Best of 2012

So the New Year is almost upon us, and as Sophie and I jet off to the Annual Farm Tours in Scottsdale tomorrow for lots of incredible horses and merriment with friends, I was thinking about all the amazing horse moments we've had this year. Every year. That's what I love about our work-- each day brings something new-- a new challenge, a new breathtaking image to capture.

So, in the spirit of looking back just a teensy bit as we look forward to a fantastically creative 2013, I thought I'd try and put together a Top 5 Horse Moments of 2012. Hmmm... this proves damn near impossible.

Certainly one of the highlights of this (or any year!) was filming with the legendary *Emigrant and our friends at Valley Oak Arabians. This was soooooo worth the wait-- *Emigrant is larger than life. He exudes everything a stallion should be and he just makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up with his mere presence. Thanks big E!

Would it be filming in the Rae-Dawn Canada fog with our wonderful friends Claudinei and Bey Ambition-- under saddle for only the second time-- and loving it!

Or maybe realizing that Rae-Dawn's llama Steve is worth his weight in gold-- if only for comic relief!

Perhaps it would be filming Shael Dream Desert in Belgium. It seemed no matter what situation we put him in, he was just an absolute rock star-- even in a barn filled to the rafters with fog-- he would emerge a beautiful white ghost-- buzz our cameras, play with us, then run off into the fog to do it all over again...

It wasn't a horse moment per se, but rather a moment between gigs in Belgium and Poland. As we explored the canals of Bruges and saw the dog in the window, my heart did sing.

What about Van Gogh? A young, extreme stallion in Belgium so full of himself we just couldn't help but smile and laugh...

Any list would be incomplete with a laundry list of moments in Poland this year. Then again, as I wrote a few posts back, maybe the best horse moments this year were quieter. Less obvious but spectacular nonetheless... I think I would include so many moments in Greece-- searching for the Skyrian horse on the mountains, watching them frolic in the Aegean Sea.

And for the life of me I can't get the image of one little filly just grazing in a field waring her traditional halter out of my head. Hauntingly beautiful and sweet beyond measure, she definitely makes the list.

Scotland too, so many indelible and amazing horse moments captured there this year. I think of Ivan so often. His mane flying, such an incredible introduction to the Skyrian Horse...

So many many others-- too many to name. We are so lucky to do what we do and create magic with such incredible life-changing creatures. Here's to 2013 and many, many more!! Happy New Year everyone! ;) Jen

Sound Mix-- The Movie!

So everyone knows that it takes LOTS and lots (and lots!) of work to make a good film great. Sophie and I pride ourselves on all the tiny little details that may go unnoticed by others but that we put our heart and soul into, and which ultimately make the magic that Horsefly Films is known for.

Case in point was the final Soundmix for  our film Path to Glory which (crazily!) took place a mere 10 days before the scheduled World Premiere in Las Vegas. Our incredible Sound Mixer Kelly Randall really powered through with us every step of the way. We literally had 72 hours to try and mix every second of a 2 hour+ movie to perfection. For the layperson we'll just say this-- that is absolutely an IMPOSSIBLE endeavor. But we Horseflies aren't known for giving up. Come hell or high water --or snow (snowstorm in the middle of it all!) or collapsing air mattresses on the studio floor, we somehow miraculously made it all happen.

So in honor of all the unseen details that go in to everything we create, we thought this episode of Horsefly Films' Into the Suitcase would show you that crazy, sleep-deprived, slaphappy mix to end all mixes. Enjoy!

http://horseflyfilms.com/Intothesuitcase.html

Into the Suitcase

I digress I realize, but digression is one of life's greatest pleasures. Try it sometime... I digress. But it's going to be loads of fun. Promise.

For years now people always say to us, "We want to come with you on your Horsefly adventures! Take us with you in your suitcase!" So now we proudly, nay boldly whisk you into the suitcase with Horsefly Films via the miles and miles (and miles) of behind the scenes footage we've shot on all these said adventures with our handy little ever-present flipcam.

To celebrate our cinematic shenanigans we're launching a brand new peek into that world via something we call, appropriately enough, INTO THE SUITCASE with Horsefly Films. This first trip into the suitcase reveals an Olympic Race that NBC didn't want you to see (and frankly--shockingly-- didn't cover, seeing as it took place in Poland 2012 rather than London). It features many of your favorite people from the world of the Arabian Horse.

So I say unto you-- pack your socks and undies and get ready to wear jeans that could walk away by themselves after 2 weeks of filming horses all day and climb into the suitcase with Horsefly Films!

See the Horsefly Films Olympic Race here!

A Date with a Wonder of the World

So as sad as we were to leave Poland until next year, Sophie and I were incredibly excited to jet off to our next filming adventure in Greece. We rolled off the tarmac in Warsaw under cloudy gray skies and were whisked away a soda and magazine later to touch down in hot sun-drenched Greece. Even before we left the plane the sheer "Greekness" everywhere hit us-- rows of airplanes from Olympic Air, complete with a bastardized Olympic Rings logo (how did they EVER manage that legally?) on their tails, a heat haze shimmering off the dusty nearby hills. Stepping into the Greek air, my lungs heaved with the heat. It was then we realized the word of the day-- every day-- for the next 2 weeks-- would be rivulet. As in try and ignore the rivulet of sweat running down my back and focus on the task at hand... We were only staying in Athens one night before flying off to the small little-known island of Skyros at 7AM but Sophie and I made the most of it. We checked in (great hotel right at the airport) and then got down to studying the subway map. Sophie and I have collectively and individually travelled all over the world and we both agree that there's just nothing like taking mass transit in a city to make you feel a part of a place. It gives you the panache and vernacular of a local. From "Gophertown", the underground world of stores selling everything from cigars to wigs to bras to tomatoes in Warsaw's central subway station, to the efficient cool of minding the Gap with the rest of the Brits on London's Underground-- nothing beats heading down into the bowels of a city and emerging one train ride later like curious mole people... So we studied our map, loaded up our backpacks with gear and went off to the Acropolis. To say that hiking up the hills of the Acropolis and passing through the temple gates to gaze upon the Parthenon is a life-transforming experience, well, that's just an understatement of god-knows-what magnitude. We filmed and photographed for a couple hours, breathed in the wonder, walked on ancient stones of the cradle of Western Civilization. All in our creative quest for our new documentary film on an ancient rare breed of horse. The Skyrian Horse. The Horse of the Parthenon. Of course most of the Parthenon friezes are long gone-- worn away by time and war or taken by Lord Elgin a few centuries ago to reside in that most wonderful of human cultural repositories, the British Museum. But the well-worn fragments that remain are awe-inspiring. And as we climbed back down in the dusk through the olive trees and returned to the subway tunnels, we lamented that the friezes weren't here to film or photograph. Or see. And then-- directly across from us on the subway platform-- the Parthenon friezes. Okay okay, so they were a copy but a damn good one. And in the dim oily light of the tunnel Sophie and I high-fived each other and thanked our lucky stars and our wisdom that we always explore by subway. Tomorrow we would be off to Skyros in search of horses...

The Unsung Quiet Moments

Here's the thing about Poland. I could write about LOTS of superstars, classes chock filled with rows of some of the greatest Arabians on the planet. Crisp white tents sprawling under wide blue skies and perfect sunshine. More tents groaning with delicious food and enough beverages of every possible persuasion.  I do particularly love the palpable thrill in the hour just before the annual Pride of Poland auction, the air thick and heavy with excitement and hope and the unknown x factor. All of that is well, incredible beyond belief. But the real magic is always in the quiet moments spent with my best friends and my favorite horses. This year's prize for best moment of beautiful solitude has to be the last morning at Michalow, walking the mare pastures with my besties Sophie and Anette. (We do that a lot. In May, when no one else is around. In August, after the crowds have gone and we say our farewells until Spring).
The weather had turned blustery and cold, the wind whipping around us. The mares warmed us as we embraced them, their foals dashing about and nuzzling us with trademark curiosity.

It is one thing to see my favorite mare of all time Emandoria winning at US Nationals-- a night engraved into my memory forever, her steel dapple gray perfection giving rise to our cheers of E-man-doria!-- but it is quite another to see her now flea-bitten gray form-- still perfect-- grazing happily and haughtily among her friends. Away from the spotlights and trophies. Unclipped, unsung and glorious at home. That thought never cease to make my heart ridiculously singingly happy.

It's hot at the EQUATOR...

Gentlemen, start your engines... This sexy young thing did just that, swaggering in to the ring like he owned it. This is Michalow's rising superstar colt Equator (QR Marc x Ekliptyka) who just owned the place with his entrance. All eyes were on him and at the end of the show, so was the Silver Junior Male Championship, just behind the equally stunning Pomian from Bialka. Watch out world!

Poland, magnificent Poland...

The Great Horsefly Films Grand European Tour Rewind begins where else? Our home sweet home away from home, Poland! I could wax rhapsodic for days on end of course, but Poland always feels like a bit of a homecoming-- my heart splashes just a little bit more when I'm here and August for the 2012 edition of Pride of Poland and Polish Arabian Horse Days was no different. I'll distill all the magic down to incredible friends-- including Melissa Feather who came for the first time and ate it all up with a passion which we knew she would!-- and just the most magnificent horses anywhere. It is hard to overstate just how transformative Poland is in every way for those who love horses... Although there were endless superstars in the ring, one moment was so historic and fraught with emotion that if you weren't moved, you had a heart of stone. Pianissima's retirement ceremony, the words ringing out over the grandstand that this was the last time she would ever appear in a showring, a standing ovation crowd, grown men weeping, ME weeping (that's not hard!)Director Trela taking the lead and walking with her one last time around the arena, squeezing just a little more magic for all time-- that is the stuff of legend my friends and I will never forget it. That she lives happily each day as Janow's queen is just the sweetest icing. See you in Spring, Penny!

A man and his horse. Like I said...

522 hours of mindblowing creativity with horses

I won't even address my blogging absence except to say that we have been beyond busy, beginning with the aformentioned 23 days (522 hours) in Europe. It's backtracking I know, but a journey that began in our beloved home away from home Poland for Arabian Horse Days and then moved to exotic and far flung locales such as the islands of Skyros and Corfu, Thessaloniki, life-affirming stops at the Acropolis and Meteora, a visit with the ravens at the Tower of London and our very own run-in with the Olympic torch, tea at Kensington-- well heck, isn't that worthy of a bit of rewind? I shall attempt to recreate some of these adventures over the next few weeks. Did I mention there are horses involved all along the way? Of course there are, we're Horsefly Films! ( Although that did not persuade the fine people of Kensington Palace to let us bring in any equines. Just tea. And scones. And cream. Sophie, they say you have to leave that stallion outside...) So, off on the European backtrack we go... :) Jen

2012! A new Start

Happy New Year everyone! Yes, it has been a really TERRIBLY long time since I have posted anything but that's all about to change. I have lots of great stuff to share and resolution #1 is to get on the stick and get the Flypaper buzzing again! I'm also on Twitter @horsefly2 and there's a brand new Horsefly Films Page on Facebook that you can join to keep abreast of all the Horsefly adventures around the wrold this year. Stay tuned!! :)