Wrubicon. Wrubicon. A blog post can only start this way if there is a good story. Well let me walk you backwards a little to start. I first met Hannah & Wrubicon a few years ago when my husband and I lived in Springfield,MO for a short time when my husband was working up there. We took the horses with us and were at a barn called Katalyst Sporthorses. Needless to say Katalyst is still like my barn family. Shortly before we left Missouri, Hannah started school in Springfield and brought along her pony with her to Katalyst. I say pony, but if you have met Wrubicon you will know that he is FAR from a pony. He is the giant of the barn, that prefers to look over the top of his stall to looking through the bars. Every time I made the trip back to Missouri there was always something happening that kept us from being able to do Wrubicon’s portraits, and when we finally did get them scheduled during my annual road trip last year, he made sure to try and stop us again.
The morning of the session I got a text from Hannah, it said something like “I think we may have to cancel, Wrubicon went through a fence and is going to need stitches.” I went out to the barn and saw the damage, he managed to gash himself pretty well on his chest and scratch up his legs…but I assured Hannah that she wouldn’t even be able to tell in his portraits. A little photoshop magic and all of the traces of his night time adventure are gone! No matter how much he tried, he didn’t succeed in sabotaging his day in the spotlight.
Hannah shared “I started riding when I was seven. I had begged my mother to let me ride horses but she had put me in every other sport possible. Finally, in first grade I made a friend on the playground who rode horses at a local barn and that was that I went home crying to my mother and she had me in lessons the next week. My favorite thing about riding is the way it takes you away from all your worries even for a short time. When you are riding everything else in the world falls away, all the problems, frustrations they all disappear for a short while and the world becomes just you and your mount giving you a mental break you never knew you needed.”
“My horse was a dressage horse for the first 10 years of his life and came with a lot of anxiety issues so switching over to jumping took a lot of work. My first jumping show ever me and him took home reserved champion and I don’t think I have ever been more proud of that horse. We went through a lot of tears and struggles to get him to a point where he could show confidently and trust in me confidently that I have never felt more proud of a horse in my life!”
Ruby is an oddball! He is a total goof who loves pretty much everyone human and horse alike. He is a little mischievous at times and his favorite game to play is to knock any sort of water bottle, fly spray, coffee cup, you name it that is within his reach, over. He will wait till you aren’t lookin and just bloop right off the wall. Such a brat but to cute to be mad at.
