About Cowgirls, Western Horses and A Girl With A Camera

I got to capture the Danish Paint Horse Championship 2022. Read more about my experience in the western world and enjoy some of my pictures from that weekend.

Social Media can open doors. That happened to me when I met Jeanne Olsen, owner of Dream Performance Horses, in 2022 in a Facebook group. After I took pictures of her foals in the spring, she asked me if I might be interested in working at the Danish Paint Horse Championship. 

I was a little bit back and forth on it. Mostly because I am not into competitions, but also because up till then, I had zero touchpoints with the western world. I would say those are two excellent reasons to decline. 

Well… I said yes anyway. I was curious: What if I liked it? What if I learn something new? What if I spend a weekend with fantastic people? A lot of “what ifs”. But what shall I say? The answer to all of them was “yes”. 

So, there I was. Standing in the middle of the arena, knowing nothing about western riding or the competition rules. I only knew that I had my camera and could take pictures of horses. And so I did. I’m pretty sure I was the happiest girl around. My approach was to capture the typical competition pictures, as well as some behind-the-scenes emotions, mixed with some more artsy pictures. This strategy gave me a lot to learn. I had to be patient in my observations and fast in my reaction. 

Here are some of the pictures I took that weekend. I am looking forward to capturing more events like this one.