By Shya Beth
The way Susan McClafferty’s passion for horses bridges the art and equestrian worlds is one of a kind. As both a fine art photographer and horse owner, Susan has a perspective on the horse that is nuanced and dynamic. “I’m a fine-art photographer, so one of my biggest challenges is explaining to people that I don’t sell photo shoots as a service,” Susan said. “I do take a small number of commissions per year, but those are for me to take photos of someone’s horse or horses in my style, under my own direction, for the owners to purchase as large art pieces.”
A self-proclaimed technology geek, Susan has always had a career in information technology, currently as a consulting program director for a large health system. While she excels with the analytical, logical and mathematical aspects that come with her day job, she needs the visual, intuitive and creative balance in her life, which is why she chose to keep her day job and pursue professional photography part time. “I pour passion equally into both aspects of my life and run both businesses simultaneously. My formal education is all in information technology, but I’ve taken plenty of courses and workshops in photography along my journey,” she said. “My expertise in technology made a perfect pairing with studio photography, where science meets art.”
Botanical Beasts
Carousels to Rocking Horses
Susan made the transition from carousel and rocking horses to real horses when she attended riding camp as an 11-year-old, and, as expected, fell in love with these magnificent creatures. It didn’t take long for her to start formal riding lessons at a local stable in Nova Scotia. Susan grew up in a family with a strong blend of scientific and artistic talents, where she admired the artistic skills of her extended family including painters, jewelers and photographers. Instead of exploring visual art, Susan focused more on writing poetry and fairy tales, partly due to an art teacher who discouraged her from drawing.
Thankfully, that discouragement didn’t keep Susan from exploring artistic mediums that led to this pursuit of equine imagery. A photo shoot starts with Susan confirming that the location can work for her studio setup, as she prefers to have a large, enclosed area with minimal light and certainly no wind. She sets up large backdrops on stands with between two and five strobe flashes and a variety of light modifiers, as well as other studio effects equipment depending on her objective.
“I use Photoshop to remove distractions, which for me include things like scars, halters, horse handlers, flies,” Susan said. “My goal is always to photograph what I want in-camera and not to depend on post-processing for my images. In some circumstances in photography, you’re working against physics and you need post-processing tools to pull up shadows or brighten colors, but no major transformation is done to my art photos.”
Colorful Coats 1
Owner & Equine Advocate
Susan currently owns five horses, and for much of her life she was immersed in hunter-jumper competitions. In 2019, her equestrian path took a different turn. She acquired a cremello Lusitano gelding named Roucio, rekindling her joy of simply being with horses without competition or riding goals. Roucio grew to become her partner in quiet, unhurried moments as she worked to understand him deeply, bonding through liberty work.
Roucio’s most important role was caring for a dear friend in late-stage cancer. “My friend and her children enjoyed his gentle nature, and he brought comfort throughout her journey,” Susan said. “After my friend’s passing, her beloved show-jumper mare, Klio, and the foal she had dreamed of as her next competition horse returned home with her family.”
The horses remained with them as they took time to grieve. Then, in 2023, everything came full circle. “My friend’s daughter, now 8 and taking riding lessons on Klio, returned with both the mare and the now-4-year-old unbroken gelding, Jazzinger, living at the farm where I stay during the summer,” Susan said. “I decided to purchase him, ensuring that a trusted friend could start his training, another friend could continue it, and with my hope that he might become the perfect horse for her daughter one day, completing this beautiful circle. It filled my heart, and I’m confident that with the support of a circle of devoted equestrians, he’ll be safe and well cared for.”
Lofty Looks 1
Susan’s commitment to the lifelong well-being of her horses and the equestrians who prioritize these values over competitive goals carried forward in late 2023, when she stopped on her annual trip to Florida to watch a special rider try out a Friesian. Susan purchased the horse for the rider, entrusting her to train and care for him as her own, with Susan’s support. Since then, Susan has made similar commitments two other times, bringing her to the current herd of five horses. And she can’t say for certain that she’s done just yet.
“This venture has paid me back in ways that money never could,” Susan said. “I feel more joy about these horses and equestrians than I ever did with all the wonderful horses I owned and competed myself. I’ve encountered horses with mental and physical damage my entire equestrian life, and it’s downright depressing. Horses have just become more and more expensive and out of reach for most people, with increasing demands on them to do too much too soon, to their detriment.”
In response, Susan does what she can for the horses she can. “I cannot change the entire horse world, but I can take care of these horses and do my very best to make sure they never encounter mistreatment of any kind,” she said, “and can live their lives to the fullest, without any hard and fast rules about what they need to accomplish, in the hands of these compassionate equestrians. In addition to that pure joy, some of my agreements with these equestrians end up with them partially or fully owning the horses they’ve built these partnerships with, although I hope I will always play a role in supporting them.”
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