It's Just an Expression

I haven't made much progress yet on my New Year's resolution to take better pictures for online photo showing, but I'm starting to remember some of the things that judges used to look for back in the mail-in photo show days.

One thing I remember quite clearly is that judges like to see the expression on your horse's face.  Of course, equine expressions are based on much more than merely the face -- the way a horse holds its head, the tension or lack thereof in its body, the position of legs, and the action of its tail all contribute to the overall expression of a horse's mood.  But model horse judges particularly like to focus on the face in halter photos, and in headstudies it's absolutely essential to capture the horse looking as real as possible.

This can be a challenge with some horses.  Scratching horses, grazing horses, rolling horses, and sometimes even reining horses often hold their heads in such a way that it's quite an art to take a decent picture of them.

What I find particularly interesting, though, is how a horse's expression changes depending on the scene you set it in.  Take, for example, this North Light mare:

Ignore the obvious toy-horse-on-the-floor look of the photo.  Just look at the horse.  What do you think of her expression?

To me, she looks a little bit ticked off.  While not flat back, her ears are pointing backwards, and her head is partly lowered and craned back, as if she's keeping a wary eye on the photographer.  Her legs seem stiff and tense, and her tail looks like it might be flipping back and forth in annoyance.  Her whole attitude just seems to be saying "Don't come any closer -- I don't trust you."

Now look at her again with the North Light foal she was released with:

Same horse-on-the-floor setting, but the mare is now in a slightly different orientation vis-à-vis the photographer so you can see more of the breadth of her brow.  With the foal in place she now appears to be looking at the foal rather than the picture taker, and although her ears and tail are still in the same position, they now appear to express contentment and maternal absorption in the moment -- a concentration on what's happening right now as opposed to what might be going to happen.  Overall, she seems to be saying "This is all I care about, right here, right now."

Same mare, same lack of setting, but the scene has changed and so has the expression.  In a way it goes to show that we see what we want to see when looking at a model horse.  Certain scenes bring with them certain expectations -- a horse with its hindquarters coming around to face us we see as a threat; a mare with a foal we see as a lovingly bonded relationship. 

So with photo showing, your horse's expression can be just what you make it.  The trick is finding a way to make it the best that it can be.