Feb 12 2022 | By: Wellman Image Photography
Sometimes I have the rare privilege to watch a partnership begin. The first day I was at Silver Dollar Stables I got to meet Gretchen and Cosmo. He was there on trial and Gretchen had made the decision that day to purchase him, I was told later. That first meeting, I had arrived early, before anyone had shown up and was immediately greeted by a huge red horse looking at me from a small paddock beside the barn. I greeted him in return and moved on to look around for the best back drops for the up coming photo sessions. He watched in mild amusement as I walked around, chatting at myself, I know this because every time I looked over he was staring at me, ears forward, hip cocked with a lazy swish of the tail.
Then people started to arrive and the chaos of photographing took over. At one point I came back in the barn and saw him standing quietly in the cross ties, eyes almost closed in bliss as a woman groomed him. This is a picture you see very often if you hang out at horse barn for longer than 5 minutes, the other common occurrence at just about every barn is that the person grooming will have to get a step stool or go up on toes to reach the horses back and top of the rump. This always makes me smile when is see because I have a daughter that admits she is vertically challenged and struggles with anything over 15hh. Cosmo is a tall boy.
As the day went on I caught glimpse of the pair quietly riding in a small arena away from the F5 hurricane of chaos that is children, ponies and pictures. The big red horse listening to his rider and a smile of budding love on his riders face. These were my first glimpses of a beautiful new partnership and Gretchen was wonderful enough to give a little history on her new horse Cosmo...
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"Cosmic Hallelujah, affectionally known as Cosmo, is a 7 year old freshly (as of last year) retired thoroughbred racehorse. He had 26 starts with earnings over $66,000. He came to me from a lady in Wagner, SC. We are having fun figuring each other out! My hope is that our future holds plenty of trail riding, maybe some eventing and lots of adventures!"
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On my second visit to Silver Dollar Stables I was happy to learn I would get to photograph the pair, I hope to have a small part in documenting their adventures.
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