Don Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 I have a meeting tomorrow, during which we are to talk about the best way to light horses. The client wants to followspot them with ambient light in the room. The display is in a small barn with no natural light as it is in the evening. Will be quite basic but I have 2.5K of money and generator power so no cutting corners needed. I have never lit animals before. Does anyone have any experience of this, how they react to followspot in their face etc etc. Many Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danjshelton Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Hi, I once lit a horse show in what sounds like a similar environment (Barn with no natural light (SON type lighting in there already) in the early - late evening), all the client wanted was to followspot the horses, as soon as we first tried this the horses didn't like it that much, but seemed to carry on regardless. The client thought it was great but you could tell the horses weren't that happy. For reference this was with a Buxie followspot and it wasn't very far off the ground (Top of some tiered seathing, maybe only 5 - 7 tiers high). Cheers Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 I've seen it done before with no problem! It's important to have some ambient light not just follow spots. Also if there is a competition element let the lighting for this be uniform for all competitors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 The only times I've worked with Horses indoors have been at The Centaur in Cheltenham Racecourse for several horse Auctions. With that there has always been a general wash from the house system to give a good even coverage over the arena. For anything smaller I'd try and get it as high and wide as possible to give a good even wash across the area they will be in, and avoid anything too 'In their Eye'. I'd also make sure there is plenty of separationm between the horses and guests, and mke sure there are exits that people can use spearate to the horses. If one of them does get spooked and decides that it's going to have a 'moment' here's not a lot that can be done to stop it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 You should be able to find a vid of the Horse Of The Year Show among family or contacts. Check what they use! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Posted August 12, 2007 Author Share Posted August 12, 2007 Many Thanks, no competition element here, as far as I know its a display which is part of a party for a well off family. Dont think I need to light the audience, all eyes on the horse I guess. Will find out tomorrow. I had thought if the horse could not see, e.g followspot in its face, it would just stop. I do hope its a high barn.Equipment will be from PRG so I have a wide choice of spots etc. Thanks again chaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Ring round some local stables, most will know someone who has ridden at an indoor event, hence know the equine problems. If the horse can see it's surroundings -ie there is a general wash then few problems. Actually a good level of light wil be needed as the action and faces will be far away form the people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vl nick Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Mr Don, Horse of the Year show at Olympia ?? (Jon Pope LD) I believe thats the one we do... any way during the day they have lots of Pars and follow spots beaming down on the horses. They also do this junior riding competition which is lit really darkly with VL3000 Spots doing color chases etc... the horses are picked up with Follow spots. I saw no major incidents of the horses disliking it, Piggy usually works on it so might be worth giving him a call. Bouf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceecrb1 Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 from someone who has owned horses and my sister is a coach.... horses really are totaly unpredictable, but the best thing to avoid is fast changes in any situation, sound, light, things moving etc.. (their natrual reaction is "fright & flight") if with followspots, dont snap the shutters open/closed... make everything a fade, as slow as you can make it. however, back to my original point, really they are totally unpredictable, some which find nothing scary will just freak out for no reason (mine once freaked out over a road sign which it had passed every day for near 9 years!) and when they do there is nowt you can do about it! if they dont like it, theyre not for changing their mind quickly.. sorry if this post give you more to worry about but its some advice I can add to the thread...... edit to add:Try as best you can to make any changes to lighting when the animal has its back to you.. its the #1 rule of having a horse, never approach it from behind.. it cant see and it gets a shock when it finnaly does... and being animals they may or maynot react the same way to a followspot suddenly (in their view) being shone at them Also make sure there is a rehersal with EVERY horse, and during which, start with the spot OFF the horse and move it slowly towards it (as said earlier, towards its front so it knows its comming), you'll know instantly if it moves away from the light or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzette Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Agree with others - don't do anything fast & bright, it is very likely to spook the horse. A nice ambient light over the audience, even if not as bright as the arena area, would help as the horse can then see what else is in the area and (hopefully) won't be scared by noises from the dark areas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lampy Craig Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 I've done a bit of work involving lighting animals and found it a bit unpredictable.Usually when lighting horsey type performances a nice wash over the performance area with followspotting from right up high seems to work well and not spook the horses too much.A couple of rehearsals with the horses under the show light is the only way to gauge the reaction of each particular horse, but even when used to the lighting they can still tend to spook pretty easily. I did a few shows lighting Tigers, Horses and Elephants in France and they hated strobes and silly stuff like that but were fine under an o/w wash with follow spots from high above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bradpepe Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 I have a meeting tomorrow, during which we are to talk about the best way to light horses. The client wants to followspot them with ambient light in the room. The display is in a small barn with no natural light as it is in the evening. Will be quite basic but I have 2.5K of money and generator power so no cutting corners needed. I have never lit animals before. Does anyone have any experience of this, how they react to followspot in their face etc etc. Many Thanks At the Olympics in 2000, we had created the Olympic rings from many Cyberlights. The horses wanted to jump the hard edge lines, so we had to soft focus the fixtures so they horses were not "jumping" in and out of the pools of light. As mentioned in this thread, it really depends on the particular animals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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