• Have enough help. You will need a minimum of 2 people other than the photographer.
• Make sure everyone has plenty of patience and knows what their job will be.
• Make sure the horse is clean and ready when the help arrives.
• Choose a sunny day for the horses coat to show off the best.
• Show the person who will be holding the horse what an open stance looks like.
• Show the ear perker where you want them to stand in relation to the horse.
• Have plenty of different things available to get the horses attention.
• If possible take the horse to an area it is not accustomed to.
• Make sure the grass is mowed where the photos will be taken.
• Make sure the background will not have to much stuff to distract from the horse.
• MAKE SURE THE SUN WILL BE AT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS BACK WHEN HE/SHE WILL BE SHOOTING.

All of the above things are of key importance if you want to be successful in getting good photos. There are also some rules I follow when I am taking conformation shots.

1. I try to always have the sun at my back or close to that. If you do not do this there will be shadows on the horse or worst case the horse will be in silhouette.
2. I make sure the person who is holding the horse knows how to make a horse behave. Some owners are not the best people to hold their own horses.
3. I try to limit the amount of work with Photoshop it will take to use the photo. Sometimes there is no good place to take photos and when that is the case I choose the best I can find.
4. I try to always be perpendicular to the wither and slightly below the wither. This will give the most accurate photo of the horse's size and body proportions. If you are more to the head the hip will appear short and the back long. To the back the hip will appear longer and the back shorter. Keeping this in mind you can make a horse's conformation look better or worse.
5. Be prepared to take pictures the moment the horse is standing correctly. Normally the best photos you get are the first ones you take. This is because the horse is more easily perked when he is first stood up. After just a few minutes many horses will no longer lift and give the impressive stance that makes a picture really good.
6. Pay attention to detail. Be sure the bridle/halter fits properly. A noseband that is to low or to high will distort even a nice headed horse.
7. If the horse is not braided make sure you contain the mane on the opposite side of the neck from the camera. This can be done with braidettes or duct tape. I normally carry both with me.
8. Normally you can remove the person holding the horse from the photo but this is a real problem if the handler is standing behind the horses head. Caution them to pay attention to where they are at all times.
9. As long as the ear perker is no closer to the horse than the handler he/she can be removed as well.
10. I try to have the horses head slightly turned toward me. This will thin the throat latch. To much can make the neck look short so watch for this.
11. Make sure the horse is on level ground. For sure that the front feet are not in a hole or that the horse is pointed downhill.

How you process the photos after they are taken is also important. I see photos often where the camera was not held level. I do it all the time myself so I do understand how it happens but you should not publish a photo like this. When you crop the photo straighten it. Don't try to make the horse look uphill to the point that the trees or fence posts are leaning. Make sure you leave more grass under the horses hooves than you leave air above his head. This has to do with perspective, if you cut the photo close to the hooves the horse will have the impression of being shorter and you will feel like you are looking down on him.

All of the information above is intended to help the horse owner take better photos of their own horse. These comments are only my opinion and are tools I have used for years taking photos.