# Spruce Meadows



## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)




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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)




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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

Love these!


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## reining girl (Jan 30, 2009)

that looks like it was alot of fun. once again amazing pics allie! i love the foal standing by the "name the foal" sign lol


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## riccil0ve (Mar 28, 2009)

Oh, the fly bonnets! I have a fly bonnet fetish, teehee. =]

Great photos, and such beautiful horses. I love the foal, and the big gray with the black bonnet. You're so lucky to be able to go to things like that...


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## MacabreMikolaj (May 9, 2009)

I haven't been to Spruce Meadows since I was 14! Ah the memories! Methinks I will have to plan a road trip up next summer and attend with you! :lol:


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## Carleen (Jun 19, 2009)

Look at that little guy! Aww!

I'd love to go to Spruce, my Dad once promised me that we'd go someday but it hasn't happened yet..


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## Juniper (May 4, 2007)

ooh, thanks for posting those.


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## LoverofHorses (Jan 3, 2010)

Awesome pictures!!! Love all the foal pics!


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## ilovemyhorsies (Mar 9, 2008)

you're a wonderful photographer allie! 
good job!


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## ilovemyhorsies (Mar 9, 2008)

oh and.. what type of camera do you use?


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Thank you!! 
I shoot with a Nikon D5000 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Eliz (Jun 16, 2010)

Great Photography!!


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## omgpink (Aug 16, 2008)

oh my goodness these are stunning! The ones are the foal are way to adorable ^^


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## Mickey4793 (Sep 24, 2009)

Beautiful pictures!


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## ToHotToTrot (Jun 13, 2010)

ohhh cool you lucky ducky;D


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## Hali (Jun 17, 2009)

These are great shots!


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## AnnaLover (Sep 27, 2009)

Awesome pictures! I love the sorrel with the odd face and leg markings!


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## Gidget (Jan 19, 2010)

The foal is adorable. Do you know if they found a name?


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

nice pictures! thanks for posting, we had tickets  we always go, but we couldnt this yeaar cuz we had to go to a horseshow, luckily were going in the summer a few times  
beautifuil pics!


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## dressagexlee (Dec 15, 2009)

Great pictures, as always! ~

What day were you there? We watched the Derby on Sunday. 
I can't believe the person who won (from Venezuela, Pablo Barrios) - last in the ring and he put in an amazing round on that little horse! I thought for sure it was either going to be Ashlee Bond (who had a wonderful round) or Leslie Moore (she had two horses, both amazing rounds - no video).
Eric didn't have such a great bout, but he was riding one of his greenies for his round. But am I right that he won the CN on the previous day?


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Looking good JDI! definitely improving


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Forgive me, but what is it with the little hats on the dressage horses?


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## dressagexlee (Dec 15, 2009)

draftrider said:


> Forgive me, but what is it with the little hats on the dressage horses?


Little hats? Dressage horses? I'm confused, I don't see what you're talking about! xD


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Nearly every horse is wearing what looks to be a tea cozy on their head. Little hats, on the English horses. You don't see horses wearing hats??

I am trying to be polite here- I don't know the name of the tea cozy hat, nor its purpose. =) I'm not trying to be disrespectful to any discipline.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Maybe they are hunter horses. I dunno. The horses in English tack, wearing tea cozy hats.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

Lol! Horses in hats, I love it!

Here we call them earwigs, don't know about the US. They are used for two reasons I know of - One, if the horse is afraid of or distracted by noise (I.e. appluase, announcer) then they stuff the ears with cotton wool and put an earwig on to keep it in place.

Other reason is to keep bugs out of clipped ears.


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

There are no dressage or hunter horses pictured. They all appear to be jumpers. (With the exception of the frontier exhibition.) They are called fly bonnets, fly nets or ear nets. Hadn't thought of the use of keeping the cotton secure in the horse's ears; most folks use them to keep flies and gnats out from aggravating the horses while being ridden. 

The first one of this type was made (crocheted) by a groom for the showjumper Gem Twist back in the 80s; Gem had a bad habit of vigorously shaking his head while on course if he was being bothered by gnats. A lot of photos wre published of Greg Best and Gem wearing the ear net that they become quite popular. 

I hope the groom was able to retire on the proceeds, but I doubt it.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Maura, I said I wasn't trying to be disrespectful to any discipline, I am ignorant of English riding (and yes, anything thats being ridden in an English saddle is English to me) as I ride Western, have ridden western for 31 years, and have never ridden English, studied English, or had any inclination to do so. I know nobody that rides English, has ever thought about English etc. =)

How you tell the difference between all the English events, I have no idea.

I just wanted to know why the horses were wearing hats. =)


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## maura (Nov 21, 2009)

No worries, draft rider! I didn't think you were being disrespectful. 

Just an fyi, all those horses were wearing tack that would never be seen in either hunters or dressage. I understand that doesn't mean much to some folks, I can't tell the difference between different styles of Western tack, though, either. 

Honestly, those ear nets are wonderful. This time of year in the South, the flies are so horrible no spray really holds up on a long trail ride or workout. They're particularly good at thwarting deer flies and may flies. I put them on everytime I ride this time of year.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

Well I'll make a deal with you Maura. If you want to know what some form of Western tack is, I'll be glad to tell you, if you'll do the same with the English tack for me. 

I thought the flynets were perhaps some form of decoration. =)


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## dressagexlee (Dec 15, 2009)

Oh, okay. I get it now! I was thinking about little top-hats on the royal horses. I was like, "Am I missing something here?"


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Too funny! Hats! Love it! 

Lee, I was there on Sunday.. I got a horrible capri/tennis shoe burn on the lower half of my lower legs - it has got to be the stupidest tan/burn line ever lol! I wasn't able to stay for the entire class, I think I got a touch of heatstroke and my burn was starting to look real lobster-like, so I called it a day pretty early into the class.


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## palominolover (Apr 28, 2010)

gorgeous pictures. i've never been to spruce meadows =(


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## dressagexlee (Dec 15, 2009)

JustDressageIt said:


> Lee, I was there on Sunday.. I got a horrible capri/tennis shoe burn on the lower half of my lower legs - it has got to be the stupidest tan/burn line ever lol! I wasn't able to stay for the entire class, I think I got a touch of heatstroke and my burn was starting to look real lobster-like, so I called it a day pretty early into the class.


That sucks. I had a lovely bracelet tan line, but otherwise not too bad. I'm like a vampire half the time (not a sparkley one...) - I hardly burn and never tan!


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## Alwaysbehind (Jul 10, 2009)

Lovely photos. Totally love the foal eating the name the foal sign.


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

The sun was really really harsh (I got sunstroke, I think) so the photos aren't as nice as I otherwise would have liked.. but I thought it was adorable that the foal was eating his own sign so I had to take a picture of that lol!


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

JustDressageIt said:


> The sun was really really harsh (I got sunstroke, I think) so the photos aren't as nice as I otherwise would have liked.. but I thought it was adorable that the foal was eating his own sign so I had to take a picture of that lol!


You're photos are much better Allie. There is a huge improvement in what you have in this thread vs the first few sets you got when you first bought your camera. You're already showing a style of photo which means you're getting a lot more comfortable with what you're shooting. Keep doing what you're doing.


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## FGRanch (Feb 9, 2008)

I love the last horse...drool!

I have seen Allie's burn, it's rather...comical.  Sorry, but it is! LOL Bright red...hehe


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## JustDressageIt (Oct 4, 2007)

Correction.. it WAS bright red... now it's purple... It is THE stupidest burn I have ever seen. 
I'll cave.. here's a pic of it (taken with my laptop's built in camera.. sorry for the crappy pic.): 








That was on Monday, when it was brand new....

Thanks Kelly


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

JustDressageIt said:


> Correction.. it WAS bright red... now it's purple... It is THE stupidest burn I have ever seen.
> I'll cave.. here's a pic of it (taken with my laptop's built in camera.. sorry for the crappy pic.):
> 
> 
> ...


 hahahahaha! I have to say it's a pretty funny burn :lol: man you must burn really easy.


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