Freedom #12388

The Story

Tearing across a pasture surrounded by farmland and mountains, this running horse cuts a path through a newly fallen fourteen inches of snow. His mane and tail fly just as the powder snow does. With ears up and alert, his full focus is putting power into motion, running full out and truly enjoying the moment in the new snow.

It’s not often that deep powder snow is followed by full sun the next day. Thankfully, we had that along with a few horses full of energy that had been in the barn for two days straight. Horses are exactly like people in many ways. After being cooped up, they were ready to rip like a ten-year-old with a new sled on a snow day off from school!

This white Arabian stallion belongs to a horse trainer friend and we used one of her small paddocks for the setting. That small enclosure was good to keep the running horse within good camera range for his passes.

He had just gone behind me and made a tight turn at the fence wire to circle back. Never stopping, the running horse set to come tearing back past, which he did an arm’s length away and kept circling and buzzing me with every pass. I was being toyed with in good-natured horse fun. If a horse could laugh, he surely would have been!

Many good shots were captured as he ran for ten minutes solid, but this one was the most dynamic. It conveys his athleticism and natural beauty. His powerful motion makes the powder snow lift and fly at every hoof fall while a slight breeze made it move around like drifting smoke. Behind the horse, the Pennsylvania mountains are in far-off blue against the winter white.

It was clearly a great day to be out with a camera and some motivated horses!

Location: Willow Hill, Franklin County, Pennsylvania.