06/09/2026
Buy the picture!
Not every picture at every rodeo or jackpot, but buy the picture. I'm not saying that because I'm the one selling the pictures, I'm saying it because if you're lucky enough to own your "heart horse", or one that just makes your life better by being in it, you never know when they'll give you their last run.
I had a mom reach out to me last night to get pictures of a horse that was being put down because of an injury. This is probably the 6th or 7th request I've gotten like this and I've only been shooting rodeos for about 3 years. And I'm happy to give any pictures I can find because I've been there. And luckily, I have every photo archived on my website and I have 20TB of external drives with backups of all my photos so if you can give me a date I can find the photo.
But my advice is buy the photo. If you run a new PR at that arena you run at a lot, buy that picture. If you run at that big show and that "famous" photographer is there and gets a great shot but he's real expensive, tell grandpa how much you love the picture and wish you could afford it, he'll buy it for you. When the photographer gets that perfect shot of your loop right above the calve's head but you missed your slack and the calf ran through the loop, buy that photo. When it's hanging on the wall 10 years from now and you'd give anything for one more run, only you will know you missed that calf, well, your dad will still remember, and he'll tell your future kids you missed it, but other than you, your dad and your future kids, everyone else will think it's a cool picture and a great reminder of "that one horse".
If you're lucky, "that one horse" will spend 10 years in your pasture after you retire them. Reality is some of these horses live life with the fragility of a freshly blown bubble floating on a breeze. So my advice is buy the photo and print a few of them so they're more than a one time post and an annual reminder on Facebook or Snapchat.
📷 Mack ❤️🩹
