One of our favourite conversations as we set off on our ‘permitted outdoor exercise’ walking in the Surrey Hills, is what would you most prefer to be doing that we can’t do at the moment? I have to say that getting a haircut would have been top of the list a while ago, but that has got so old I really hardly notice any more. One of the things I love to do is to travel to a variety of places to take pictures, especially pictures of horses. if it were not for Covid 19 I would be preparing to go to Holland shortly, with the objective of a revisit to some very special horses.

Until about 3 years ago I thought the term ‘Friesians’ applied only to lovely black and white cows who provide milk, butter and so on. Well it’s true that there are Friesian cows, and I may even have got the colouring right, but there are also Friesian horses, and they are amazing. Huge, black or nearly black, bred originally as war horses they certainly live up to the expectations of size that go with that idea. However they are amazingly nimble and have delicately feathered feet, and are in fact excellent at Dressage.

The Champion stallion I met there is called Tsjalle, and is known worldwide, as I discovered when chatting to a couple I met on a boat in Chicago. They were obviously Dutch from their accents, so I asked them where in Holland they came from. When they said Friesland I asked if they knew the stud farm I had visited. They said yes of course, we live almost next door! Naturally we got to talking about the magnificent champion stallion Tsjalle, and they said yes of course they knew him well. What a small world!

So here are some images from that visit, many of which I have only just ‘rediscovered’, and newly developed, thanks to time for this kind of thing in lockdown

delicate feathered feet
What a poser!
Young stallion
Another Youngster
The boss – Proud and handsome champion
Getting his Instructions
Tsjalle with his Incredible mane
What a sight! – and I complain about my fringe!
Youngster aspiring to greatness
This image has been ‘mocked up’ onto a dark grey ‘wall’ for a client’s specific needs.

The image above was a small herd of young stallions who were galloping straight towards me. As you can see, although they are busy heading this way there is still time for a bit of ‘aggro’ which is probably designed to sort out the pecking order.

So if you were to ask me today where I would rather be, it’s probably in the paddock with Tsjalle, or out in the fields with the young stallions.

Let me know which images you like best. Some are already available as Limited Editions, some have never before ‘seen the light’ so are currently unique, and still waiting for their Artist’s proof to be created. More on artist’s proof in another blog.