Editor's Notes

By Jan Westmark-Allan

I introduced our new Sidelines Magazine intern, Mindy Coretz, in yesterday’s blog and mentioned that she was a talented photographer. You may have already seen some of her great photos on the Sidelines Facebook page, and now I’m going to tell you “the rest of the story.” (If you are of a certain age you will remember Paul Harvey’s radio series called “The Rest of the Story.” If you are not of age, disregard all mentions of Paul Harvey and radios!)

Did you see the “falling off” photo on the Sidelines Facebook page? Well here’s the rest of the story – and the rest of the pictures!

From Mindy: Photo of the rider falling off: The rider in this image is one of my best friends and she is riding Tucker, one of my favorite ponies! We were enjoying a 75 degree afternoon in a field in Aspen, Colorado. The crisp mountain air was refreshing from the humidity we experience in Oklahoma. I was snapping photos of Devin riding around, getting beautiful shots of the mountains in the background when she came flying off as she cantered down a slight hill. We laughed for what felt like ages!

While the falling photo is fun, what I didn’t share was that she actually stuck the landing, and I have a photo of that as well!

Photo 1: The fall begins

Photo 2: The perfect emergency dismount.

Photo 3: Sticking the landing! Sidelines gives the rider a perfect 10 – and a perfect 10 to Mindy for capturing a great moment.

You may have also seen the great “horse walking through the woods” photo that Mindy posted on the Sidelines Facebook page. Here is the “rest of the story” on that lovely photo.

Mindy’s words: I took this photo earlier this year at a horse show in Germantown, Tennessee. The photo is actually of my sister on her one of her horses. I love that at first glance, because of the beautiful setting, everything in the photo looks perfectly normal. When you look more closely at it, however, you realize just how out of place the horse and rider look. The horse is braided up ready to show, and my sister is in full show attire – not exactly what you’d expect to see on a trail ride. The photo gives off an overwhelming sense of serenity. I wish I could credit for that to my photography skills, but I think I was just lucky enough to be in a beautiful spot with perfect lighting!

“Horse walking in the woods” by Mindy Coretz

Mindy put a great quote on the next photo when she posted it on the Sidelines Facebook page – and here ‘s the story behind this photo:

Mindy says: The photo of the horse head with #519 showing: This photo was taken at one of my all time favorite venues – the beautiful Brownland Farm. It was a very chilly October morning, and minutes earlier I had taken some really neat photos of a horse warming up where the condensation from his breath in the cold was very visible. I was trying to capture the same thing with this horse as he was nonchalantly dozing ringside. As soon as I clicked to take the photo, however, he perked up and stared straight at me, creating this photo. I was disappointed I missed the shot I was after until I loaded the day’s photos onto my computer and started sifting through them. I immediately erased this shot as it wasn’t what I was after, but one of my friends was looking over my shoulder and, outraged, questioned, “WHY DID YOU DELETE THAT ONE?” I started to answer her and then realized I never really looked at the photo. I pulled it out of the trash, and realized that while it wasn’t what I was after, it was just darling! It was a great surprise that something accidental turned into such a nice photo.

This photo went from trash to treasure!

And last, but not least, the rest of the story on the “horse head in woods” photo:

Mindy says: Photo of horse head in woods: This photo is such a fun one. A lot of photos show great things, but through this photo you can almost “feel” the moment. I was riding this horse down some trails in Germantown, Tennessee, enjoying a relaxing morning before showing that afternoon. While the woods are beautiful on their own, I love the little bit of horse head in it as well. It gives the photo a little more purpose. The horse head is a blurry mess leaving nature the focus of photo, but I think anyone who has ridden can relate to the tranquility and setting of horseman’s bliss portrayed.

Horse head in woods!

So now you know – the rest of the story!