The Ironhorse CDE (Combined Driving Event) at Sherwood Farms in Illinois is a three day event that includes Dressage the first day, Marathon the second day and Cones on the third. Each event has classes with Preliminary, Intermediate and Advanced and within each class there were either single horse, pairs or four in hand (a team of four horses). There were some of the best of the best in the Four In Hand class as this was one of the qualifying events for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky The day began with the Preliminary class and moved on through the classes giving me a chance to get the hang of things before the action really began when advanced was up. Day one was Dressage where everyone drove their fancy carriages and dressed in the period of their carriage. The horses are all gussied up with shiny coats and harnesses. It’s quite a site to see these beautiful horses, heads held high as they went through their routine so gracefully in sync with each other, responding to directions from the driver seamlessly. It’s like watching athletes in their prime…
As much attention was paid to the driver and navigator’s attire as that of the horses…
Each team had a driver and a navigator (the Four In Hands teams had two navigators). The driver, well, they drive the carriage and the navigator usually rides on the back calling out directions when needed, encouraging the horses, leaning to keep the carriage from turning over and to do any quick adjustments as needed during the race.
They begin by entering the arena and saluting the judges…
When the judge gives the go ahead, they begin their route doing figure eights, circles and otherwise moving through a pre-determined course showing off their horses grace and beauty…
There is a trick to getting the horses to look like they are moving at a good pace. You want the front leg/s extended out showing forward motion like in the first image or by catching their feet off the ground…
I wanted to take it a step father and show movement by using a slow shutter speed creating a blur motion effect…
I had my share of success and failures but, came away the first day feeling pretty good about the images I was able to make. I learned a lot and had a great time learning more about the event and enjoying a new experience.
Images created with Nikon D3S, AF-S 70-200mm on Lexar Digital Media
