Shooting the cover
By
Setting up the shoot: Sophie Houlihan of Flex Horse Training and my brother Anthony get the float ready while David Manchon and Rocky wait patiently. Anthony also modelled for the photo on P27 of 'Equine Emergency Rescue'.
Often I am asked about the ‘poor horse’ on the cover of Equine Emergency Rescue. Fear not – no horses were harmed during the making of this cover!
I first met my cover horse, Rhondhu Fiddlers Roc, three years ago when I wrote a feature article for Australian Quarter Horse magazine on the joint Channel 10 / BBC TV series Outback 8. Described as the most ambitious and successful children’s television series ever filmed in Australia, Outback 8 took eight kids aged from 12 to 14 (only two of whom had ever ridden before), flew them to the Outback, mounted them up and in just four weeks turned them into jackaroos and jillaroos and sent them out to muster 200 head of cattle. It was great television and the making of eight mouthy city kids who started out with attitude to burn and no respect for man nor beast, and ended the series as confident riders, totally engaged with their horses and competent enough to be of value in a stock camp. Well, that was the official line anyway…
Rhondhu Fiddlers Roc (Rocky) was an integral part of this show. He was the quiet sucker the kids used to learn how to saddle and bridle a horse and was the mount for his owner and trainer, David Manchon, one of the mentors for the Outback 8 kids. Around the time the series was filmed, David was also a lead actor/rider in the Australian Outback Spectacular theme show on the Gold Coast, where he was was exposed to renowned liberty horse trainer Tony Jablonski. Tony’s influence lead to David training Rocky as a liberty horse and when I saw the two in action I knew Rocky was the horse I needed for my cover, if only I could decide which rescue scenario to feature on the front of the book.
David Manchon and Rocky the liberty horse
Most horse owners I asked said absolutely the worst accident they could imagine happening to them and their horses would be to have an accident on a motorway or for their horse to go down while they were towing. Strangely, that is also my worst nightmare so the decision was made.
Rocky also appeared in the TV movie 'Shadows of the Past', filmed near Warwick in Queensland
On my way home, I stopped on the side of the M1 on a stretch of motorway just south of Beenleigh where I knew the shadows would match those in the Gatton photos, and took a series of shots of motorway traffic. Never again. And I hope never to break down on a motorway because no one slows down for anything.
The next step was to send both photos to my book designer who removed the tack box from the left side of the float, put lights on the left to match those on the right, removed a truck from the motorway shot, stuck the two photos together (that’s a technical term for using Photoshop) and voila! We have a cover.
My sincere thanks to David, Sophie and Rocky from Flex Horse Training, Cam from Gatton Showground and my brother Anthony for their help.
You can follow David Manchon and Rocky at www.flexhorse.com.au
