Excited to share with you a post from one of my favorite authors and bestest friends, Pegg Thomas. She’s a fan of horses, to put it mildly, and always has a story to tell. I’m tickled that she’s telling one for us here:

When I started writing “Embattled Hearts”– for The Pony Express Romance Collection, I decided to model one of the Pony Express horses after our son’s horse. Jason, retired Thoroughbred racehorse, had passed away almost a year to the day when I started writing this novella. He was a very special horse, and so his character in the story plays a very special role—that I won’t disclose or it will spoil the story.

But let me tell you about Jason. He came to us when he was 11 years old and our son was 13. Standing sixteen-two hands tall and black as can be, Jason was one of the most level-headed horses I’ve ever been around. He had a been-there, done-that, got-the-t-shirt kind of attitude. He wasn’t what they call a “push-button” horse. He had a mind of his own and a will to match the most stubborn teenager.

Jeff and Jason, 2003

While our son often had to chase Jason around the pasture to catch him, usually had to mount on the move, and had to learn equipment repair because Jason didn’t mind breaking things, I knew my boy was safe with the big horse. Without a mean bone in his body, Jason nevertheless kept our son on his toes.

The horse was smart. Jeff wanted to ride in the 4-H of July parade the year after we got Jason. I walked along the parade route at the side, in case anything unexpected happened. Jason did great until we came to the railroad tracks, and there he stopped. He wasn’t budging. I walked close to him and got his attention, then I stepped on the tracks and stepped back off while Jason watched me. I told him to follow me—without touching his bridle—and I stepped across the tracks. He followed. In the years to come, he was in many more parades and never once hesitated at the tracks again.

Jason grazing late evening 2006

Our son decided that trail riding wasn’t exciting enough, so he entered Jason in the speed and action events. Several horse people told him that his big Thoroughbred couldn’t compete with the smaller, more nimble Quarter horses. Never tell a stubborn teenager with horse like Jason that they “can’t” do something. The Rubbermaid tote full of ribbons proved those so-called horse people wrong.

Jason lived just weeks shy of his 25^th birthday. I still miss him. I guess I always will.

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Pegg Thomas lives on a hobby farm in Northern Michigan with Michael, her husband of *mumble* years. A life-long history geek, she writes “History with a Touch of Humor.” An avid reader and writer, she enjoys fiction stories threaded through historical events and around historical figures. Civil War and Colonial are her favorite eras. Pegg is a regular blogger at both QuidProQuills.com and ColonialQuills.com. When not working on her latest novel, Pegg can be found in her garden, in her kitchen, at her spinning wheel, tending her sheep, or on her trusty old horse, Trooper. See more at PeggThomas.com.

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