Bee Free Photography By Rita Quinn - Austin, Texas

A very dear friend of mine and my husband’s named Dottie Laster invited us to meet her horses out south past San Antonio and give us each a riding lesson. Having only rode a horse a few times and never taken lessons, we both were excited about the offer and accepted.

Dottie is the Executive Director of an anti human trafficking non-profit organization called Million Kids (www.millionkids.org) and is an all around incredible lady. She literally helps rescue women and children from modern day slavery trades. She also leads civic and police human trafficking training sessions across the United States to educate others on how to spot and prevent human trafficking in their area.

In her spare time, Dottie is quite the equestrian. She is a native Texan and has been around horses all her life. And after seeing her with them, I would even say she’s a bit of a horse whisperer. She seems to really know what they’re thinking and how to communicate with them. Me, on the other hand, well, not so much.

I’m a huge animal lover and thought I would have a blast meeting and riding her horses. But when we arrived and I saw just how huge they were, I found myself a little paralyzed. I was genuinely uncomfortable anywhere within a few feet of them. I felt like such a dork! My husband, of course, was a complete natural with them. And like most animals, they immediately loved him back.

As you might have guessed, I let my husband have the first lesson while I peered away shooting pictures from a safe distance. Seeing how Dottie worked with my husband and the horses, I grew more and more comfortable. So when it was my turn for the lesson, I was only 50% scared out of my mind, instead of 100%.

Dottie was very patient with me and let me just spend most of the time getting familiar with even being on her lovely horse. She basically walked him, while I rode. Which was perfectly fine for me! In the end, I was happy I took the lesson but was more in my element on the ground taking pictures. She’s since offered to take us out again. We’ll see… but I’m likely to accept.