Custom Horse Portraits from Your Photo

Photograph a horse side-on or three-quarter, from two or three metres back at shoulder height, in even light. Horses are harder to photograph well than dogs or cats, mostly because of their size: it is very easy to end up with a distorted head or a body that runs out of frame. A good horse painting starts with a photo taken a few steps further back than feels natural — and, as the RSPCA advises for any animal, with the flash off and daylight that is "not too bright" (RSPCA).

• Stand at shoulder height, side-on or three-quarter. Straight-on shots flatten the face; from below, the nose dominates everything.
• Step back and zoom in. A phone held close to a horse's head bends the whole profile. Two or three metres back solves it.
• Shoot in even light. Early morning, late afternoon or an overcast day. Midday sun in a sand school produces hard shadows across the face.
• Include the blaze, socks and mane. These are what make the portrait recognisably your horse rather than a bay.
• Landscape suits full-body. Pick the landscape orientation for conformation or horse-and-rider compositions; portrait suits a head study.

The equestrian portrait is one of the oldest forms of animal painting in Europe, and the best-known example is a horse standing entirely alone. George Stubbs painted Whistlejacket around 1762, commissioned by the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham as a life-size portrait of his retired racehorse.

What makes it the reference point for everything since is what Stubbs left out. The National Gallery describes how he "excludes any reference to a rider, riding equipment or location, painting the magnificent rearing horse against a neutral background of pale gold" (The National Gallery, London), and calls the result "probably the most well-known portrait of a horse".

That is the logic behind our plainer equestrian styles: the horse at full size against a quiet ground, with nothing in the frame competing for attention. If you want tack, a rider or a stable yard in the picture, say so in the notes — but the tradition argues for less.

Losing a horse is a long goodbye, often after decades. The Memorial style is deliberately quiet — soft light, a pale background, nothing sentimental — and it works from older photos, including scanned prints from before digital cameras.

You can add a name and dates. There is more about how we approach this on our pet memorial portraits page, which applies to horses just as it does to dogs and cats.