Exmoor Ponies!

Be warned: the next several blog posts will be gushing accounts of our trip to Ireland and the UK!

I was a completely horse-crazy child (still am, but it's tempered with realities of being financially and emotionally responsible for a horse), so I was beyond excited to see Exmoor Ponies in their native habitat!

In fact, I was so excited that when we saw an entire herd of mares with brand new foals, I forgot to check my exposure in the camera. I think I've done that twice in my photographer's life! Those pictures came out overexposed, unfortunately, but with the magic of Photoshop I was able to salvage them somewhat.

The babies were so newborn that they were mostly sleeping--a rider on horseback spooked these mares enough that they rousted their babies and fled the field. There were about a dozen mares in this band--a few of them still hugely pregnant.

Earlier, we had stopped to take photos of an old church, and my husband called, "There's a horse up here with a baby." I thought he meant a regular horse, so took my time with photos in the graveyard. By the time I went up to the ridge, it was drizzling on the lone Mama Exmoor Pony and foal. She was doing her best to pretend that we weren't there, but otherwise wasn't too disturbed by our presence.

Her colt was eager to explore, but she kept calling him back if he got too far away. I think he's going to be a lively one!