Horses of Andalusia, Spain

Cortijo de Garrapilos (Florida Barca)

Cortijo de Garrapilos is a Spanish military facility. It’s primary goal since the late 1800’s has been to produce stallions both PRE and Arabian to improve the bloodstock of horses throughout Spain. As one of a small group of photographers I was honored to be among the first to photograph some of these magnificent horses at their facility.

The light in the indoor arenas where we photograph is always challenging. Many of the older arenas in Europe have windows very high up on the wall. The lighting effect can be very dramatic when you get your shot just right. The trick is, of course, getting a running horse in the light at exactly the right moment. You can judge for yourself in the following images how successful I was.

(Click on an image to enlarge and use the arrows to go to the next)

Macedo

Maguillo

Like YM & Manager V

Indexed

Nelson XIII

At the end of our session two of the rider/trainers gave us the opportunity to see a couple of the horses under saddle. These horses are trained for exhibition and dressage competition. The communication and intensity between horse and rider was impressive to see.

Thank you for joining me. I have more pictures from my trip to Spain coming up in future posts. If you haven’t signed up to receive a notification when the next one is published, please do so at the top of the page. I always enjoy your comments and feedback! Cheryl

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Magnificent you really caught the essence of these wonderful horses , the lighting , movements the dance bravo

    1. Thanks so much, Susan! I really appreciate your comments. 🙂

  2. Beautiful, especially where the light hits against the muscles – the effect is powerful. Thanks for sharing and raising the bar of performance!

    1. Thank you, Donna! Beautiful horses and a wonderful setting is all a photographer can ask for.

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