Fun fact: when I was younger, there was a time when my parents were considering getting a horse before they made the decision to move us all to Austin. Who knew where we’d keep it, or what even brought on the thought, but what I do know is I was pretty excited. Then I saw the horses, with their huge teeth that could bite off a finger, and I learned that Superman was paralyzed from being bucked by a horse. I suddenly went from going through possible names of my new stallion to being totally scared of them. I thought they were beautiful to look at…but from very far away.

Fast forward to last week, where I’m surrounded by these huge, beautiful horses out at The Lonestar Ranch in Georgetown. I had never been around so many horses before. I walked up to the stables feeling nervous but left there basically a full blown horse girl. Ask my wife – I don’t think I’ve ever talked more about how beautiful horses are in my entire life. We had all of this beautiful land on the ranch, stunning horses, great light, and some of the sweetest people all together to take these photos.

It was such a joy to meet Haley, the instructors, and all of the student riders who are always working so hard to take good care of the horses and take classes to get better and better at riding! Seriously, these kids are way braver than I was at their age…or even braver than I was three weeks ago for that matter.

Also, pro tip: horses always look amazing in black and white photos. So, if you ever go out and take some pictures of horses, you gotta put it in black and white and just marvel at its total majesty. And if you do, tag me on Instagram (@alyssagreenwoodphoto) so I can see more pictures of horses! Tina Belcher has always known what’s up.