Foto Friday & Monday Afternoon Ramblings | Sheboygan Wedding & Portrait Photographer

happy Monday! 

I hope you all had a great weekend.

I know I did!

well minus the fact that my allergies are in full swing :(

gee thanks pollen.

anyway...

This weekend was the 4-H Horse & Pony Quiz Bowl competition.

What the heck is quiz bowl you ask?!

well, the easiest way to explain it is that it is like jeporday. 

with horse questions.

for kids in grades 3-13.

I coach the begginers...which is grades 3-5.

most of the time its fun.

sometimes not so much because they get squirrel-ly and slightly crazy.

especially when its a full moon.

but I gotta say that my kiddos stepped it up and really did their best this weekend.

I had 2 teams of 4 kids.

annnddddd....one team got 3rd place and the other got reserve champion (meaning 2nd)!! 

woo!! I am SOOOO proud of them! 

they did such a great job.

so all that whining they did about reading and studying paid off ;)

anyway, this (well last week's) foto friday is of some more wedding stuff

because that is coming up too!! (12 days!! :D:D)

so before all of the quiz bowl festivities started I had a whole assembly line helping me get the favors together :D

cut the ribbon, twist the bag, tie the ribbon once, put the little card on, and tie again.

125 times.

whew.

glad that is done :)

have a great week :)

this weekend is the first full wedding of the year :D

I. am. pumped. :D:D

xoxo

Maggie

email me :) / visit my website :)

Sheboygan County Fair 2010 | Part 2 | Plymouth, WI Photographer

Happy Thursday everyone! Here is the second installment of Fair photos! Like I said...it was a busy weekend. Sunday and Monday are always important days at the Fair. Sunday is always drill team and other riding events day. This year was the English Drill Team's Leader's last year. So there was an extra special ending to the english drill team's final performance. The drill teams ride their horses to patterns and music. It is pretty neat to watch because some of the moves that they do are kind of tricky. The beginner teams are mainly trot work, the intermediate teams do some catering but mainly trot work as well, and the advanced teams do more cantering. Check out some photos!

There are 3 english teams and 3 western teams...beginner, intermediate, and advanced (western is A, B, and C). The beginner english team is always first.

Next is the intermediate team.

And finally the advanced team.

In between the teams there are always other demonstrations of different riding styles. This year there were 2 different dressage presentations. One with 2 riders (called a pas de deux) and a single rider. both presentations were ridden to music. This is also known as Musical Kur. First was the pair of riders:

Next up was the single rider...she has been riding dressage since she was 6! She is 16 now and her horse is 12. It was very cute...she rode her test to a Sesame Street remix song.

After the dressage was some jumping. I love jumping almost as much as dressage. Pretty much because I can get photos like this:

And this...

Then came the western teams:

beginners...

intermediate...

annndddd advanced...

I gotta give a thumbs up to the advanced team...they had human poles to gallop around! good thing the horses didn't buck!

Anyway...on Monday...it rained. of course. like down poured. so, since Monday is game day, this is what happened:

the flag ceremony....with stick ponies :) ....

some fun classes, like egg & spoon....

some more fun classes like...bobbing for apples...

dizzy cowboy...

 a dance party...

annnddddd.....what else is there to do where there is mud everywhere?!?!?!

have a mud fight!!

all in all it turned out to be a pretty fun-filled day :)

If you would like to view all of the fair photos, please click here.

xoxo Maggie

email me! :) / visit my website! :)

Sheboygan County Fair | Part 1 | Plymouth, WI Photographer

Well, the past week and a half has been a couple of things: busy. crazy. awkward weather. and fabulous.

It has been all of these things because over Labor Day weekend every year is the Sheboygan County Fair!

These 5 days are the most anticipated days for almost every 4-H'er in the county. This is where everyone gets to exhibit something...and really anything! 

I was lucky enough to be asked by the Horse and Pony Project to be the photographer for the weekend. On a side note...a BIG THANKS!!! To the Horse & Pony Project...it was a pleasure :)

Now, on to the main event :)

This year's fair started out like many others...and then...Old Man Weather decided that he was going to turn off the hot and on the cold. and rain. oooooh yes, the rain. Ugh...if there is one thing that makes the fair not very happy is rain. And it wasn't the nice...oh lets just sprinkle rain...oh it was lets rain down in sheets and sideways and all ways. Really?! My equipment DOES NOT like that. At all. So, next year, Old Man Weather, PLEASE give us some 70-80s and partly cloudy :) it really does make the best photos!

So here are some photos from Friday and Saturday. Friday was the English show day and Saturday was the Western.

Flag ceremony to start off the day.

In the main arena was the speed...so barrels, pole bending, flag and sand, and a couple others.

In the lower arena was the Showmanship classes.

The afternoon got all dark, cold, and rainy...which stinks because I had to try and hide my camera so it didn't get all wet.

But, Saturday proved to be a little better...at least it didn't rain. It was still cold and super windy!

The day started out with Western Showmanship and Halter.

Then there was a couple driving classes...and how CUTE is this pony :D:D

 After the driving classes was more riding and a memorial patterns class.

Part 2 will be up tomorrow!! Enjoy!!

To view all of the photos from the fair, click here.

xoxo Maggie

email me! :) / visit my site! :)

County Mounties Horse Show | Day 1| Plymouth, WI photographer

Goooooooood afternoon :) A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting a 2-day horse show. It was a ton of fun...even if I did get a little too sunburnt. Apparently you are supposed to apply sunscreen more than once during the day. oopssss :) I guess better luck next time! haha.Anyway, the horse show was great and so was the weather considering that it has been kinda rainy and really hot and muggy around here this summer. Day 1 of the show was the all Hunt day.

So there was dressage,

jumping,

and flat work.

Now, for all of you that aren't familiar with horses and what goes on at a horse show, I am going to give you a little lesson :) Most people consider dressage to be like dancing with your horse. In the upper levels (at the olympics and other 4* events) riders and their horses have really complicated patterns that they ride to. A lot of these patterns have special moves where it looks like the horse is trotting really slow with its legs held high, or really extending it's legs out and even pivoting on its hind leg at the canter. I think its really pretty to watch. But that is probably because I have ridden dressage tests and know how hard it is to get your horse to do that. It takes lots of patience and time.

Here are a few more pics from Day 1:

Next will be Day 2! Stay Tuned :D

xoxo Maggie :)

email me! :) / visit my website! :)

Wisconsin State 4-H Horse Bowl Competition

Last weekend (5/1/10) was rather eventful. I traveled to Wausau, WI with 2 teams of kids to compete in the annual State Horse Bowl competition. Now, I know some of you are asking "What in the world in Horse Bowl?!?!" Well, it is sorta like Jeopardy in that there is a judge that asks all sorts of horse questions and you have to buzz in to answer them. The main difference is that there are 4 players per team and you don't have to answer the question that is being asked in question form. In horse bowl there are 3 levels: beginner, junior and senior. The questions get harder with higher levels, although some of the questions that my teams had to answer were pretty hard! I had the pleasure of being the beginner coach this year. It was totally awesome to watch these kids learn! I am so proud of all of them! Now, you might also wonder why in the world I am a coach for said team. Well, back in the day (and yes, it was back in the day...like 10 years ago!) I was super involved with the horse and pony project in Sheboygan County (my home county). It is also my way of giving back to the community. Sheboygan county is one of the largest counties in the whole state for horse and pony members! It can be crazy competitive and crazy tough to place in your classes...but I have to say it is probably one of the friendliest counties! Which, in my eyes, is a HUGE plus. I love seeing the kids congratulate each other on accomplishments no matter how small or large. :)    Anyway, here are some photos from the day...enjoy! :)

 The beginner score board...my teams placed 4th and 5th, which means they both placed top 10!

Said top 10 ribbon :)

Anxiously waiting for the results!

Beginner - Sheboygan Team A

Beginner - Sheboygan Team B

Intermediate - Sheboygan Team A

Intermediate - Sheboygan Team B

I wanted a picture of all the teams...but the seniors were competing while I was snappin' photos, so the two photos on the left are the chaos that happened while trying to get the teams to look like the photo on the right :)

And, because they are kids :) I had them do a goofy pose! Not everything in life has to be serious!! :)

Congratulations again Sheboygan County!! You all did a wonderful job!!

Maggie 

email me :) / visit my site :)