Dragonfly Farms

03/25/2025

These are just some borrowed pics that I like. I posted a video the other day if you scroll down.

03/10/2025

I didn't take a bunch of pics nor did I stalk other riders profiles to steal their pics so this is it. 😅

02/24/2025

02/24/2025

Discovery Farms FYI:

With "Meet an Arabian Horse Month" coming up in May I wanted to bring this to your attention; go to your AHA account and make sure your farm is ACTIVE.

I think we got an email last year (?) asking us to check in and request our Discovery Farm loot boxes. I totally understand how labor intensive it is to package and mail these boxes so I didn't mind checking in.

But.

I was told that my farm wasn't active, after receiving MANY boxes and never having any of them returned to sender .... and also, I am probably one of the few people who email AHA and say THANK YOU!

So it did kind of hurt my feelings when they didn't explain to me how to become active, after so many years of being active. 🧐🤔

I happened to be on my account one day last week and saw this [highlighted at bottom of screen shot] added line/link for my Discovery Farm. I clicked "activate", so maybe that will fix my account and my loot boxes will resume (?).

I plan to also plan to do a follow up phone call to AHA.

02/20/2025

Someone requested that we put our anecdotes on the farm page. It's not everyone's humor. 😆 I'll try to keep the album updated. It's OK to laugh.

02/19/2025

02/17/2025

Man, what a difference a year makes. "No Sleep Weekend" is generally my own personal "New Years" and when I reflect on ALL that had happened between the last NSW and this NSW all I can do is be proud.

The emotions are still pretty raw when I go down the list and itemize the events, things that only I have to deal with, but I did the thing.

I got thru lost friendships, natural disasters, deaths and other things that I've had to support loved ones thru.

In a lot of ways, this weekend felt the same as when we all came back from the l o c k d o w n s. We all went thru some things that we're going to stand on top of now.

The past is behind us and the seeds we've planted for new beginnings, new friendships and new adventures are sprouting.

Thank you God for showing the ways thru the storm so I can tend the garden.

02/14/2025

02/09/2025

We got 5 horses ridden yesterday and it was a real good time.

It's always stressful, leading up to a big group trail ride or other event where multiple people will be joining me but with communication it works out great.

Now, for some, communication means you have to hold their hand and stay on them like you're wrangling cats. 😂😂

This time around, I couldn't be more proud of "my kids", human and 4 legged.

There was no flyer for this Thomasville GA event.

Amber and her friend have been riding Stormie and Koi as their schedules allows. So they rode them at the trail ride.
https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/wrath+of+danae
https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/kumonryu+koi

Liz rode Evie for the first time.
https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/evie+rul

Mekayla rode Sparrow.
https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/silver+winged+sparrow

And I rode Knight.
https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/eq+beyond+mid-knight

We had never been to this particular spot before so it was a little nerve wracking on the way out. A lot of times the rides will be at someone's "house" or small farm so you never know what the parking situation will be.

When I got there it was just getting dark and there were a lot of cars in the road and down the driveway. The host decided to park me in the small pasture behind their house which was very kind. My other options were further down the road, where he said I'd have to unhook and come back down to socialize. Knowing that Liz and Amber were on their way I didn't want to be to far out. I wanted to be able to take care of the horses and keep them together when she got there with the 2 she was hauling.

I don't socialize much at rides because I want to make sure my horses are comfortable and ready to go. I'm sure some people think it's weird or I'm shy (hopefully they don't think I'm stuck up) because I bring everything I'm going to need for myself and my horses so I don't need to leave my camp. People come to my camp and share what I have, generally speaking.

Liz got to the spot and we chatted for a while. We went to see if they were still serving dinner but they had just wrapped up. A lady called me over to her vehicle, on our way back to the trailer, to tell me she was hella impressed by the way I drove my trailer in there. 😆 It was getting late and we had a big day ahead so Liz went to bed.

Amber showed up and I took care of the horses while she made her bed.

Just before they got there Stormie had a freak out because she thought Evie was going to kick her. They weren't pastured together so they didn't have a herd dynamic. Stormie popped the tie ring off my trailer in her antics. So, I tied her to the bed of my truck .... where she started to chew on the wood sideboards. I told her we weren't doing that and moved her and her buckets over to a nearby tree.

I noticed Sparrow wasn't feeling "wonderful" so I have her some electrolytes and Kayro syrup. They're feed was already soaked so she had soaked Unbeetables and fresh water available.

In the morning the other Equestrians were parked just across the street.

The ride served breakfast I sent the "kids" up to eat after they groomed their horses while I saddle Knight and Sparrow. This was Sparrow's first ridden trail ride and she's familiar with me saddling her. I didn't want to rush it or come to an issue that would put her in her feelings. I decided to use a saddle that had not been fitted to her so there was that too.

I wanted to get Knight saddled so I could be available to help everyone tack up after breakfast. At breakfast we ran into a familiar face, which always makes things better. I grabbed a plate of food and we waited to see who all was going to show up.

It's always interesting to see how different clubs operate. You could tell this club had a lot of love and respect for each other. If there was drama we never saw it.

Stormie decided that it was a good day for hopping. She hopped several times on the way to the stagging area. 😆 Baby Sparrow had a hump in her back but she settled down fairly quickly. We had to wait a long time for the trail boss to get ready. I'm not sure why but it's typical at a trail ride and it's perfectly fine. It gave us all time to get to know our horses and chat among ourselves.

Someone had mentioned they saw a sign for a bicycle event in the same area we were riding. Knowing that some horses react to bicycles I was a little on edge for our fresh horses. lol

We weren't far from camp when we encountered our first bicycle, ridden by a very young man.

He rode right into our group without saying a word.

Those of us in the back saw him a long ways off so we were prepared, or so we thought.

He passed us, awkwardly, and we shouted ahead to the other riders but they weren't responding. So bicycle dude thought he could pass in the red GA muck on the "shoulder". Not only pass but pass without speaking. He ended up basically rear-ending the horse he was trying to pass and then he and his bike fell over.

A little further down the road, we were mostly riding in a fenced plantation but the roads were as good as public roads, we had just made our way down a steep hill when bicycle guy met us again. This time he was walking up the hill with the bike.

He had a good time zooming down the hill so I guess he wanted to do it again. Kim said she saw him but I somehow missed him passing us a 2nd time.

We only saw one other bicycle on this event. He was much more polite.

The other highlights of the ride was Mekyla kicked her feet out of the stirrups and Sparrow didn't know what to do so she had a little freak out and Mekayla fell off.

Everyone is OK but that took a lot of effort so Sparrow decided the rest of the ride was very tiring. lol

India was riding Ivy, who also decided the trail ride was BS and she wanted to be done so Kim traded horses with her.

When we stopped at the midway point Liz got off Evie so when we were ready to go again, Evie didn't want to stand next to the hay wagon with two yapping Yorkies and people climbing/ flailing all around so Liz could get back on. Cherry is really good at pushing horses over for this type of situation, Knight, not so much. Knight at least held the line so Evie couldn't get too far away.

Just mentioning these things anecdotally. Everyone thinks our horses are angels. It takes a lot of work to get them certified for Swamp Donkey duty and even then, they can be naughty.

We got back to camp and untacked and hosed the horses off. The kids went to eat lunch. Yes, dinner, breakfast and lunch at the old tymey trail rides. We all family.

I stayed at the trailer to observe Sparrow. She still wasn't 100% but she never said no and never refused water or food.

She laid down when things got quiet at the trailer. I was watching her thru my door. I was laying down too. It was a lot of mental stimulation for a short and sweet ride.

About 10 min before the kids came back Sparrow was trying to lay flat out but her rope wasn't long enough. I'm pretty sure Mekayla thought she was dead. I heard her say she saw Sparrow blink. 😆

Romeo and his babies ALWAYS lay down at the ride, if they can, and at home. I have a pic of Romeo and his goat laying down curled up together somewhere.

Of course there was concern because Sparrow wasn't feeling well but I was not overly worried.

Mekayla was making an exit plan for Sparrow though. She was about to send her home on Amber's trailer if I had planned to stay another night. ❤️

I told her we were all fixin to leave as soon as we had things packed up. All that was really left to pack were the buckets, bedding and a couple saddles. They got on it quickly and our other friend came to help get the horses loaded.

I put Sparrow in the middle slot so she had support in case she wanted to lean. I felt like she would've considered laying down in the back slot and being too warm in the front.

We got home and I gave Sparrow a bottle of pepto as well as some oral banamine and turned her out. She didn't lay down or act sick. I checked her at 5am (and fed around 10am) and she ran to the truck with her herd so she's doing fine. I'll keep an eye on her the next few days of course.

01/30/2025

My daughter and her friend enjoying our half Arabian Appaloosas, same sire, both out of black Arabian mares.

Koi & Stormie

01/21/2025

Just taking a look at Sparrow's varnishing.

She was born solid black, to a solid black Arabian mare. Her sire is Romeo, who carried 1 cream gene.

I knew Sparrow would varnish because her chestnuts were a lighter color. She got more extreme quicker than I thought she would.

In comparison, Stormie is still pretty dark with a spattering of "snowflakes".

Hopefully we can get some pics of the girls together soon. With their winter fur it might be hard to see all the colors.

I also wanted to mention that color plays a roll on how we see a horse too. If you notice the big "spot" on Sparrow's hip and the dark part over her tail head, it makes her look "skinny". I admit that she could use some muscle and fat over that area but the shading really enhances her appearance. (I included "the worst" pic where her foot is forward and her hip bone is really poking out.)

There's a pic of Romeo somewhere of a similar situation. When I got him he still had very pronounced black points. When he decided to varnish out his coat kept the black points along each rib which made it look like he was "ribby".

I love looking at horse's conformation because I love riding horses. I knew how a horse will ride based on how they're put together.

I wish more folks would take that into consideration when they are buying. Stop falling in love with a color .... but if you must have "the color", be willing to wait for the perfect horse in that color.

01/19/2025