If you've ever seen a professional photograph of a horse the chances are it was snapped by Five Valleys photographer Bob Langrish. After 30 years in the business he has built up one of the largest equine picture libraries in the world and has travelled the globe taking pictures at glamorous equine events. Reporter Sian Davies met up with him at his latest project at Camp Riding Centre, near Miserden, taking poster shots for the re-launched Horse and Pony magazine.

LITTLE girls are to ponies what strawberries are to cream -a classic combination inextricably linked.

Now pony-mad youngsters up at Camp Riding Centre are to grace the pages of the young pony lover's bible Horse and Pony magazine.

"I've only ever been on a horse a couple of times and didn't really like it," said 56-year-old Bob.

But despite his lack of passion for ponies the world-renowned photographer has illustrated hundreds of horse care guides, fiction books and equine magazines and has more than 30,000 horse images on file.

Following the re-launch of Horse and Pony magazine, which disappeared from the news stands four years ago, Bob, who lives in Camp, near Miserden and works from an office in Bisley, has been asked to produce all the poster pictures for the magazine.

Three ponies at Camp riding school - Chunky, Cresta and Snoopy - and Stroud youngsters Daisy Etherton, Jessica Vines and Elinor Thompson are to be the faces in Bobs posters.

The popular youth equine title was bought back to life in September, when it was produced again under license by Bourne Publishing Group.

Bob, who has two grown-up children - Sarah, 33, and Alaistair, 30 - said:

"Kids always relate to a pony so we decided it would be a good idea to use the same riding school for the pictures and Camp riding school being only a mile from where I live it was ideal.

"I had a word with Chris Barron, who runs the Camp Riding School and he chose three ponies and three kids and we've been doing a whole series of pictures along the lines of stable management, how to tack up a horse, and photos of them in riding lessons."

Bob, who gave up his job in the police to work as a photographer 35 years ago, started taking pictures at horse shows and pony club events that his daughter used to attend and sold them to the riders.

He said: "I started doing it part time while I was still in the police and I realised I could earn more money in a weekend doing the photography than I could in a week at work.

"It really started as a hobby and I got into doing horses really by accident.

Although Bob, who has illustrated the Jill series of horse riding books as well as a book for Jilly Cooper, admits he does now know a lot about horses.

"I understand horses and ponies because I work with them and I've really got to know lot about them over the years. But I have been chased out of the field many a time by horses too," he said.

"I've travelled all over the world taking pictures and have on file photographs of over 210 different breeds of horses from around the globe."

"It beats working for a living,"