I was so excited to be back at Beautiful Hearts Rescue! When I think of my happy place, I never would have thought it would be in a field filled with horses and donkeys and the occasional goat… but it is!

This was my third time up at the rescue to take pictures of their animals and we did it a little different this time. While normally a team of us goes out into each pasture and attempts to pose the horses, this time, we just went out and focused on candid pictures of the horses. We did break out the halters for a few, but overall, we just let the herd do their thing while I snapped away.

The difficult part of doing it this way is how nosey the horses are! As soon as they hear the click of my camera, they have to see what’s going on, and suddenly I have a nose pressed up against my lens. I also used a little trick I heard from another horse photographer- a dog toy. To get the horses’ attention, or “ears”, I brought along a squeaky toy and squeezed it just before getting the picture. I’m sure I looked pretty ridiculous, but it worked! And let’s be honest, a big old horse nose in your face is so freaking adorable! Give me all the horses clamoring around looking for attention!

One of the sweetest things with the current herd are the two young foals following their mamas around. One little foal was pretty adventurous and came right up to us, but the other mama was far more protective of her little one and kept herself in between us most of the time. It was still super sweet, and the mama eventually realized we were friendly and allowed us to get a little closer.

The goal of these pictures is always to get the adoptable animals’ faces out there and to encourage animal lovers to help these sweet babies find their forever homes so Beautiful Hearts can continue to provide a safe place for more animals in need of help. Check out Beautiful Hearts Rescue to see ways you can help, the current line-up of adoptable critters, and how to donate. Sharing images, events, and fundraisers is also a great way to help.

Enjoy the a few of my favorite pictures from their latest herd!

~Carissa