Cob Jockey

Austen happened to be back in Indiana over the holidays, and while our plans for an overnight stay were dashed by a very close COVID exposure Nick and I had over Christmas (sigh), we did manage to meet up, masked, at my barn, for some outdoor drinking and for her to take photos of my boys as my Christmas gift.

PC: Austen

AND I FREAKING LOVE THEM!

She gave me more gifts than just the photos, but honestly the photos are all I needed - especially since she happened to be there for the first moment Connor and Disco were ever turned out together, since Connor had just arrived home from the trainer's the day before.

You got me a WHAT for Christmas? PC: Austen

We took some photos, stood around in the parking lot on a weirdly warm December day for Indiana, and drank, along with our SOs.

Baby's first craft beer! PC: Austen

Had to get Austen in at least one picture!

Thankfully Disco happened to be at a good growth stage - and Austen masterfully got some of the best shots while he was standing on a literal uphill, lol.

Candids out in the field. Connor was like "forget you guys, I'm eating" but Disco couldn't get enough of hanging out with the people. PC: Austen

I love all of these, and will be using them in blog posts for another few weeks yet, but one of my favorites ended up being the least posed one:

You have to zoom in. PC: Austen

Someone finally captured Connor's "take one step closer and I'll run, lady!" face, lol. So many, many times over the years I've stared at that face in frustration as he runs away from me. But this day, I knew I wasn't going to be able to get close to him after chasing him around with a feed bag for photos, so I left well enough alone.

PC: Austen

I treasure these photos, especially since Disco is growing so fast right now, and can't thank Austen enough for taking them.