Bonnie and the Foal & the Foal and Bonnie

A few days ago, on my birthday, I had one of the single most joyful, satisfying photo shoots since I joined the model horse hobby over twenty years ago. 

What made me so happy? 

I took Bonnie and the Foal to meet the Foal and Bonnie!

Carefully wrapped up in a soft towel each, their Julip versions travelled to meet their real counterparts. I've been wanting to do this for ages; originally I was just waiting for summer so Foal wouldn't be covered up under her rug, but with one thing and another it's taken til now to get round to it. 

After all the usual jobs for the day were done, it was time to show the ponies to the ponies.

Foal first, because she spotted me with my little towelling-parcels and followed me down the field at my elbow, all 'what've you got there, showmeshowmeshowme', then hovered eager and excited with pricked up ears while I hid the mini Bonnie out of the way, and got the camera ready.

For safety's sake, I did the first introduction 'in hand' - Julips do have quite delicate paintwork even though their legs are bendy enough not to break if they get nudged around or knocked over by a curious nose, so I held the little Foal out for the big Foal to sniff and have a good look at.

I just couldn't stop smiling, she was so keen and curious and seemed to love looking at her little self. I think perhaps she picked up from me that it was something special and interesting! But I shouldn't have been so surprised, she's always been an into-everything kind of pony anyway - anything from a new pair of wellies to a brush to scrub the water tank has to be thoroughly checked out as soon as she spots it (the best things are what we deem a 'two-nose sniff' - so interesting that she just has to sniff with one nostril then the other!)

Having got a few pictures of her meeting her Julip up close, I thought I'd try to get a shot of them standing together. This was harder than it sounds, cos every single time I put the model version on the ground and stepped back to get them both in shot, the real one thought 'Ooooh!' and hurried over to touch and sniff again!

After several rescues, Foal getting momentarily distracted from chasing her tiny self cos she saw a bird gave me the opportunity to set up the pose I'd been trying for, and I did manage to get them in the same shot at last. But you can see she's already starting to turn to come closer!

Now, I wasn't sure if Bonnie would be quite so interested in participating, usually she's very laid-back and not all that bothered about whatever silly stuff the humans are doing - Bon is the typical seen-it-all-before pony, shrugging off most happenings as not really worth leaving her hay for. So I wasn't surprised when I had to give her a push with both hands on her bum, just to get her across the field to where I'd stood the mini Bonnie! 

But once she actually spotted it, she had a very similar reaction to Foal - 'Ooooh, what's that?' and she hurried the last few steps - I had to run to keep up with her and catch the moment on camera!

Bon was also fascinated by her mini self; whether it was the fluffy mohair which smelt interesting, or just the novelty of something so new and different appearing in the field, she thought this little thing was just great, and kept on sniffing, staring intently with those tiny ears pricked up.

Even though she seemed perfectly safe to leave loose around her Julip self, I picked it up for a heads-together photo to match the Foal's half of the photoshoot.

I don't think she's ever been so very interested in anything which wasn't edible, for the entire time the model was within reach she was right there with all her attention on it, without any encouragement from me. I was expecting to have to put in a lot of effort to get them interested enough to look bothered in the pictures (or even a bit of trickery by hiding bites of apple near the Julips to make the ponies look as if they were looking!), but it was just wonderful how much they both enjoyed their tiny selves!

And another side-by-side portrait - this one was a lot easier to get cos Bon will respond to 'stand' and wait patiently while I take pictures, I think she's got a good memory from when I trained her to harness, and that word meant she wasn't allowed to move.

If I'd waited a few more weeks their colours would've been a closer match, but August is the very darkest stage of Bonnie's coat cycle, by September she goes back to the lighter, more golden colour, which is how her model's painted. 

But at least I have their pictures together, even if the timing wasn't perfect for either of them - Foal is already darker than her Julip cos I missed her palest point in the year. This is why portrait and custom models of these two colour-changing ponies are always so tricky - I have to decide on which month to match them to!

Bonnie and Bonnie. 

Somehow the Julips have become even more precious and special now they've met in person, and all the more so because both ponies were adorably interactive and fascinated by their mini selves. I think if they hadn't cared, it would've just felt like me taking pictures for the sake of it, but this way it really did feel like they were meetings, and the horses were enjoying seeing the Julips just as much as I was enjoying showing them!

While I was there, I thought I'd use the chance to take some pictures of the Julips in the real field, too.

I always use fake scenery for my model photography, not just because Foal would 'help' too much, but because the field isn't conveniently behind my house like a lot of hobbyists who also have their own horses, and use their yard/barn/field/ranch as a backdrop. Mine's rented and a few miles away in the next village, so taking models there for photoshoots is too much of a trip when I can just do them in my garden with artificial grass bases and photo backdrops. 

But these two models are different, and there couldn't be anything more fitting than getting pictures of them in the very field where the real ones have lived all this time. I've owned Bonnie for over ten years now, and the Foal joined her as a yearling nine years ago, and though I didn't buy her til 18 months after that, it's still the field she grew up in. 

And I know every tree and bramble, every puddle and dustbath and path between nettle patches, just like they do. It's where we spend time together, hours upon hours of contented hanging out, of weeding and 'helping' me poo-pick, sharing apples and watching the world go by, or just sitting in the sun or the shade with a pony napping beside me.

So I picked a spot with the sun in the right direction and a nice view lined up behind, and got down to ground level with them.

Finding short grass which works to scale was not a problem, it's just a pity it also looks so parched and brown, but we've had the hottest summer heatwave temperatures ever, and an ongoing drought - I've been having to throw hay in for weeks to make up for the lack of green growth to nibble! But it should recover ok once the rain does come, grass is very resilient stuff. 

With a guest appearance by the Foal, helping by crashing the attempt at a photo of just the Julip in the field alone, and licking it.

"Let me have another look, go on, let me, I really really really want to see it - oooooh!"

And one last shot together, before I folded the Julip back up in her towel for safekeeping (she'd already supervised the tiny Shetland being wrapped up). 

This is Foal's 'I love this!' face; just like Bonnie I'm sure she doesn't have the slightest idea that it's her, or even that it represents a horse, but they were both just thrilled that I'd brought something precious to show them, and couldn't stop looking at them!

As I said at the start - a totally joyous, adorable, and unforgettable photoshoot.