This year I didn’t have an entourage with me at Championships and I found myself really missing our personal photographer from last year (aka Michelle). She was on a flight to Italy on the day of FEH Championships, on her way to Tuscany for vacation. I know, I can’t imagine why she’d rather go to Italy than FEH Champs either. But the venue does have a really good resident photographer, so I signed up and paid my proof fee, because we all know that the most important part of horse shows is the pictures. And we also definitely all know that I really really suck at remembering to take pictures at all, and when I do take pictures they’re generally terrible.
The photographer definitely did not disappoint, and I got a proof folder full of 140 pictures. They were a bit pricey so I had to limit myself, and choosing just a few proved to be quite difficult… not a bad problem to have! In the end I settled for a social media package rather than the hi-res, since I could get more pictures for less money. Plus like… I’m about to live in a tiny house, there’s not going to be room for any more art or photos on the wall anyway (Hillary did get me one of those cool digital picture frames for my birthday that will totally be stuffed with pictures of my horses that shuffle through on repeat).
One of the few things I regret in retrospect with Presto’s mother is that I never really got any nice photos of her like this when she was a baby. Lots of cell phone pictures, and some badly posed photos with real cameras, but nothing like these. These are beautiful. And looking at Presto’s FEH pictures from last year compared to his pictures from this year is really fun, you can see him growing and maturing and changing so much.
But I think one of my favorite things about these photos is how I can so clearly see both parents in him. I see a lot of Sadie in the above photos, which makes sense because he inherited her big floaty trot. For the rest of him, though, I see Mighty Magic. SOOOOOO much Mighty Magic. I mean… look at this:
I swear I think Presto is looking more and more like MM as he grows. They’re two peas in a pod for sure.
Big thanks to Ernesto Photography for these lovely pictures. What would we do without these awesome show photographers?
breedrideevent.com 
The face is def. all MM, right down to that side eye.
He is starting to look really mature…when did his body start getting so…substantial? He doesn’t look reed thin anymore!
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he’s bulked up a little these past few months since his growth rate has started to slow!
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Wow..he is his dad through and through especially the face and his expressions. He is looking great and really mature. Your future is going to rock with this kiddo.
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Thanks, I hope so. I’m so ready to start riding him.
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Holy MOLY does he look like his sire.
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Right??? It’s almost creepy.
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He is looking so grown up and handsome! And so much like his sire, it’s kind of crazy. I really need to get better about taking pics of my 2 year old, I was pretty good last year but have really fallen off the bandwagon this year. But it is super fun to look back and see how much they’ve changed.
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It really is fun to look back… we see them every day so it’s hard to notice when it happens gradually over time, but so satisfying to look back 6 months or a year and see a huge change.
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Wow. Yeah, he’s practically an MM duplicate! Looking at these photos tho I don’t know why they didn’t like him. He absolutely looks like a perfect event type horse, with the gaits to score low and the leggy leanness to be super able on tough xc tracks. Maybe it just wasn’t his day and they were looking at things that I’m not? The latter is probably true. I could also probably be pretty bias because we all love him. Yeah, I think it’s the last one LOL
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I think it’s twofold: 1) the other two colts are stud colts and mine is definitely less developed in his body/topline than they were. Mine looks pretty growthy in comparison, less of an initial WOW factor. 2) to protect his cut hock he was trotting wide behind, which I think they read as an overall weakness in his gait/hind end. It was mentioned more than once and had accompanying low scores. He doesn’t normally move like that (at all) but they could only judge what they saw that day.
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Ah gotcha! That’s also horses tho that the judges can only judge the horse they see on that day, so that makes sense for Presto! He looks so fantastic in these photos tho – he’s growing up!
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That’s absolutely insane how much he’s grown and changed in just a year. He went from looking like a baby to a proper horse! He looks stunning and I know you’re so proud! Miss you and the whole Anchor crew so much!!! Come visit me in Aiken!!!
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I know right? Maybe he’ll be in AIken one of these days…
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Look, stumbled over yet another Mighty Magic at the FEH East Coast Championships! Scroll dowwwnnnnn to the head shot with the number “271”. Same head, same expression!
“Yearling Overall Reserve Champion and Colt Champion on a score of 84.68”
https://useventing.com/news-media/news/royal-casino-comes-up-aces-at-the-usea-feh-east-coast-championships
I think it’s the way the ears are set on, and the way all three use them expressively. 🙂
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I have yet to see a mighty Magic that you couldn’t pick out of a crowd. He really gives them a certain look in the face/expression.
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I totally didn’t even get the ‘Omg he’s so big’ until I went and looked at last years pictures. WOW! No wonder you kept complaining about growth spurts! The boy is big!
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I have so many regrets about not getting more photos in the past. So I fully support spending all the money to buy all the photos. Thankfully I have no less than 20,000 photos of Rio. Some pro quality, most not. But all wonderful.
Presto looks so handsome and so grown up! Definitely favors his daddy that’s a certain.
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