I was eager to meet Merlin, my friend Jenna Woginrich’s (Cold Antler Farm) new horse. We had a cup of tea at her farm and went over to the stables where Merlin is being boarded, and where Jenna grooms and trains with him. It is a compelling story in a number of ways. Her decision to buy this 15-year-old Fells pony was not simple or cheap. It touched off some intense discussion on her website, where she was alternately encouraged, supported, challenged, criticized and questioned. Other farmer/homesteaders wondered about the rationality of her getting a horse, and some thought it was a frivolous and unjustifiable waste of money. It will cost her a lot, for sure, in hay, boarding fees and vet bills.

We joked about Merlin’s controversial arrival. What about your life, I said (or mine) could possibly be described as rational? I worry about Jenna sometimes – she takes on many things – but I do not worry about her decisions.   I loved taking photos with Jenna and Merlin, as she is not only my friend, but I saw another powerful chapter in human-animal attachment. Jenna can take care of herself – at 29, she got a mortgage for a farm, runs workshops, has written three books, and raises much of her own food, barters like a fiend, has ads all over her great blog. It’s not for me to second-guess her decisions. The call to life is personal, individual, and not decipherable or comprehensible to outsiders. We each answer it in our own way and time, and Merlin will be one book, at least, if not more. In our culture, we are led to think we know what others ought to do with their lives. In my experience, we almost never do. One thing is very clear, and that is that Jenna is very happy with this horse, knows how to care for him, and does it lovingly and confidently.

I was struck by the photos, they showed so much connection and emotion, so I am putting a bunch of them up on my Facebook Page as a photo album, “Jenna And Her Horse.”  One of those experiences that make me grateful for being a photographer, as it would be hard to capture the morning in words only. Animals open up so many windows in us, they mean so much to us, and they say so much about us. Thanks to Jenna for inviting me into her life and opening herself up and letting me photograph this intimate and very personal relationship. Those two are in a dance of their own. Mostly what I was thinking was lucky person, lucky horse.