewing a Portuguese Riding Costume for her daughter and wanted to know more about it. Now, I'm not an expert in the Portuguese Riding Costume and I'm a bit new to the "blog world", but from my point of view, this was an interesting example on how the blogging phenomenon can be used to help complete strangers on the other side of the world, or sometimes, even next door! So I did my very best and here are my two cents, illustrated. :-) I'm including pictures of both the female and male riding costumes since there are some common things. So, on to what really matters... There are many creative options for the costume, so I'll start by stating the common things: trousers, white shirt and hat. These are mandatory.


The complete riding costume also includes a jacket (called "jaqueta" in Portuguese) and a vest wore underneath (called "colete" in Portuguese). Many people don't wear the jacket when it's too hot, for obvious reasons. In that case the vest should always be worn instead.


Most people use a very thick "fazenda" jacket, called "samarra", when it's too cold. It's a traditional jacket from Alentejo and the collar is usually made of fox fur, or an imitation. It can be either very long or waist-level.


The fabric of the costume is called "fazenda", and it can be thicker or thinner according to the part of the outfit. The most common colours are black, grey, brown and dark blue, although some (mostly girls) use dark bordeaux and beige as well. Most people use the same colour for the jacket and pants, but some people choose to wear different colours, such as in the photo above.


Both men and women commonly wear short boots and chaps. These can be one of two kinds: the so-called “chaps with nails” (“polainas de pregos”, shown in the picture above), which are traditionally used in tauromachy environments, and the true “Portuguese chaps” (polainas à Portuguesa), which are tied on the sides with thin leather shoestrings. Portuguese boots feature a slightly taller heel than traditional riding boots, as well as a slightly larger sole to form a slot where the spur rests. Full length boots are also seen but more rare nowadays.


The main difference between the male costume and the female's is that the female's includes a skirt that is completely "cut" in half in the front. This is so that it opens and allows the woman to sit in the saddle, as shown in the picture above. Suspenders are used to join the pants and skirt together. Men usually wear suspenders as well since the only belt used with the costume is a silk belt for decorative purposes (called "faixa" in Portuguese).


Both men and women's costumes feature fabric ornaments and fabric buttons in the jacket (the jacket is never completely closed), called "alamares" in Portuguese.


The women's hat is different from the men's since it usually has "ponpons". Many people buy their hats at "Chapelaria Coelho", in the small village of Golegã in Portugal. The hat is usually made of rabbit fur. The shirt can have more or less lace (called "renda" in Portuguese), according to each person's taste.


The hair of the women is usually braided or wrapped into a bun and then covered with a net. The earrings can be either simple pearls or "arrecadas de viana". The latter are made in gold and they have their origin in the Portuguese city Viana do Castelo. Some images are available in this link for the Museu Ourivesaria Freitas.


For those who want to know more, I recommend the bilingual book "O Traje Português de Equitação - The Portuguese Riding Costume", by Lina Gorjão Clara and João Gorjão Clara, 1995. It's written in Portuguese and English and it has multiple illustrations of the endless possibilities of the costume.


(Pictures taken at Golegã, Portugal, Alenquer, Portugal, and Algarve, Portugal, in public horse fairs, from 2000 to 2005).