Mr Jaguar

Mr. Jaguar -- Was born in 1965.  Sired by Jaguar.  Dam: Zona Bar by Three Bars. He has a show, performance and progeny record as long a a presidential campaign.

John and Barbara Condon owned Mr. Jaguar and they knew he was a great horse.  The photos taken so far did not indicate that this was a truly great horse.  The Condons wanted me to fly to Seattle and their place at Woodenville to shoot Mr. Jaguar.  The cost to fly to Washington for one horse seemed high so Condons arranged with clients and friends to photograph enough horses to amortize the trip. 

The trip was planned. The plane went to the right of Mr Rainier which was sticking up above the clouds. As the plane was coming down in Seattle and a thick cloud of fog made visibility about 200 feet.  When landed, I looked out the window and in broad open daylight it was dark. We waited for days at Condons for the fog to clear and some sign of light. We drank gallons of coffee and talked about every horse and horse person we had ever heard of. Hopeless. Finally about the 3rd day John loaded up all the client's horses in two big trailers and we headed east over Snoqualmie Pass to some place where the sun would shine. The farther we drove the brighter it got. We stopped somewhere with a view of a huge lake and mountains in the background. It was desert and no fences. We unloaded beside the road and one by one took photos of every horse, somewhere on the prairie of eastern Washington.

Mr. Jaguar was in his prime. He stood perfect. This is a front view that was a reject.  A shot slightly more to the side was better and a rear view shot was so correct I used it in the PHOTOGRAPHING LIVESTOCK BOOK. The light on every vein was sparkling with the slick shiny Custus Rastus X Three Bars hot blood.

We had started well before daylight, driven several hours and then got back to Woodenville in the wee hours.  You have to do what you have to do.  Horse people are all crazy, but sometimes you do crazy things to keep from going insane.