My last name is Szaszvari.  It took me a month to learn how to pronounce it, which I do as little as possible!  The z's are silent; you could rhyme it with safari.  Hubby's parents were from Hungary and Transylvania. George is from London and it's a first marriage for both of us.  We bumped into each other in a Wild West newsgroup on Usenet in 2000 -- Saturday we celebrate our 8th anniversary.  He likes coaching chess, gardening, and martial arts, and is about four years older and 10" taller than me.

Up until last week I had three horses; my neighbor, who had been borrowing my Appaloosa mare to keep her aged gelding company, asked me if she could buy my Appy mare when she was diagnosed with DSLD/ESPA.  (Yes, that's a condition we used to think only affected Peruvians.)  Fortunately, though, because of my other two horses (Peruvians) I was able to find out about current treatment.  Spot, aka Parker's Princess, turned 23 last March 3rd.  She is a bay varnish leopard, a stunning horse who was one of the best carriage horses around.

 I foxhunted on her three seasons until I got my Peruvian mare, Ruby, for Christmas in 2006 from my mom, who anticipated Spot's retirement.  I have ridden loads of trails, team-penned, driven and shown Spot a LOT.  She's given tons of rides to little kids, too, and my septuagenarian mother used to drive her in small town parades.  She even beat a field of Peruvians in a horse show once in a champagne class.  Fortunately, she hasn't had any foals since I got her in 1990, as the ESPA seems to have a genetic component.

Ruby is a 13.1hh blood bay Peruvian (they used to be called Peruvian Pasos) whose great-grandmother I rode in the eighties.  She just turned six; the breeder misplaced her papers and I haven't made an issue of it because Ruby can't be bred due to a vaginal tear.  (Surgical repair has a high failure rate; my vet suggested not to do the surgery because Ruby can do everything but have a baby.)  She was a broodmare and thus had never been ridden when I got her.  She is, however, just like her great-grandmother -- no bucking, very sweet natured, and impossible to spook.  She is the perfect horse for me; I just turned 54 last week on Saturday, March 29.  Same as John Major and Billy Carter!  Ruby's registered name is Spirit of Azoque but she's just Ruby.

I lost my second "once in a lifetime" horse two years ago in January.  He and I did third level dressage; despite having ridden since high school, he taught me more about riding than any other horse I have ever known.  He was a grade Appaloosa who looked like and thought he was a Lipizzaner, but he started life as a ranch horse.

My other horse is a filly who will be 2 on May 6th, Ruby's half-sister.  I got a deal on her because her mother wasn't supposed to be bred as she was an EPM survivor, and the breeder only has a hunch as to who the sire is.  We assume the same stallion who sired Ruby as Sage (Dubita Roja) is a dead ringer for the stallion EXCEPT she doesn't paso.  She doesn't have the goofy conformation of the average Paso -- I better not forget how to post or sit a trot quite yet.  Sage is sorrel with a flaxen mane that hangs below her neck by several inches and a tail that's getting lighter.  She will probably be no taller than 14∏hh when she is grown.  I don't think I'll pay for the genetic testing to find out who her dad is, for sure, because it won't change a thing.  It takes a mighty small saddle to ride registration papers.

This is a busy time of the year for me because I am an air conditioning mechanic.  Lots of start-ups to do as it's getting hotter by the day.  Unfortunately, I am recuperating from a freak accident that gave me a broken bone in my foot 4 weeks ago.  Getting better by the day.  I work for the City of Phoenix and have for 18 years now.

I also do freelance writing for two trade magazines (HVACR Today and The Electric Times) just for the love of writing, and I am still stunned that they pay me for it!  I'll attach a story I wrote for a local horse magazine about our hunting group.  I enjoy it as it's so different from anything else I've ever done.  I wanted to be a journalist when I was in college in the seventies (University of Arizona, Ag Ed and Animal Science) but that was right after Watergate, and competition in journalism was fierce so I didn't even try.  Long story how I ended up fixing air conditioning and refrigeration units, but I *love* it!

Starting a chapter here, in Phoenix, would be great.  A lot of friends my age just don't want to do stuff like foxhunting, yet trail riding can get boring.  We're in an unusual neighborhood in that the lots are one acre; there are 16 horses in our block alone, in the middle of the fifth largest city in the United States!  And most of us are my age or maybe 10 years younger

We also have chickens (all kinds, but won big at the State Fair last year with my blue egg layers), a bunch of cats, and a chihuahua.