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Chapter 3

The night I paid for the feedlot mare and I knew she was mine, I sat on the floor with a notebook and started a list of names. The lot had called her “Arlie”, but I didn’t think that suited her. There were plenty of synonyms for “black” on my list – Onyx, Crow, Jaguar/Panther, Black Sapphire, Noir. There were also several literary character names – Sapphira, Eowyn, Sansa, Lyra, Sonora, Bagheera (even Metallica, which I still think would be a kickass name for a horse). A favorite on my list was Roheryn, which means “horse of the lady” in Tolkien’s Elvish language. I also looked up black tourmaline, a stone that is supposed to dispel negative energies or destructive forces and turns them into positive energy. It didn’t end up being her name, but looking back, this mare must hold the essence of black tourmaline in her soul, because she’s had exactly that effect on me and my life.

In the end, the one that kept drawing me in was the name Raven. It felt like the right one. So Raven she became.

It wasn’t until later, after I met her and experienced that fiery, spirited energy that she exudes, that she acquired her full name. It was one that had been on my original list and was heavily influenced by the medieval-type names I had come across in reading Game of Thrones – Blackfyre. It just encompassed the beauty and sparking energy of who she is, and so my spunky little black mare was known to the world now as Raven Blackfyre.