I need tips for photographing horses

[7000-4life]

Hi everybody

This weekend i'm going to a dog show with our dogs and at the same time there is a horse show or what ever you call it at that same place.
one of my moms colleages suggested that i took some photos at the horse show too, because many of the girls usually wanted to buy photo's from there.
so i need some tips since i never photographed horses before, as far as i know it's dressage riding...
please give me some tips .

[sybren]

In my experience, animals are no different from people, except that you (usually) can't exactly tell them what to do. I've never been to any dog/horse show, but I can imagine that there'll be some distance between you and your subjects. Grab your 70-300mm, be sure to keep the IS enabled, and shoot away! The larger the aperture, the more zoomed in and the closer you are to the subject, the better the subject will be separated from the background (due to a smaller depth of field).

[7000-4life]

that's exactly what i was thinking and of course i use my 70-300 that's my favorite lens. normally it's the only one i use unless i really need the wide angle

[anathoth]

Horses are tricky to shoot. I have three of my own and they are tough, but when you add a person into the equation you really have to be aware of the entire shoot. If you are not familiar with dressage (it is like horse ballet) go on youtube and familiarize yourself with the sport. Participants operate on a set pattern so you need to be very aware of your location/angle. You will find it a beautiful sport to watch and photograph. If you have the opportunity I would also wander around the stall area and offer to take photos of horse and rider. We horse people love the rare good picture with our horses. Finally, and most fundamentally all horses photograph best when their ears are forward. This might be a bit tricky with dressage, because the horses are often rotating their ears to listen to the riders cues. Good luck.