Frisky Horses

[obxguide]

I got home last night (Monday) from a long weekend down at Beaufort and Shackleford. Bob was gracious enough to show me around Shackleford Sunday, which he has covered here. I may offer a couple of posts on that later. But he also gave me the scoop on getting around the island at Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve where the horses are hanging out presently. Bob was tied up Monday, so I paddled across Taylor Creek Monday morning and went on foot to see what I could find. Bob's advice was right on the money. The morning light was against me, having to look east and south to where the horses were feeding, but I spent a good hour or more just sitting and watching them, occasionally snapping a "documentary" shot here and there to use for some of my web sites. Then about noon they suddenly struck out to the west and I grabbed my gear and tried to shadow them to see where they were headed. It looked like my chance to hopefully get on the "sunny side" of them for some shots.

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I could tell I wouldn't catch up to them, so I took a gamble (not being familiar enough with the terrain to second guess their moves) and decided to try taking the long way around and perhaps getting in front of them or at least crossing their path somewhere along the line. Luckily I came out just ahead of where they had stopped to graze and I eased up on their position while keeping most out of sight, not knowing how they would react to my presence. After sitting and watching quietly for a few minutes it seemed evident they were reasonably comfortable with my presence, so I eased my way toward the group and got a few shots.

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Eventually more of the horses joined the group I was with and that's when it got interesting. Every so often a couple of them would take exception to each other and a little scuffle would take place. Finally, two of them decided to duke it out for awhile.

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more to come.....

[obxguide]

These guys were hardly more than 30 feet away, and quite intent on making their points with each other.

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It certainly made for an interesting afternoon. I have to say it was a good day. Bob gets credit for pointing me in the right direction and making my short trip a very fruitful one. Thanks, Bob.

[NCBobD]

You're a lucky fellow, Fred. Action sequences like that are fairly rare. Congratulations. Glad you had a good time.

[950]

Wholly crap are these good! Like the action shots, love the first one! Well done!

[artsnimages]

Darn Fred! I'd say "ornery' instead of frisky!

Neat captures my friend!

Jim

[jckegley]

I like the action in the first image. Doesn't look like the best lighting, but other than that I think it's nice. The second image is my favorite from a lighting standpoint.

On the others I love the action, so cool you got to see that.

But I have to say I'm not a fan of the cut off legs. Now realize that is just my opinion, I don't represent other folk’s thoughts, just mine. I'm one person out of millions, but I try to be honest with what my opinions are. So my thoughts are ... I wish you had the rest of the appendages in the action shots after the second image.

[obxguide]

Thanks guys. It was certainly a treat for me to see this. However, as Joe pointed out, the legs are missing. These are all full frame images. Nothing was cropped except by the camera when it was shot. I (1) didn't expect to be that close to the horses, and (2) didn't expect this sort of action this time of year. The lens was too much and I couldn't get back any farther, and there as no time to swap out lenses. From beginning to end this altercation lasted less than thirty seconds (according to the EXIF time stamps). My choice was take what I could get and make the most of it, or just stand by and watch. While I'm pleased I got these, no one is as disappointed as I that there are no legs. If I lived closer to Beaufort, I'd camp out there (figuratively of course) and let patience serve me. Good things come to those who wait.... so long as you're waiting in the right place.

[jckegley]

Thanks guys. It was certainly a treat for me to see this. However, as Joe pointed out, the legs are missing. These are all full frame images. Nothing was cropped except by the camera when it was shot. I (1) didn't expect to be that close to the horses, and (2) didn't expect this sort of action this time of year. The lens was too much and I couldn't get back any farther, and there as no time to swap out lenses. From beginning to end this altercation lasted less than thirty seconds (according to the EXIF time stamps). My choice was take what I could get and make the most of it, or just stand by and watch. While I'm pleased I got these, no one is as disappointed as I that there are no legs. If I lived closer to Beaufort, I'd camp out there (figuratively of course) and let patience serve me. Good things come to those who wait.... so long as you're waiting in the right place.

I wouldn't worry too much about it Fred, I would have loved to have gotten the same images you have here. I just try to point out the "in a perfect world" stuff. As Jim would say ...picky picky picky. It's my style and I'm sticking with it.

And as Tom pointed out in goose2duck's excellent elks ... many magazines use cropped or cut off leg images on their covers, http://www.wildlifesouth.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2149&page=2. I critique purely on what I see from a presentation standpoint on this forum. Images have a lot of other uses than this forum.

[SkipP]

Cool action shots! That last one was timed perfectly. I'd hate to get a horsebite on my arse like that!:eek:

[NCBobD]

I didn't expect to be that close to the horses,

I had a first this morning. A mare actually put her nose on the bow of my kayak. I thought she was going to climb onboard so instead of getting a shot of her doing it, I quickly put the camera in my lap and started back paddling. ;) Needless to say, there were moments when I was having no trouble filling the frame at 50mm!

[lakejessup]

wow these are really great love the action. that must have been a sight to see