Horses and Halloween. The story behind my print, "A Mothers Love."

The following is the story behind my print, "A Mothers Love" which is available in my shop http://www.12step.etsy.com/.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22003485

Halloween was a nice mild one last year. The day called for clear skies and perfect weather in the evening for my three year old son to go trick or treating. We had all day to spend as a family and with my newly acquired Canon Rebel EOS XS digital camera we decided to travel down to Lexington Kentucky and visit the Kentucky Horse Park.

The Kentucky Horse Park has had horses on their land for over 200 years. There are many activities and is a very family friendly place. The park is home to some of the most famous racehorses in the world, and is the final resting place for racehorses, including the world famous Man o War.

When we arrived at the park the trees were beautifully colored in fall foliage. My anxious three year old was anxious to run around and explore the vast expanses of the park and to check out some of it's residents.

The day could not have been more perfect. Clear skies, warm weather, and few people we felt we had exclusive rights to the entire park. Close to the entrance of the park is a beautiful fountain/tomb and a stunning memorial to the world famous race horse Man o War. Man o Wars lifetime record was 21 starts with 20 wins and a second place and he retired as the leading money winner in America at the time. He set 8 records, 3 world records, 2 American records, and 3 track records and broke most by several seconds. The fountain definitely expresses the greatness of this legendary horse.

As we continued through the park we went into several different stables with many different breeds of horses. My son had a blast haying hi at the horses, and I believe the horses were as amused as he was. My son would go right up to the fence to check out the horses, and the horses came right up to the fence to check out him.

After my son and these two horses got to know each other, we continued along the fence which connected to one of many stables throughout the park. As we approached the stable we were able to pets a few horses, including one miniature. The first thing I noticed was that the miniature horse was separated by a fence from the other horses. As the miniature horse made his way down the fence, it seems as if he was introducing himself to the other horses.

As the miniature horse continued along the fence he came to a pale colored horse. This is when I took the original shot that became my print titled "A Mothers Love". Yes as you can realize, the horses arnt even related, however the shot reminded me of the affection and love a mother has for her child. Below is the original unedited image and below that is the final edited one.

After spending the day at this wonderful park, we drove back home to Cincinnati, rested a little, then got my son ready to do some trick or treating.

In case any of you are wondering, my son was a blue monster for Halloween.