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Stud Work - NEW

Stud and stallion photography is a special interest of mine. In particular, I find it a wonderful way to reacquaint the racing public with those horses that have long since retired. It also serves to provide a record of early imagery of a horse that may one day grow to become an out and out champion, either on the track or just as importantly, in the breeding barn. But probably the greatest pleasure for me is in the creation of images that serve to remind the public at large that although retired, these horses are still very much alive, and still possessing enormous character.

Growing up, I was as horse mad as they came. My favourite book series was Walter Farley's "The Black Stallion". The first book I got in the series wasn't the first, it was called "The Black Stallion's Courage", where the famous black stallion, great racehorse AND sire, made a comeback to the track following the burning of the farm's barn which was uninsured. The book ended with an epic clash with the champion 3yo of the time, who if the book had been written in the 70s would surely have been based on Secretariat, in Eclipse, and the 'darling of the New York tracks, the great Casey. Of course The Black won, despite not having raced in years and being burdened with a huge impost and top weight, the stuff of fairy tales!

There is one book from this series that stuck with me, and has been the inspiration for the kind of work I do when photographing stallions at stud. Book 5, "The Black Stallion's Filly" began with the opening chapter:

"Farewell Satan. This is an obituary. There are two reasons why you read it here rather than in the special section ... devoted to the deceased. Number one, my subject is a horse. Number two, he isn't dead yet. But for me and the millions of others whose sole contact with our racing thoroughbreds is at the track he's as good as dead. For once a racehorse leaves us to spend the rest of his life in retirement at a stock farm he's gone forever as far as we're concerned. Certainly we think of him again whenever his sons and daughters appear on the track for the first time. But his colts and fillies are distinct individuals in themselves and we look upon them as such. Never do we say with any degree of honesty, 'Here he is again!'.

For the racing public at large, and in all honesty, many breeders trying to make that difficult decision on which stallion to send their mare too, this quote is unfortunately true. The most common image published of a stallion at stud is the standard conformation shot, and this same shot is used year and year out, regardless of where the horse is being promoted in. As far as the racing world goes, this may as well be the only image available and ever taken. Yet these are INCREDIBLY important horses. Many become icons, and absolute breed shapers. Think of Star Kingdom, Vain, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Northern Dancer, Bletchingly , Luskin Star, , Sir Tristram, Danehill and Zabeel, to name but a few. If you go searching for images of legendary breed shapers of the past reveals very little.

So my intention is to capture a series of images of the horse being himself. Just a horse. And a great, athletic and spirited one at that. Certainly these are valuable animals, and risk has to be carefully managed, but in the right circumstances, done safely, capturing the horse being him or herself on the farm can lead to spectacular and very beautiful imagery. Images that give not just the racing public a look at the stallions at stud, it also allows prospective breeders to see the horses for themselves a little as well. And I hope a connection with a particular horse, just because they like what they see, and it captures their imagination.

The links below will open a series of pages, containing imagery of some of the stallions I have photographed at stud which I hope you will enjoy.

© Bronwen Healy Photography 2009

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