OklahomaHorses Magazine January 2022

10 OklahomaHorses • January/February 2022 Renowned equestrian photographer Bee Silva showed Simancik the ropes just a week after she voiced her desire to give this new hobby a go. “I kept pestering Bee to let me go with him on shoots so he could keep teaching me things,” she said. “He even sold me the first camera and lens set I ever used. It’s almost like the rest is history.” Click, Click, Click “By working for Dr. Carter, I met some of the top riders and breeders in their respective industries,” Simancik explained. “As soon as I started posting photos, people started hiring me.” Looking back at it now, Simancik jokes that she knew next to nothing about what she was doing behind the camera. That didn’t stop cow-horse trainer Kelby Phillips from hiring Simancik. “I was so terrified and nervous about that shoot because it was one of my all-time favorite horses [Hickory Holly Time],” Simancik said. “It was a horse-and-rider pair that I had watched win quite a bit. And Kelby’s wife is one of my best friends, so there was a lot of pressure.” The shoot was a mere six months after Si- mancik had picked up a camera for the very first time. It turned out to be one of those pivotal moments that ultimately launched her career as a photographer. “I leased a camera and lens that would be good enough for the shoot, and then I practiced with Erin Taormino,” Simancik Right, Italian jockey Frankie Dettori makes his signature flying dismount in the winner’s circle at the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Longines Turf Race. “The mare Enable had been flown over to America to run against the boys,” Carolyn Simancik explained. “She had just won the Prix de I’Arc de Triomphe. She is the first horse ever to win the Arc and the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the same season.” Trevor Dare and Jerseys Baby Driver churn up the dirt. “Everyone has taken a picture of Trevor on ‘Hercules,’ but I’m not sure that I’ve seen one of them bri- dleless. It’s fun to see their relationship together,” Carolyn Simancik said.