New Forest Pony...

Grazes in the winter sun, on the lush green grass, with Sturtmoor Pond in the foreground.

Somewhat tired after my slog around Portsmouth yesterday - HUGE thanks for all your lovely comments, stars and favourites that sent my Spinnaker Tower blip to the very top of the Spotlights! -

...well, I missed the shrouds of light fog we had first thing. I was going to settle for a local night-time exposure this evening but the fresh copious light had me out and onto the New Forest.

Many snappers use their 500mm lenses for stalking deer and such, which is great - but deer are always looking at YOU, in startled annoyance, if you can get one. And whilst most ponies will happily mix with humans (they are all owned by someone but roam the Forest freely) and will come up to you (food, which you must NEVER give to them), I rather like to watch them as wild animals, from afar.

Here they blend into their background, natural, becoming a part of the landscape, the picture. Whilst I had got several images with three or four animals together, their composition never really gelled.

I liked the lone simplicity of this and the composition of the pony in the corner. The scene could be part of something vast, or tiny, one can use the imagination. A good friend of the family, who designed and set-up my website, keeps horses at my father's in another part of the Forest and he and his wife specially like my 'wild' pics of ponies so I always have these in the back of my mind for them.

Taken hand-held, with the old Tamron mirror (catadioptric) lens.