4/27/2025
I want to ride a dragon! I want to climb on its back, let its magic strap me in and take to the skies, spiraling, twisting and soaring through clouds above the tallest mountains and trees, visiting places where even eagles can’t go. I want to forge a close bond with a dragon, the kind where we can read each other’s minds and soak up its magical powers.
Even as a child, dragons and unicorns have always been my favorite creatures of enchantment! They came to life in my mind through books telling their stories, and more recently shows such as Game of Thrones and House of Dragons.
However, just a few days ago my obsession with dragons renewed while a spring thunderstorm plummeted our land with torrential rain, making my desire to ride Fly out of the question. Our electricity and internet were out too throwing us into the dark ages and eliminating my ability to work.
Under the glow of candlelight accompanied with the cloudy, dim daylight and rumbles of thunder, which for me is the perfect environment to submerge myself in a good book, I began to read Four Wings, by author Rebecca Yarros. Four Wings is about a three-year academy that trains warriors who become dragon riders. After the first couple of chapters, I instantly developed a connection with the main character. And as I continued reading, I began to greatly anticipate the moment Yarros’ has created, known as thrashing, where the dragons chose who they want to bond with.
At first, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what would happen during this “thrashing” segment, but Yarros took me completely by surprise! In fact, this thriller is full of unexpected, page turning surprises that have drawn me closer to the main characters and kept me reading to find out what happens next. Currently, I am only halfway through the book, but have already order Yarros’ sequel, Iron Flame.
So, with the desire to ride a dragon in mind, I’m heading out to the barn to ride my beautiful 17.1 hand horse. Together Fly and I will scale high peaks in my imagination, even though we’re really running the diameters of the covered arena. I feel the need for speed and Fly never disappoints!
4/21/2025
So, it turns out that Fly is actually 17.1 hands! I knew it! Not only is he tall, but he can be a force to be reckoned with. A good force! After setting aside the carrot stick our work on the line has been much better tempered. But the best part is what is beginning to happen when I ride him.
Today, for the very first time, he finally began to settle into a nice, collected, posting trot!! Fly is a lot of horsepower to sit on top of, but a wonderful, talented horse with a really special temperament. He spent most of his life as a performance horse, running barrels in rodeos. He was taught to git-up-and-go breaking into a gallop from a walk. However, galloping from a walk isn’t part of my agenda. So, what Fly and I are working on is pacing. So I’m riding him often. Long rides, that are not only helping me gain stamina, strength and endurance, but confidence as well.
Today, while I rode, Aldon took a lesson with Liz, riding her horse, Papaya. We rode in the arena for about 30 minutes, before Aldon and Liz went out to hit a trail. Aldon is with us this week and as always, it’s nice when he is home. Texas is his home too, even though he lives in Mississippi.
We really had a wonderful weekend. Friday night after eating out, we went to the Stockyards and bought tickets to go see the rodeo. WOW! If you live in the DFW area and haven’t gone to the coliseum at the Stockyards for a rodeo lately, boy has it changed! Not only has the city remodeled the place, but the show was fast paced and entertaining and well worth the money. If you’re coming to Fort Worth for a visit check it out. You might want to eat at the Mexican restaurant, Joe T. Garcia’s, for a bite first! But of course, the Stockyards have a good selection of restaurants too.
Saturday I woke up to a rumpling thunderstorm and pouring down rain. What’s more, the house was dim and our electricity and internet were off for most of the day. Feeling like we were living in the dark ages, Jeff and I settled down with a good books. I’m reading the Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros. It’s so good, I pre-ordered the sequel.
Our weekend ended with a lovely Easter dinner that Jeff made the family.
4/15/2025
Today Fly was a challenge! He was fine with the carrot stick up close but became frantic when I attempted to use it from a distance. Just for clarification, when using the lunge line, I work Fly through his gaits on the line, which causes him to move around me in a circle. I’m trying to teach him to change his direction when I apply pressure to the line and present to carrot stick in front of him, signaling that he should change direction. I also use a verbal cue. Believe me, this is a much easier process in a round pen, where I spent the past forty years working with horses.
Fly wanted nothing to do with it! Instead, he ran in fear, bucked and got away from me. We resumed our line work without the carrot stick, and sometime, when we’re alone in the arena, I’ll try again. But for now, we’ll take baby steps.
I rode him after lunging him, but frankly, he wasn’t on his best behavior. I too was exhausted after spending over an hour working on the line, which turned into a very physical workout for me. But after his long battle with the abscess, both he and I need to work under saddle. When we were finished, and I had removed his tack, I hosed him off, rubbed him down and released him into the back pasture. Tomorrow we’ll work on the line without the carrot stick and then ride.
4/14/2025
Jeff is very sick with covid! This is the second time he has contracted it, and I think he caught it from Juli, who spent last week really sick too. So far, knock on wood, I haven’t had the dreaded illness. And while Jeff hibernates between bed and his office, I have busied myself decorating for spring, in-between working on my proposal and spending time with Fly. At the end of the week, we have another Avender Invasion. Aldon will spend, as he always does, his spring break with us. A busy weekend is planned, so I’m praying that Jeff will soon feel better. By the time Aldon gets here Jeff’s incubation time should be over.
Yesterday I worked Fly on the lunge line. He is finally sound after suffering from a bad abscess in his right, front hoof, something he is very prone to. I always lunge him before climbing into the saddle. Fly is a performance horse, a barrel racer who did very well in his time. Now at 19, he has mellowed and is content to carry me at a walk or patiently stand while I talk with a friend. But if I ask him to giddy-up and go, he meets the demand.
I’ve been teaching him some of my tricks that I’ve used for years with other horses, on the line. We practice my signals for walk, trot and canter and the transitions from one to the other. I use verbal “half-halt” that signals to him that I’m about to ask him to change his movement, which is the word, “ready.” When I say “ready” Fly listens for the change.
The one action he is having trouble understanding is “change direction.” So, when I say, “ready, change direction,” he should turn on the line and go the other way. Yesterday, I began using a tool that is called “lunge whip,” but I prefer the Parelli’s term, “carrot stick,” instead. He was very Leary of the carrot stick, so I spent a great deal of time “sacking him out” or familiarizing him with it in a way that he understood as nonthreatening. This worked well up close, he began to associate the command and change direction nicely.
April 13, 2025
For over 30 years I have worked on a 3-book series that I finished writing about a year ago. The first book, Mahogany-Blaze has just gone through two edits, performed by two different editors. The last editor, Melinda Folse is helping me with the process of creating my book proposal. This, for me, has not been an easy process! Especially as my current task of combining full chapters, some of which are 6,000+ words into a synopsis that is under 200. It has to be riveting, eloquent and make an again or publisher want to read my book!
After working hard on this all week, I took a break to head out to the barn to rope Fly in for tomorrow. Fly was way out in the pasture, so I left him to it and turned my attention on baby Ivan, who when he heard my voice, turned, whinnied and ran to me. For several minutes afterward, Ivan insisted on standing right by me, grooming me as I groomed him and relishing the sensation of my fingers scratching his favorite places.
On a very sad note, I recently learned that little Polly, who was a born last spring and also my friend, recently and unexpectedly died from a strange genetic disorder no one realized she had. I have learned that equally sad, in the world of horses, these things happen and it’s not until you encounter them that you understand how heart wrenching, they can be.
3/21/205 Clue and Ivan
Our week progressed as normally uneventfully with the exception of seeing the marvelous cast of Broadways tour of “Clue,” which was preluded by dinner with my daughter-in-law, Breanne and her friend, Alice, who I quickly adored! This might be the opportune moment to mention that Jeff and I are season pass holders for the Bass Performance Halls, Broadway venues.
Clue was wonderfully presented with an outstanding cast of performers who kept the audience laughing for 80 minutes. There’s no intermission for this one. If perchance it passes your way, especially if your family plays the board game, this is a wonderful evening of entertainment for the kids too.
3/23/2025 – WEEKEND UPDATE!
Friday night Juliann and I spent the evening watching our all-time favorite musical, “Les Misérables,” at Fort Worth’s amazing theater, Bass Performance Hall. We sat only 4 rows away from the stage and were completely carried away by the amazing ensemble of performers, musicians, sound booth operators and stagehands. After falling asleep under a mental serenade of Claude-Michel Schonberg’s music, I woke up the next morning (Saturday) and headed for the barn to play with Fly in the open pasture.
This was the first time that Fly participated in my relationship building game called, halter play. For two hours I stayed in the pasture will him without making any demands, other than slipping the halter on, followed by taking it off. Fly has already learned that slipping his nose through the noseband results in a treat. Now it was time for him to learn, that just because I approach him in the pasture with the halter in hand, doesn’t mean that I’m going to lead him back to the barn to ride.
FLY’S ABSCESS & A Dust Storm Sweeps Over Western Texas
High winds have now assaulted the Texas plains for almost a month. A week ago, last Thursday, I was driving to the barn and as I left the city limits of Fort Worth, I saw a distinct line drawn in the sky, where the cloudless blue turned into a murky brownish gray. As I drove directly across this line, my surroundings instantly transformed into an overcast sky where the air was filled with dirt. I had never experienced anything like it before. The dirt made me think of the sandstorms my boys experienced and told me about during their service in Kuwait and Iraq.
As I continued driving to the barn, I could literally see the wind pulling great quantities of dirt from construction sites and plenteous pastures, lifting the dirt high into the air, in such magnitude that the sky was literally filled with the gritty stuff that completely blocked the sun. Immediately I was concerned about Fly breathing it in, but I was breathing it too, and Fly didn’t seem particularly bothered by it.
This is my first spring with Fly Guy. Almost two weeks ago he became severely lame. I learned that he is prone to getting spring abscesses in his hooves. For over a week he has been extremely lame in his right front hoof. On the first day of his lameness, he was treated by soaking his hoof in Epson salts for 30 minutes, followed by packing his hoof with an herbal poultice to draw the deep abscess down to his sole. Next we packed the hoof with hoof packing and wrapping the hoof, securing the wrapping with duct tape to strengthen the wrap.
In case you don’t know this, duct tape is a staple in any equestrian’s tack box.
On Saturday, one week later, the vet was able to open a spot on the bottom of Fly’s hoof so the abscess could drain. As soon as the pressure was released, Fly walked off, feeling much better.
On the day of the dust storm, I was thrilled to find him completely sound and removed his bandage. When I released Fly into the pasture, he lopped off perfectly sound and happily joined his friends to graze.
Later that afternoon, as I drove home, the dirt storm had spread into Fort Worth and was heading further west. Retreating to my house, I settled on the sofa to check my cell phone, where I learned that our storm had made the national news. The following morning, my black car was covered in a thick, layer of dirt that sent me straight to the car wash!