This is the type of commission that I enjoy doing. One of my favourite subjects, painting horses, and in this case, a charming composition, of a horse being brought in to the stables, possibly for saddling up, by her young owner.

One of the most difficult things to get right was the colour of the horse. A brown horse doesn’t sound very complicated but there are many shades of brown, and I needed to get close to the original reference photograph. This horse looked like a bay to me, with black mane and tail, and with black legs. I did the horse over several days, building up the colour and letting it dry overnight. Until the colour was dry, you just could not tell what it would look like. Eventually I was satisfied with the result

Most other things were relatively straightforward. I blurred out the background to increase the feeling of distance. Also in the photograph the background was in direct competition with the main subject.

The composition now worked well and told a story. I was a rider myself once long ago, and this picture reminded me of those days. My son and I would go north for a week to Northumberland, where there are some very open spaces. We would ride from place to place, and overnight the horses with local farms. They would stay out overnight, and in the morning we would have to go and find them, and bridle them up. Horses are cunning and when they saw you coming would make for the higher ground. You really worked hard to catch them. Once you got the bridle on, you could bring them down to be saddled for the day’s ride. This picture reminded me. Incidentally all this happened nearly forty years ago. My son is 53 now and me, well, I don’t ride anymore.