Emergencies can happen with horse at shows in an instant, but you can prepare for many of them. In this article for the American Quarter Horse Journal in April 2014, my experts shared how to spot common equine health issues encountered at shows, as well as how to treat them and prevent them.
The Bittlebrun-Radwanski wedding was such a fun affair. Bright and colorful, with lots of fun details, the wedding was really a tribute to two wonderful people. Friends traveled to attend from all over the world. I really enjoyed seeing Jana and Michael celebrate their next chapter with all of their loved ones. Here are a sampling of my favorite photos!
Speed control can be tough for youngsters. I definitely remember the days of ineffectively kicking my slowpoke gelding in hopes of getting somewhere a little faster. This article with Mason Lyons for the Paint Horse Journal was fun and I think it's great information for riders young and old alike. What do you think?
This July 26 will mark three years since I started Abigail Boatwright Communications. I can't believe it's been that long--it seems only yesterday that I was packing up my office at APHA and nervously pitching my stories to editors. I've been really blessed to have had steady work and awesome assignments these last few years. I'm excited about what the future holds. And now I'm unveiling my brand-new website!
The biggest change this year is THIS… my website has received a makeover! The talented team at Rethink helped me rebrand my company and I'm so happy with the outcome. I hope you'll find my site easier to navigate, with content bigger and brighter than ever. Check out each of the sections if you get a minute--it's all been updated. My favorite feature is the way the portfolio items are displayed. Now you can click on each article thumbnail and it'll direct you to the full scale PDF on my site. You can also click on photo thumbnails and they pop up into large photos. I have a contact form and links to my social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Finally, my photo proofing site on Smug Mug has been integrated into my toolbar.
Other highlights from this year:
Thanks for your interest and support. I hope to continue bringing you interesting articles and compelling photographs!
Also, if you're looking for recaps of my (personal) travels, you'll want to check out Through Abby's Lens. The rest of my personal blog lives at Downton Blabby.
My garden is pretty small. It consists of about 8 herb plants. But I'm always looking for yummy vegetable recipes. This article for APHA'sChrome addresses the problem of when your garden ripens all at once and you're left with say, 10 lbs of zucchini. I personally tried each of the recipes--one is from my own brother-in-law--and I give them all my stamp of approval. So what do you think? Full article PDF HERE.
Jana was the very first friend I made when I joined Texas A&M's Equestrian Team back in 2003. She was a team captain and she really made me feel welcome. We became close friends throughout all those practices, competitions, Aggie football games and especially nights out dancing at the Texas Hall of Fame. She's now a pharmacist (and pretty awesome at it). When Jana asked me to be her wedding photographer I was so thrilled. We shot her bridals photos in her aunt and uncle's beyond gorgeous home and at historic Gruene Hall--a honky-tonk where every Texan worth their salt should spend a night dancing. It poured down rain throughout our shoot, but Jana was a trooper and we had a good time!
Last year I traveled to the wilds of South Texas to meet with Cindy Meehl, the executive producer of UnBranded, a documentary chronicling the journey of four young men from Mexico to Canada on mustangs. The trip was a success and the documentary is set to be released this summer, but when I met with Cindy, the men were preparing to begin their epic travels. Cindy was also the director behind the critically-acclaimed documentary Buck.
It was really neat to get to know her, and I love how the article in Chrome turned out. What do y'all think? Read the whole article HERE.
Zach and I visited our friends Julie and Chris in San Francisco a little while back, and we had a wonderful time exploring Napa and Sonoma's fine wineries. Julie and Chris own an event design company called Yonder, and they needed some photos for promo materials. It was a great excuse to do a photo shoot in a beautiful vineyard! Check out a few below.
The American Paint Horse Association has made some exciting changes in the last year. One of which was a re-energizing of the member experience. A new publication was created just for members called Chrome offering a tantalizing blend of lifestyle articles for the Paint Horse enthusiast. I am proud to contribute to this beautiful publication, and I am excited to share with you some of my articles!
This article was spun out of my visit to Florida to take photos for APHA. We couldn't visit Ocala without stopping at Fox Grove Farm, the home of the late Rugged Lark and now Rugged Painted Lark. Lynn Palm and her husband Cyril Pittion-Rossillon have a beautiful French Country style home. I've been a fan of Rugged Lark since I was little--I still have his Breyer model horse. And come to find out, Cyril trained at Le Cadre Noir in Saumur, France--a place I visited while studying abroad in the area. The couple was so gracious to welcome me into their home for a tour. It was an interesting visit, and I love how the profile turned out. Check it out HERE and below.
photo by Jashley Boatwright
I've spent the last part of 2013 getting acquainted with the newest member of our family: Mr. Wilder Dean Boatwright. Born November 25, he's been a wonderful addition to our lives. Now that it's 2014, I'm excited to jump back into freelance assignments, and I've already got a full plate. I'm looking forward to sharing my projects with y'all as they are published!
I just posted photos of Diva's equine maternity shoot. Now, you can see what was in that bump! Meet Bradshaw, a precocious foal with a mind of her own! I absolutely love photographing babies--especially of the equine variety… so please sign me up if you have baby horses and you want portraits!
When my fellow Texas A&M Equestrian team teammate Kate Evans asked me to do a maternity shoot with her beloved mare Diva, I was all about it. When I found out that the HORSE was the one pregnant, I was even more excited. I began googling inspiration online and realized nobody does horse maternity shoots. I couldn't find anything! So that gave me a burst of creativity to try something new. Kate and Diva have been best buds for many years, and this foal means a lot to Kate. Capturing the mare and woman relationship was really special. I'm honored to have photographed the pair and I hope y'all enjoy the photos. I'll post pics of Diva's little baby in a future post!
One of my favorite things to do at major horse shows at Will Rogers in Fort Worth and the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds is get my boots cleaned. It's like a pedicure for cowboys. No matter the condition your boots are in, you'll leave with boots like new--or better than new. I wish I could get them cleaned more often by those guys.
So for this article, I picked the brain of one of the pros down at Will Rogers. Frank Holland has decades of experience cleaning boots, and he shared some great tips to recreate that horse show boot-cleaning care at home.
Here's the full article--enjoy!
It was such a pleasure to work with the legendary Dick Pieper for this article. He shared some functional conformation points he looks for in good performance stock. Hope you enjoy! Read the PDF HERE.
This was a fun shoot with an outgoing family in Cibolo, Texas. I enjoyed getting to shoot them in the beautiful summer sun--hope you like the photos!
This was a fun article to write. I'll admit, I'm not a trail rider, mostly because my trust steed Willy was a pain outside arena walls. We tried trail riding and it just wasn't our thing. Maybe if I'd written this article sooner, I'd have had better tools to try the great outdoors! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!
If you want to read the PDF, as always, HERE it is.
I really love how horses are a common denominator around the world. Whether you're living in France, Australia or good ol' Texas, some things are exactly the same. In this article, I interviewed youth riders from around the world to see what things are the same, and what things are surprisingly different about being an AQHA horse lover. Full article HERE.
I wrote this article for the April 2013 Horse & Rider and it was an interesting topic. I myself was considering boarding options, so it was great to learn from other riders what situations worked best for them. I also got to include a quiz--something I've not done in articles before, but it worked for this one. What do y'all think? You can read the full article HERE.
This weekend I'm covering America's 1st Campdraft in Kiowa, Colorado. You can see my posts and photos on the American Quarter Horse Association's website HERE. Last spring, I went to Australia for a few weeks. One of the best parts of my trip was attending a campdraft in Beaudesert, Queensland. I wrote a story about campdrafting for the American Quarter Horse Journal and it appeared in the January 2013 issue of the magazine. If you're wondering what this sport is and why Quarter Horses are a really good fit, check out my article.
