Summer Cutting Spectacular Finals

This afternoon after the Sales I went to the Summer Cutting Spectacular Derby Finals. I chose to shoot views that are not ordinarily taken.


Karen Michelle Anderson of Victoria, Texas, won the Non-Pro Derby on Cats Quixote Jack with a score of 221.5


Mark Michaels was in 3rd Place on Stylin Cat (owned by John McClaren of McGregor, TX) with a score of 220.5.


John Mitchell was the Reserve Open Derby Champion on Play Miss with a score of 223.0. Play Miss is owned by the Slate River Ranch.



The Open Derby Champion was Clint Allen on Wood I Never with a score of 225. Wood I Never is owned by Wrigley Ranches LLC.

Western Bloodstock Sale Day 2, and the Summer Cutting Open Semi-Finals.

The foals were quite entertaining during the Sale today at the John Justin Sales Ring. This foal was really enjoying the shavings like a child enjoys a rare snow. This foal was making it hard for the handler to show the mare. The Mares won the sale today, with Cat Tuesday topping the sale at $225,000. Mare/foal/breeding packages were the predominant high selling lots. Yearlings also sold in this sale. Only those with a Champion Sire coupled with a Dam with lots of earned money in the cutting pen and champion progeny brought a high price.


After the Sale I went over to the Will Rogers Coliseum to process my images and take in some of the Open Semi-Finals. I photographed part of set 4. During this set John Mitchell tied the high score of 220.5 riding Play Miss who is owned by Slate River Ranch. I was shooting with available light at f2.8 so the depth of field is limited. Since most of the images were taken of horses from the side, the depth of field issue was not as critical. The image below is Kobie Wood riding Bets Pretty Sue. For those unfamiliar with the Cutting Competition, there is a cow that the rider and horse are watching and following. Since I photographed this event from the side, I was unable to get the cow in most images.

Summer Spectacular Sale - Day 1

Today was the first day of the Summer Spectacular Sale in Fort Worth. There were 199 + 5 supplemental horses cataloged, and most of these went through the sale. The highest bid was $27,000 but I do not know if that horse sold or was bought back yet. Today many horses were shown as they sold.

NCHA Summer Cutting Spectacular

Today I went to Ft Worth to prepare for the Summer Spectacular Sales over the next 3 days. After setting up for the shoot tomorrow, I went to photograph some of the cutting in Will Rogers Coliseum and test out some distant shooting with my 550EX flash. I have posted a photos of Stacie McDavid showing Dual Donnie Rey.

Reining Horses

This past Tuesday I photographed Reining Horses at the Sweet Iron Ranch in conformation and action. This is a photocollage of one of the horses including slides from front, back, and side.

Barn Kitten

Tuesday morning I went on a ranch call photoshoot and while visiting with the clients I noticed this barn kitten sacked out in the center of a lariat. My camera was handy so I had to capture the image.

In the Kitchen: Slicing Mushrooms

I did not cook anything with mushrooms tonight. I was reviewing my food photo and found this image in my archives. It looked good so I decided to post it tonight.

Sketchbook: Ju Hick I

This is a drawing I did from a photograph of a horse taken the Bluebonnet Stakes this past May. I did this graphite drawing on Staedtler engineering paper so I would have a grid to work from.

Sketchbook: Sun Over Plain I

No Sketching class today, July 5, so I took some oil pastels and did this experimental piece on black card stock. I call this Sun over Plain I and it was inspired by similar works by Author Dove and Georgia O'Keefe.

Month End at the Ranch

April is already starting her life in the "Grass is Greener" school of thought. I guess it is time to mow again. I tried a number of times to convince her that the spaces between the runners was only to look through.









After rains flatten the arena floor I like to walk and look for float of ceramic shards, textures created by the rainwater, and unusual animal tracks. Click here to see a slide show, including an animal that created those tracks.







This has been a very unusual month in Texas as rains have persisted during a time when dry, hot weather is usually the rule. I have included a small gallery of storm clouds.