09/04/2026
Long before I ever thought about photographing horses, I loved them.
I grew up in the Dominican Republic in the early 1970s. My family lived in the capital, but one of my uncles had a farm out in the countryside, where horses weren’t recreational — they were part of everyday life. To a boy visiting from the city, though, I saw only one thing: horses. And I desperately wanted to ride one.
I got my wish. There was no saddle, the horse took off, and I slid farther and farther sideways until I finally came off near a sugar-cane ditch. You’d think that would have been enough riding for one lifetime. It wasn’t. I got back on — and rode the rest of the day.
Life never gave me many chances to ride after that, but the feeling stayed. Years later, photography gave me a way back to horses. My very first equestrian session — photographing my friend Katie with her horse in 2014 — was, honestly, a beautiful disaster. But when we walked her horse down a wooded path to a pond, I saw it: atmosphere, story, connection. Something I wanted to understand.
That’s what equestrian portraits are really about. Not a fancy horse or a perfect location — the relationship between a horse and their person, and the memory of what it felt like to be together.
That’s the story behind The Horse & Home Journal. Comment HORSE and I’ll send you my complimentary From Barn to Heirloom planning guide.
https://equestrian.melvinguanteportraits.com/start-here-awareness/why-i-photograph-equestrian-portraits/
