Horse: color to black & white

I'm still having fun taking color photographs and converting them to black and white. The process shows what a different statement the picture makes. Today I'm featuring a photo I took the other day of a horse that we visit regularly.
In the color version you see the interesting coat color with its interesting tones and subtle color changes. The photo was processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.0 Beta which is a free download from Adobe. You can try and use this version until the final version is released.

In the black and white version you are more drawn to the eye and the pattern of spots in his coat along with the soft black on his nose. The biggest difference so me is the strong contrast that make the spots in his coat jump out at you. Each of the photographs make their own statement and that is what has intrigued me with the process  The photo was transformed to black and white using Silver Efex Pro.
I have a suggestion of another blog that I read regularly Steve Huff is a professional photographer who not only takes wonderful pictures but does testing on the latest Leica, Nikon, Cannon cameras and accessories. Take a look and you will go back on a regular basis to see whats new and how to use it.