Dawn on a winter’s day in Kentucky horse country is a time of pale beginnings. The sun rises slowly in the sparest shades of pink above treelines shorn of their summer leaves. Deep in the straw on nearly any Bluegrass farm, pastel wisps of dawn bring a new face peeking out with shy wonder from behind its mom. It is the new foal born during the previous night.

Foals have begun arriving in the Bluegrass. These are the hopefuls for the 2012 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, all of them learning to stand on wobbly new legs even as this year’s Derby hopefuls ramp up their training on race courses from Florida to Dubai. Veteran equine photographer, “Z,” shares with us her images of one such foal that charmed her during a routine assignment recently.

Here is her story:

My assignment was routine: to photograph the first foals of first-year stallions. But if I have learned one thing in 25 years as a photographer in the horse business, no routine assignment comes without surprises. That’s why I love photography. A surprise always awaits.

On this occasion, the foal I was to photograph was not available. This happens sometimes, for various reasons. The photographer has made the appointment but arrives to find that for some reason, the foal cannot be photographed that day.

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