Not Your Traditional #ManCrushMonday- Horses and Hunks…
All photos courtesy of 2016 Horses and Hunks Calendar.
By: Brittany Bevis
The rippling muscles, long flowing locks, smooth and supple hair coats… Wait a minute. Nope, we’re not talking about a typical Man Crush Monday. We’re going gaga over the stunning equine specimens featured in the 2016 edition of the Horse and Hunk Calendar, which, for the first time ever, is now available in North America.
Recently, we had the opportunity to speak with Allison Fayer, who was instrumental in bringing the Horse and Hunk Calendar stateside, to find out more about the equine athletes (and men) featured in the 2016 edition. The HAH Calendar was originally founded in 2009 as a business school project at the University of Dronten in Holland. Now, six years later, the calendar is still going strong, and the effect goes much further than simply sharing pictures of hunky horses and horse hunks.
“We are proud to support the Brooke Hospital for Animals, helping to provide veterinary and farrier care for horses and other pack animals in impoverished countries,” Allison Fayer says. “People underestimate the quality of this calendar. Unlike other competitors, horses are as equally important in our calendar as our hunks. It’s creative, artistic, strong, and beautiful all at the same time; it’s really like nothing else on the market. The Brooke Hospital does some phenomenal work and this calendar is a great way to give someone an awesome gift (or for yourself!) while helping out a great cause.”
The Brooke Animal Hospital is an international animal welfare organization dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys, and mules in some of the poorest countries in the world. The first Brooke Hospital was founded in 1934 in Egypt and now the organization does work in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of HAH goes to assist with the Brooke Animal Hospital charitable endeavors.
Fayer first discovered HAH while perusing the Internet looking for unique equine fundraising ideas. She reached out to the group to inquire about bringing the calendar to North America for 2016, and the rest is history!
Wondering how HAH finds all of the stunning specimens featured in the 2016 edition? Fayer says a casting call is run each year in the Netherlands. Several participants are repeat models, but some are new to this year’s edition.
“The horses are from a variety of locations from competition stables to pleasure horses,” she says. “Some reach out to HAH to participate, while others are scouted for specific photo ideas, such as the sliding stop picture (Mr. February).”
“We have everything from Haflingers to Paint Horses and Warmbloods of varying ages. Some of our horses are active competitive athletes in everything from Show Jumping to Dressage and Reining.”
While most of the HAH horses are competitive athletes, many of the male models featured in the calendar aren’t equestrians. “The majority have very little or no horse experience,” she says. “There was one rider who took lessons during the weeks leading up to the shoot, but the majority are brand new! The riders are all very brave, though it often takes some trial and error to get quite the right shot!”
If you’d like a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the 2016 HAH, check out this video clip: http://horseandhunkcalendar.com/index.php/sample-page/.
In order to capture the beautiful shots featured in the HAH, the group needed to choose a photographer who had experience both in the horse industry and in the world of professional portraiture. They chose Holland-based photographer Johnny Van Bergen. “Johnny Van Bergen shoots all of our spectacular photos!” she says. “We’re very lucky to have such a talented photographer on board.”
If you’d like to purchase the 2016 HAH Calendar, visit www.horseandhunkcalendar.com. And we’ve got great news! Horses and Hunks would like to gift one of our EquineChronicle.com readers with a FREE copy of the 2016 Calendar, including shipping anywhere in North America! All you have to do is visit The Equine Chronicle on Facebook, like our Facebook page, and then share the post connected to this article. At the end of this week, a winner will be drawn at random from all of those who shared the post. Remember, you must have also liked The Equine Chronicle Facebook page in order to be eligible. Good luck!
