I am often alone when playing with my horses and have had to get creative over the years when taking photos.
I have all kinds of little tricks to get my horses to LOOK, ears up and eyes bright. Usually I make funny sounds, meow like a kitty, bark like a dog, quack like a duck… you get the idea. Basically I make myself look like an idiot to get that special, whimsical shot! I don’t mind. The photos are usually worth it!
Once in a while I have a horse that just won’t put their ears up. Then I end up with photos like this…
I often take some things to help me, if I know I’m going to take some photos before hand. I use a stick with a plastic bag on the end, a grain bucket with some rocks in it, a shaker can, a dog squeaky toy, (if the dogs haven’t killed it yet!) an umbrella, anything I can think of to help me get their undivided attention!
Bonnie was interested in the bucket with rocks!
Left: Sky is not impressed with my shaker. Middle: She is more interested in the cookie that I’m holding! Right: Bonnie will always look at the plastic bag for me!
Then a friend on Facebook and her husband came up with a genius phone app called All Ears Selfie! Oh man I was so excited. I purchased it right away and used it on the dogs all day. I could hardly wait to try it on the ponies. Of course it rained the day I got it. As soon as the sun came out on Saturday I was out there trying it out!
The photos I got with this app are wonderful!! The ponies couldn’t believe what they were hearing. We had a great time… even Sky put her ears up for this app!
One thing to keep in mind when using any kind of prop to get your horse’s interest – don’t over use the prop! It will quickly become a friendly game to your horse and they will lose interest. I’m so careful when I take my props out to where I want to do my photo shoot. I don’t make a lot of noise with my shaker or shake my plastic bag around.
I don’t open the umbrella until I am all ready to snap the photo. Even when using the awesome All Ears App I didn’t keep using the same whinny over and over. (Don’t worry… there are many whinnies to choose from plus some other fun sounds!) Also, keep your photo shoots short and sweet! Horses get bored easily. You can change your location and add a little food to help keep the horse interested if your session goes on a bit long.
The All Ears Selfie app was a huge hit today! I’m so happy to have that in my pocket for future use. It’s going to be great when the girls and I are out hiking together!
Even the baby unicorn liked the All Ears App –
The baby unicorn loving the All Ears App!