caitlin elizabeth photography :): ACTHA trail ride [Zuni, Va]

until this point, the only horses i've been closely acquainted with were my very own HOSS, misty of chincoteague (if you have to click on the link to know who that is, i'm ashamed of you. and your 4th grade teacher) and my cousin's pony thunder (i think that was his name? could've been lightning, but i'm almost 87% sure it was thunder) who pinned me against the side of the barn and tried to bite me one day when i was trying to feed him... and despite my vivid, yet brief, disillusioned childhood fantasy of taming my very own wild pony from the eastern shore, i'm still slightly intimidated by these four legged power houses. i mean seriously, they could CRUSH you on a whim, or kick you so hard your heart could stop, or break your neck because they don't like the way you sit.

so when i was asked to be the photographer for the first annual ACTHA trail ride in Zuni, VA - i have to be honest... i was slightly (if not completely) terrified of what the day would entail. horrible horrible news headlines flashed across my mental newspaper: young photographer trampled by stampede of angry equines, girl sacrifices camera in desperate attempt to outrun pony...

yeah. kindof freaking out.

thank goodness one of the first things i saw when i got there was this:

because from that moment on, i knew this was going to be WAY more fun than i had ever anticipated. enjoy the spoils of my sunday morning/afternoon :)

i liked this one :) he seemed sweet

spurs!!

so much win.

minnie was NOT happy about those ears going on...

clown? rainbow bright? funfetti cake?

the fall colors were GAWGEOUS

there were six obstacles that each rider had to complete. the second one was the 'mailbox' - riders had to approach the mailbox, put mail in, close the door, take it back out and close the door again. sounds simple, but a lot of the horses didn't want to approach the mailbox at all. the beautys below performed BEAUTIFULLY though ;)