Behind the scenes: spring/summer gear guide 2019

Ever wondered what happens on a fashion shoot? Rachel Dyke reveals what happened when Team H&R went on location to shoot images for the spring/summer gear guide

Shooting the lifestyle sections of H&R’s spring/summer gear guide usually requires a certain amount of make-believe – print deadlines mean we do it in February, so the weather tends to be better suited to coats and scarves than short-sleeves and sunglasses. Last year we even had to do battle with the Beast from the East, which left the poor design team Photoshopping a dusting of snow off the grass. This year, however, the weather played ball and we were treated to glorious sunshine, blue skies and spring flowers galore.

Unable to believe our luck, Art Editor Sarah, Designer (and photographer for the day) Jake, and I loaded up the car with products and headed to the yard of Annie Forsyth Eventing in Loxwood, Sussex. Annie generously took time out of her busy schedule of competing and teaching to model for our opening shot with her Advanced horse, Venella (Pip to her friends), then let us run riot around the yard, where we were spoilt for beautiful backdrops.

There were some downsides to the wonderful weather, though. Pip was far more interested in sunbathing than modelling for us – not that I can blame her! – which meant we had to go to creative lengths to get her ears forward. Imagine, if you will, three adults rattling keys, leaping about, shaking scoops of feed and scouring YouTube for animal noise clips, while the equine model slowly drifts into a peaceful doze. However, we got there in the end and the results are well worth the hard work.

If you’re looking for some great ideas for how to kit yourself and your horse out this season, check out the May issue of Horse&Rider, on sale now. Enjoy the sunshine!