[knixpix]

Hi, while I am not an expert by any means, I do shoot horses, with a 350D canon, some of it free reining, and find my Canon does a pretty good job, probably similar to your 400D, concidering there is not much between them.

I myself have been looking into this a bit, because I have had some work of the back of some free rening shots I took for my sister. Anyhow just to put a spanner into it, I have heard great things about the Nikons auto focus capabilities and speed therein. I have also done quite a bit of reading from equestrian photographers and from what I can gather the 70-200mm keeps coming up as a 'most used' size of lense for the type of photography your talking about.

So I totally understand your quandry. I also have a little bit of loyalty towards the Canon as I have been using them since the 1000F I had moons ago, but I cant help but think I may be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

So have you concidered looking at different makes?

Also its well worth looking at deals for twin lenses, as recently I have noticed new bodies with twin lenses that include a 70-200mm, for only a fraction more, than buying the lense on its own, so well worth checking that out. As I understand the 500D is out.