Photographer Ian Haggerty is a knight in shining armour for animals

KINROSS – Mr Ian Haggerty is known as a brilliant model photographer in local circles, but when animals become his subjects, he excels with the camera.

He is an avid animal lover with a keen eye for a good photo. He has always had a special affinity for horses.

“I grew up on a farm in KwaZulu-Natal where horse riding was part of everyday life.

He matriculated at St Charles College in Pietermaritzburg and moved to Johannesburg, but it was not long after that that he left for the United Kingdom with the idea of going on a working holiday.

“I had friends living in London and wanted to visit them. However, my trip to England turned into eight years of exploring the country, mainly up north in Scotland while working,” he said.

His equestrian skills proved to come in handy when he began to work at a medieval jousting tourney.

Mr Ian Haggerty was a “knight” in England for several years. He was part of a show that re-inacted the jousting tournaments in the medieval times during his younger years. Here, in black and yellow and sporting a mop of blonde hair, he rides out as Sir William Wallace.

“I became a knight with the full attire. For every jousting event I would become a knight, mount a horse and face an oncoming lance. Even though we were trained in how to move and fall, the impact of the lance was still pretty hard and the fall was sometimes worse than anticipated.”

Mr Haggerty once even jousted in the role of Sir William Wallace of which he still has footage as proof. The scene in this short video clip shows a young Ian Haggerty in black and yellow, sporting a mop of blonde hair.

“It reminded me of a scene from the movie A Knight’s Tale featuring Heath Ledger. It is my all-time favourite movie. A kid once told me I looked like the guy from A Knight’s Tale, I almost cried…but knights don’t cry!”

Upon his return to South Africa, Mr Haggerty’s love for horses remained and he started a livery yard in Johannesburg. That was where he met his future wife, Nel-Marie, who is also a keen horse rider.

The couple eventually moved to Nel-Marie’s family’s farm in the Kinross district in 2010 and Mr Haggerty also began a career as safety, health and environment practitioner at Sasol. After some of their horses were stolen, the couple decided not to keep horses anymore .

They now have only one horse, Cashnon ,which means chestnut.

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What they lack in horses, they surely made up for in other pets.

“We currently have eight dogs, two skinny pigs (hairless guinea pigs), a guinea fowl, a chicken, two rabbits, seven Marmoset monkeys, and two pigs,” said Mr Haggerty.

The most recent addition to the family is Zani, a two-week-old goat that is being potty trained and hand reared. The dog pool is a mixture of one pure bred (coffee pot and not tea cup) Yorkie adopted after her human mom died, and cross breeds. Their pets all have unique names.

The Haggerty couple does not seem able to pass a rescue without adopting. Most of their animals are rescued animals that were injured or abandoned.

Mr Haggerty’s love for animals shows in his photos. He often goes out on outreaches where he takes amazing photos with his Nikon camera. One of his favourite photo sessions was on the set of Rocket Horse Racing at the Wild Coast.

“I went there to work as a volunteer and to set up the camps, but eventually ended up helping to get the horses used to swimming and being out alone, for the brave adventure riders doing the 350km event. I was also able to photograph the entire event – my two favourite things: horseback riding and photography combined. Nothing like galloping down a beach taking photos of other riders with a full frame DSLR.”

Mr Haggerty has two aspirations for the future – to take an underwater photo of a great white shark in open water and without a cage. “And I want to hug a giant panda!”