of them. (My tongue DID want to photo bomb). As the hillside began descending downward, Ravi decided to do what birds do when they have had enough—fly away. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that as I had him tethered to me by his jesses. All he could do was flap pretty hard, which spooked Valiant and unfortunately for me my reins were too long and I had no way to gather them up as Valiant said, “I’m outta here, too.”
"Oh good! Panic times three," I screamed to myself, and down over the hill we galloped. “I may have to bail.”
I thought, “but Ravi on my arm will not hit the dirt.” “(Hah! I know what you’re all thinking. Mister Big Britches is gonna get a lesson in humble right there immortalized on everyone’s cameras.”) But…
Ravi stopped flapping, Valiant stopped running, my eyes stopped protruding (my heart did not stop pounding) and it all came to naught. But what Laurie saw in that moment as a falconer was that I could be trusted handling her most precious birds. I would keep them safe.
After the cat got its tail run over with a rocking chair, it said, “Won’t be long now.” …I’m getting to the end here.
It wasn’t long after, that an image from that photo shoot (with social media) reached the nimble eyes of a Breyer Festival event coordinator named Jaimie. She procured the invitation for us to perform at BreyerFest 2016 in Kentucky and our show The Sport of Kings and Cowboys was born. Well, it wasn’t really born yet, that came as a result of numerous conversations, generous emails and a multitude of ideas that circulated through the circular file, but the idea was there. But was it a good idea? Every path has a few puddles…
Prince Ravi, a Saker Falcon
Image courtesy of ©Breyer. Photographed by Jennifer Munson.
Orion displays the military tribute shaved into his coat for the event
© Rein Photography