The Incomparable Nico Morgan at Badminton this year
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If you haven’t got your mitts on a copy of the 2012 Riders Revealed Calendar to support Claire Lomas’ quest to walk in the London Marathon and Spinal Research, then probably all you’ve seen so far is a couple of sneak previews courtesy of EN and Nico Morgan. Be sure to enter the competition on Part 2 of our chat with Claire to be one of five winners of the Calendar, and otherwise, order one, or a couple, or four or five here!
2012 is the second calendar and features some very comely show-jumpers for a change, as well as some of the leading Event Riders in the world – this year’s Badminton and Rolex winners are amongst them.
 Show-jumpers Claire Robertson, Nathalie Phillips, Vicky Young and Jackson Reed Stephenson
I spoke to Nico Morgan, who usually spends his time traipsing around all manner of horsey events in all kinds of weather, with the odd wedding and society “do” thrown in, about his special assignment….
Having been involved in the first edition, Claire asked for his support this year, and Nico immediately agreed to not only sponsor the Calendar, but also to take pictures. Claire allotted photographers to riders by region, and funnily enough, Nico somehow ended up with rather more than his fair share of pretty girls?
“Complete fluke!” he assures me, “It was noticeable when you looked at the rest of the Calendar, it has to be said, but yes I did manage that somehow!”
One of my favourites, of Piggy French, a member of the British squad here in Kentucky for WEG last year, and on the European Team in Luhmuhlen earlier this autumn, was carefully planned beforehand, and in fact Piggy had specifically requested Nico after he’d done some website and PR work for her,
“We had to do Piggy’s quite quickly; we’d discussed it in advance, how she was going to sit on the wall and things like that basically, and we decided to add Jaffa (Jakarta, 2nd at Badminton this year) as an afterthought. To start with we weren’t going to use the Union Jack because we thought it was a bit naff, but it ended up being a useful addition.”
Nico turned up at the Kyles’ yard where Lauren Shannon is based with a completely open mind, and after a quick look around, improvised with what was available,
“Lauren was all ready to go, but she didn’t realise she had to be naked so that was a bit of a shock! Her groom was actually there in that one with her because we decided that a horse, a lunge rein and whip, a cast on one arm and clothes that she had to take off at the last minute were all going to be a bit of a challenge without an extra pair of hands. So Jenny had to stand in there too, and she was really embarrassed about seeing her boss naked, so she kept her eyes shut and was just groping around for the clothes! Lauren had to work out how to keep the horse going round in a circle without actually turning round herself, which she mastered pretty quickly!”
Luckily there’s been no awkwardness between him and the riders since their photo-shoots, “they’ve all been very cool about it, it was just the thing to do really. Piggy’s probably the most high-profile of all of them and she hasn’t had any issues with it at all.”
 Almost unbelievably, none of the riders batted an eyelid at the prospect of disrobing, “they arrived with that in mind, they were all really gee-d up for it, the girls had a bottle of wine and Jackson had had a fake tan; they’d obviously decided between themselves that it was going to be done properly!”
Maybe he’s just being a gentleman, but I’m inclined to believe Nico, tactful as he is, when he tells me he didn’t really ‘see anything’!,
“That was the funny thing, I didn’t actually learn anything about anybody’s, er, privacy (very delicately put!) more than I did beforehand, it was all quite tastefully done. We’d get everyone in position, then I would turn around, they would sort themselves out (strip naked!), I would turn around again and start snapping away.”
One of Nico’s more serious pieces: Todd about to head out on cross country this year at Burghley on Major Milestone. Browse his galleries for more stunning shots.
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For the legions of fans of Nico’s bona fide equestrian work, there’s no need to be anxious – he laughs off any suggestion that he might now branch out into the world of glamour photography. In fact since returning from the Horse of the Year Show, Nico’s been busy putting the finishing touches on his new website, organising his archives, and trying to reply to Horse and Hound, and other big clients before the hunting season begins in earnest.
Be sure to enter our competition in Part 2 of Claire’s interview, and buy a few extra copies of the calendar for your nearest and dearest too. Don’t forget to check out Nico’s website and archives too, if you’re looking for something slightly less controversial to give – everyone loves beautiful photos!
Thank you to Claire, to Nico and to you for reading – it’s such an enormous privilege to talk to such wonderful people, all touched in horses by some way, and all amazing in one way or another, and I’m very aware every day of how incredibly lucky I am, and thrilled to share with you. Thank you, and go Eventing Nation!
