Arabella, Jasper & Marley

There is no better place to start other than I loved this shoot.

I know they always say "never work with children and animals" but I don't know how to communicate on here how much I love it. You just can't fake anything when it comes to this, and the images captured are so authentic and precious. I always hear my mum clients say how quickly their little girls grow up, and how lovely it is to capture this moment in time (when they're still pony obsessed and happy to get dressed up and spend a day frolicking around a forest with some cowboys boots and a dress).

Despite all the rain we'd been having in March, we were blessed with a lovely warm day for our photoshoot.

The main focus was their 20 year old blue roan pony, Jasper, Arabella's first pony who she has now outgrown. He's been a special part of their life for the last 3 years, teaching Arabella so much. They have a special bond.

Rachel (Arabella's mum) describes him as grumpy & food obsessed, and actually taking him to a new location for his shoot helped keeping his ears pricked for the shoot. We got his ears forward for every photo, which is something they were a little worried about when booking.

Arabella recently moved onto her new pony, Marley, and we also included her as well. Marley is a gorgeous 18 year old Welsh Section D mare. "An absolute unicorn" to use their words.

Arabella and both ponies absolutely smashed it.

We started with a more casual outfit on a gorgeous pathway over arched by some gorgeous trees that were just coming back to green. Here we shot each pony individually then got the classic shot of Arabella with both ponies, they were really settled and this was a safe space to anil this shot she wanted.

A quick outfit change to a pink jumper and over to the reservoir for the next set of images. Big thanks to Arabella's dad, David, for all his star jumps here helping keep the ponies (and us) entertained!

And then the grand finale... A gorgeous white boho dress, cowboy boots and fedora hat. I loved this look. It looks so gorgeous in the ancient woodland section where the daffodils were just starting to make an appearance. We finished the shoot doing a couple of bareback shots which Arabella really wanted to do, this was a lovely end to the shoot (I could have kept going for hours I was having so much fun!)

I know this frame now sits proudly on their living room wall - a photo that will remind them of a very special bond for a lifetime.