Complete Heterochromia was all I could diagnose. The brown mare, having appeared from behind another, bore a piercingly bright blue eye on her left, with a mismatched brown eye on her right.
For a brief moment, I stood transfixed by the blue orb she looked me over with. The roadside's unusually healthy, vibrant grass gently sank to provide cushion to the impression-ing of my shoes as her surrounding neigh-bors continued to graze. Some blinked, unmoved by the visitor I was.
There I stood, a few feet away from my vehicle, visually embracing this string of horses and their uncanny corner backdrop, with only barbwire as the barrier of then-two perspectives.
My walk to the horses had been calm. I spoke soft 'hellos' before I made it to the barbwire line so they knew that I was coming.
The time was roughly 8:30AM. Having spent hours on the road, this was a nice, and unexpected opportunity for photography. The last time I had seen a horse upclose was in Iceland in June of 2018.
Running down i45 in my Kia as I had been, I was chasing the Saturday morning sun towards Houston, TX. A day trip meant for coffee with a friend and a long-awaited, first-time visit to Houston's Space Center, was interrupted by a brown roadside bulletin that read in bold, Texas Prison Museum.
Struck by the idea of any prison museum's very existence, I glanced at the clock and determined I had some time to spare before my first engagement in Houston.
Outside of this 'museum,' is where I found the horses. Little did I realize, the horses' corner backdrop was not the Texas Prison Museum....
Now closed in on the other side of the barb wire, I gently raised my camera and began to photograph the heterochromatic mare amongst her peers.
Not even a minute had gone by when I heard the sound of rubber tires approach from behind. I followed the noise only to find a beige car approaching slowly from over my right shoulder. A woman, who appeared to be a prison guard by the look of her uniform, quickly parked and stepped out of her vehicle. By her stern look, I knew...
"I'm not supposed to be here am I?" I guessed.
"No," she confirmed. "You could go to prison for this, you know that right?"
She stood behind her car door, as if to shield her.
Apart of me wanted to half-humorously say: I guess I don't have to go far...
I responded with the truth, "No, I had no idea."
"Are you here to visit someone?" She asked.
"No," I quickly replied. "I was driving by and saw the horses on the other property. I just pulled over to take a few portraits. I'll be on my way. Thank you for letting me know. I don't want to cause any trouble."
"Yes, go. You could get in serious trouble for this," she said. Her stern look did not waiver.
I moved quickly to my car, piled in, and went on my way towards Houston. It hadn't even occurred to me how my pulling over and semi-abandoning-my-vehicle-for-photography-purposes looked, muchless what town I had been in.
I passed through the town again late evening on my way back home, and that is when I realized where I was when the incident occurred.
Huntsville, TX.
Then it hit me. Huntsville Prison.....
REMINDER: Always know your surroundings.
