How to Prepare Your Horse for Their Equine Photo Session
Your horse is the star. Let's make sure they're ready for it.
Equine sessions have their own preparation rhythm — different from a dog session, different from a portrait session with people. Here's everything I recommend doing in the days and hours before we meet.
1. Bring a Horse-Savvy Friend
An extra pair of hands during an equine session is genuinely invaluable, and I always encourage clients to bring one.
Here's what your session helper will actually be doing: holding a treat bag to perk up those ears at exactly the right moment, waving from the distance in the direction we want your horse to look, managing the fly spray and cloth, holding the lead rope while you take a two-minute break to wipe horse slime off your face before a portrait. These are not glamorous tasks. They are essential ones.
A few things to consider when choosing your helper: they don't have to be an experienced equestrian, but they should be comfortable around horses. Pick someone you can laugh with — the first fifteen minutes of any equine session involves some amount of waving at nothing and making sounds at a hay bale, and it's easier with someone who won't make you feel self-conscious about it. If they have a horse too, offer to return the favor at their session.
2. Choose Tack That Photographs Well
Tack is so woven into our daily horse routine that it's easy to overlook how it photographs until you're looking at the final images.
For halter portraits: A simple leather or quality faux leather halter in a neutral color keeps the focus on your horse's face and expression. If your horse's current halter is worn or stained past what a good scrubbing can fix, this is a reasonable time to replace it. For images where we want your horse to look completely free — clean background, no visible hardware — a thin rope halter is ideal, as it removes cleanly in post-production.
Glam factor is welcome. A custom halter with a shiny nameplate on the cheekbone, a bridle with some glitz — these photograph beautifully and add personality. If you have something special, bring it.
For mounted or full tack portraits: Thoroughly clean and condition your saddle. Launder saddle pads and blankets. Run a lint roller over everything — woven-in horse hairs are visible in large prints and worth removing before the session. I thank you in advance for saving me hours of tediousness in Photoshop.
Matching lead rope: It matters more than you'd think. A mismatched lead rope is a small detail that makes a difference. Bring one that coordinates.
3. Bathe, Shine, and Spray
Prepare your horse the way you'd prepare them for their Grand Prix debut.
If weather permits, give them a thorough bath. Follow with shine spray — avoiding the area around eyes and nose — and wipe down with a soft cloth just before the session starts. A well-groomed coat catches light differently than a dusty one, and that difference shows up directly in the final images.
Fly spray is critical. Apply a thorough coat before the session, and bring the spray and a soft rag to reapply as needed throughout. A horse stomping and tail-swishing their way through a session is working against us — keeping them comfortable keeps them present.
If your discipline calls for braids — mane, tail, or both — arrive braided. Braiding detail shots are some of the most beautiful images from an equine session, and the braids themselves add texture and elegance to mounted portraits.
4. Brush Up on Groundwork
A few practice sessions in the weeks before your shoot pays off significantly on the day.
Specifically: practice having your horse stand quietly at your side with their attention on you, and practice positioning them precisely with the lead. In everyday barn life, a horse on a lead rope is almost always going somewhere — being tacked up, moving between pasture and barn, grazing in hand. Just standing calmly next to you while you ask them to hold a position and look left is actually a new behavior for most horses. A little practice makes a real difference.
Also worth doing before the session: exercise your horse. A freshly bathed horse who then waits in a stall for four hours is going to arrive with energy they'd like to spend somewhere other than standing still for portraits. A horse who's had a chance to move first is a much calmer session partner.
5. Fed, Hydrated, and Treated
Horses concentrate best when they're not hungry, thirsty, or bored — same as everyone else.
Make sure your horse has had full access to hay and fresh water before we meet. If they get additional feed, give at least half their ration before the session. A horse who's slightly peckish is a horse who's thinking about their next meal and ready to head back to the barn.
Treats are one of our most useful tools for ears-up attention and genuine expression. Bring several options so we can keep things interesting throughout the session — variety prevents the treat from losing its novelty. Ideas that work well:
A crunchy bag of treats to crinkle for ears
Carrots
Shelled plain peanuts
A small bucket with some grain to rattle
Bring more than you think you'll need. We'll use them.
One More Thing
Come ready to have fun with it. Equine sessions are collaborative — you know your horse better than anyone, and the more you tell me before and during the session, the better the portraits will be. What makes them curious. What makes them nervous. The sound that always gets their ears up. The treat they'll do anything for.
That knowledge is half the session.
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