Well, what a nice weekend. Mostly I write about the weekend just past on my Monday posts because I can’t remember any farther back than the last couple of days. Sad, I know, but there you have it.

The weekend was notable for featuring perfect mid-August weather of the sort we don’t actually often *get* in mid-August. Doubly odd since there were not one but two horse events for me to photograph, and that’s usually the signal for the weather gods to come up with something extreme and unpleasant for at least one of the days. There weren’t even any bugs to speak of, passing strange all around. It was a tad warm from the point of view of the horses who were exerting themselves, no doubt, and their equally hard-working riders (and you non-riders out there, don’t ever kid yourselves that riders aren’t working darn hard when they’re up top and schooling or competing) but all in all pretty acceptable.

The events I attended were a dressage show at my home barn of Ebon Stables, and a couple of polo games (Saskatoon vs Edmonton) over in the polo field at Willow Ridge Stables. I had to do a bit of scuttling back and forth both days but managed to get my shots at both locations. Throw in going from one barn to the other “the long way” via my house in the city, in order to let the dogs out at intervals, and that was pretty well my weekend.

Husband Jim was inconsiderate enough to scoot off to the lake cottage for the weekend with the other local family members, so I was on the hook for the boys. My part of that conversation went something like “what do you *mean* you’re going to the lake for the weekend? I need you to stay home and let the dogs out!” Shows how much influence I have, but it was an admittedly unreasonable request. Of course the dogs can’t actually *go* to the lake because they (well, Mickey) don’t get along with one of my daughter’s dogs. Also I know they’d behave like barbarians anyway and things are already going south at that lake with breed restrictions, so best we just keep them out of the mix.

With the Olympics just winding up on the weekend, I got to thinking about the nature of true “amateurism” in the original sense of the word, that of doing something seriously and well for the pure love of it.  That meaning has become a bit skewed both in the contemporary world, where it has taken on a bit of a pejorative meaning, and also in the Olympics themselves, which seem increasingly dominated by politics and financial concerns.

To me, the events I photographed this weekend were of the true “amateur” sort. Dressage is a hard sell in this area, and it’s definitely not done around here for the glory or the money. I have literally been at a dressage show (years ago when I first started riding) where my friend Hannelore brought homemade cookies in a tin, gave one to every member of the viewing audience, and still had some cookies left over for the competitors. And that was a quite well attended show compared to some of the ones we’ve seen in recent years. Same thing would have held true for both events this weekend. Hannelore’s cookie tin might well have had enough cookies for the dressage audience *and* those viewing the polo.

So for the competitors in both these events, it’s about the love of what they do, about competing (against another team in the case of polo, and against a scorecard and an impossible “ideal” ride in the case of dressage), and about working with love, dedication, and ideally, joy. The fact that it’s done with horses in both cases makes the undertaking all the sweeter.

My first photo today is a close crop of one of the dressage horses. This was a lovely boy, nicely ridden by his skilled owner. I love the look of calm intelligence in his eye.

Shot number two is what greeted me as I pulled up to the polo field on Sunday morning. The “crowd” was enjoying a visit and cup of coffee prior to the start of the game. Once the game got underway they relocated to the stands just visible on the right, and were joined by about five or six others. Luckily for us, one of the “others” was the husband of a player on the Saskatoon team, and he was a wonderful and greatly appreciated source of a lot of information on the intricacies of the game, which was good since the rest of us didn’t have much of a clue what we were watching. We just knew it was exciting, and I know a good photo op when I see one!

Third shot is one of the other “audience” members for the polo, keeping track of the game from a different vantage. These hawks have nested nearby, and the two teenagers were out for flying lessons with the folks over the polo field before the game both days.

Shot number four shows some of the action in the Sunday game. Saskatoon team wearing the black jersey, Edmonton in the white.

This past weekend was the end of the show season at Ebon, so things will slow down for my photo life on that front, but I’m looking forward to a few days with the camera at Spruce Meadows for the big show there in early September, and to getting lots of fall colour shots as the season advances. Somehow there never seems to be a shortage of things for me to want to photograph!

©Copyright 2008 by Judy Wood. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Judy Wood’s website.