Cat saved!

Is he not adorable?  So living in the country, there is never a shortage of 'stray' cats!  Unfortunately some people in this world don't care much about animals and will dump them anywhere.  Every year it seems there is a new stray cat/kitten that just shows up and of course, if you know me well, you know that I have a hard time turning away an animal...LOL!  So this guy, feel free to offer suggestions on a name for him, is from a litter in May of 2012.  His mom is a tiny little grey tiger cat that has been one of our house guests for a while now.  Sweet little guy!  So what am I getting at?  The following story, while it has a sad little twist, has a happy ending and makes me laugh and smile!

About a week ago I saved this little guys life!  For about a week we had been hearing an annoying 'meow' every time we would go out the front door and would seem to get really annoying when I would get into my car.  My daughter and I both heard it on several occasions and both of us thought it was a wild little yellow tiger kitty that has recently appeared at our house so we ignored it.  One night I was on my way out to carry hay back for the horses and I decided to look in the bushes for the kitten to see why it was up front (we feed them all in the back, and they get plenty).  I couldn't see him, but the meowing got louder and more frantic, then I started to worry...still couldn't find the source.  Finally, I looked up in the tree and about 15-20 feet up was this little guy.  Okay, so why is he in the tree?  It soon became apparent that he was stuck, it is a small tree so how could he be stuck?  I called into my husband to have him watch out the front window while I climbed this tree (in case I fell, I didn't want to be laying out in the cold and no-one find me...LOL)!  When I reached this poor baby, he laid his front paws and head on my shoulder and started purring loudly...then I saw that his tail was stuck to the tree.....the tip was frozen to the tree and then wrapped tightly around the tree and frozen to the other part of the tail!  Don't ask me how this happened, but he has long hair and it was frozen together and the tail was wrapped tightly around the tree, I started to panic as I was not sure how I was going to get the tail loose.  He just laid on my shoulder and continued to purr, so I just kept moving the tail up and down and it finally started to loosen and I was able to pull the frozen ice apart....he was free!!  So the question really was, how long had we been ignoring the meowing and we guesstimated at least 3 days, I think to make ourselves feel better as it was probably more like a week.  This poor guy had been stuck in the tree for a week?  Thank goodness I decided to investigate a little more...LOL.  Poor guy!  He is doing very well now and is eating like crazy, he had gotten a little skinny and his tail looked as if he might loose the tip, but all is well now and looks great!  Any name suggestions? 

Kristen with Rowdy and Rocco!

Happy New Year everyone!  Here is to a bright and happy 2013!  My goal is to grow my followings and welcome any feedback from my fans!!  After much thought, I have decided to focus the majority of my business on High School Seniors and Equine Photography!  I am very excited about this as they are my most favorite to shoot!  As a horse owner myself, one of the most enjoyable things I get to do is to work with horses and their owners to create a story of the bond between them and their horse.  I am not a "shoot and burn" photographer, I do not want to photograph you and then hand over a CD of images as this does not accomplish my goal!  That goal is to help you tell and display your story in pieces of fine art that hangs on the walls of your home or an album to show for generations to come!  Instead of investing in that $200 canvas at Homemakers, I want to see you invest in a piece of art for your home that is personalized and means so much more to you!

The following session above is with a wonderful woman who inspires me to strive for the best possible relationship I can have with my horse.  Her talent and knowledge is endless! Kristen lives on 33 acres of land and is currently a level 3 graduate of the Parelli program (a training program for owners and their horses).  She is now studying and working towards auditioning for her level 4!  She is working on building a Natural Boarding and Rehabilitation facility where the goal will be to not only serve the physical aspects of a horse but also the mental and emotional.  She plans to start boarding in 2014, wow!  If you are not familiar with Natural Boarding, a great book (yes I have read this myself) is Paddock Paradise authored by Jaime Jackson.  Kristen will be basing her natural boarding concepts off of this book, this truly is going to be an amazing place to board your horse, I cannot wait to see the final outcome!  It was so much fun working with Kristen and her 2 horses Rowdy and Rocco.  Her bond with both is amazing to watch, I could sit and watch all day!  I hope to work with them in the future and share more stories of her success!!

Cowboys

Who doesn't love a cowboy, especially an adorable little guy like this?  Thank you to his parents Toshia and Josh for letting me photograph their adorable little guy.  I am pretty sure he intends to compete in roping like his daddy....sorry Josh...but I think he will probably be better at it than you as he is showing some pretty awesome talent at the very young age of 2!  I wish everyone could see this little guy in action, he is amazing.  I cannot wait to see him in a few years, I am sure by then he will be roping from his daddy's horse (in picture above) 'Cutter' or have one of his own!