Molly won a Blue Ribbon+note to Retief

Please comment so I can improve, and don't hold back on my account.
Went out to the local Arabian horse competition today to watch my friend's horses entries. For Retief: I got hassled by the director, as he was alerted that some "freelance photographer" was running around taking pics, horning in on action. (I remember your similar dog show story). When I explained to him I was just out there for the fun of it and the practice, and had no intentiions of selling a single pic, he seemed puzzled at first, but was ultimately satisfied with my story.

Simply could not find an uncluttered place to take Molly's pick in the shade, so we we way out to the outskirts of the fairgrounds, and shot there. Couldn't use fill flash on Molly's shot, since she told me the last time someone did that, the horse bolted.   She's one of the part-time groomers at Legend Crest, where I've been shooting those Arabians lately.
The other pics are just a couple interesting horses I captured while in the grandstands.
Molly's pic was shot with D2X/28-70, while the other 2 were shot with 70-200VR on a monopod.
Molly:

NIKON D2X    ---    70mm    f/2.8    1/2000s    ISO 125

Red Ribbon winner:

NIKON D2X    ---    105mm    f/2.8    1/2500s    ISO 125

Interesting Gelding:

NIKON D2X    ---    175mm    f/2.8    1/640s    ISO 125

 

Thanks for the nice comments Gale. I do work hard to get them to this state somethimes. The last 2 needed some EV adjustment then a healty dose of DEE to get them looking this way. Not sure I follow you on the term "AH"s" though.

 

Thanks Wade, I see what you mean by Molly's hand placement, that's a good suggestion. Heck, you should'a seen the 1st couple shots! Her little helper was holding the ribbon into the frame, with this mysterious little hand coming in from the right side. That wasn't working at all!
The shots where the gent had his eyes open were either no good due to the judges positions in the frame, or in a couple, he had his crop obscuring his face. This was right in the middle of the competition, so it's not like I could yell, "Hey buddy, get that crop away from your face, and open your eyes more. I was well over 100 ft away too.