RIDING for HISTORY
Lyn Fellows discovered Downunder Horsemanship in 2002 when she was lying on her couch, recovering from open heart surgery. “I was watching RFD-TV, and Clinton’s program came on,” Lyn remembers. “I’d been out of horses for a bit, and watching Clinton sparked that bug in me again.” 
Just a few years before, Lyn had lost her first horse, Mariner Galaxy KR, a Morgan gelding that she started herself. She got the gelding in 1973 when she was 22. “Up until then, I’d only ever dreamed of having a horse. I was a city girl and had to wait until I was an adult to get Galaxy,” Lyn says. “I trained him with the help of my mentor, Suzy Kraus.” Lyn worked in Suzy’s barn and helped keep her books to offset some of Galaxy’s board. “The training we did was very old school and basic,” Lyn says. “I bought him when he was a 3-year-old and spent a year ground training him before getting in the saddle. Once he was started, I did a lot of endurance riding with him and competed in 50-mile American Endurance Ride Conference rides.”
In 1996, when the gelding was 23, he colicked and couldn’t be saved. “Between losing him and my first open heart surgery a few years later, life just took over,” Lyn says. “I was married, and we had two daughters and a son, so I was busy being mom along with working full time.”
Still, Lyn couldn’t shake off that little tweak of “let’s try this horse thing again” she’d felt stir up while watching Clinton on TV. In 2005, the construction company she worked for hired a young lady who was into horses, and the two quickly struck up a relationship. “She took me out to her barn and the barn’s owner had an Arabian gelding named Teake that he thought would suit me,” Lyn says. “I bought the horse and rode him for a little over a year.” When Lyn got Teake, he was underfed and needed some groceries. “As he gained weight, he started feeling good and became a real problem. He wasn’t happy about being on the trail and one time he dumped me really bad in the arena,” Lyn says. “Because of the blood thinner medication I’m on, the entire left side of my body turned black and blue. I was lucky to have survived it.”
Realizing the gelding wasn’t a fit for her, Lyn found him a good home and started looking around for a more suitable horse. “That’s when I found JAF Twilight Dream Dancer, my Morgan mare. She was a 4-year-old, so she was still kind of green, but she had a solid foundation,” Lyn says. “Her breeder worked for the forestry department and trained all her horses to pack and even did a cattle drive with her.”
A few months after Lyn purchased Dancer, Downunder Horsemanship created the No Worries Club and Lyn was one of the first members to join. “Throughout your horsemanship career, you watch all the clinicians, and you might take a little bit from this one and a little from that one. When I found Clinton’s program, it was the answer for me,” Lyn says. “I think it’s because I have a type-A personality. I like things to be black and white and to know exactly what to do.”
Once she joined the club, Lyn embraced the Method full-on and set to work building a partnership with Dancer. She attended her first Fundamentals Clinic in Pacifica, California, in 2008. “It was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun learning. I wanted somebody to tell me what I was going right and how I needed to improve, and I got that and more,” Lyn says.
A couple of years after the clinic, Lyn underwent her second open heart surgery. She was admitted to the hospital on a Friday for a pericardium peel, and the surgery seemed to go well. However, when she was sent to recovery, the doctors didn’t realize that she was still bleeding. “I lost 15 units of blood over three days, and my right lung collapsed,” Lyn says. “It got so bad that my husband called all the kids and told them to come to the hospital because they didn’t think I was going to make it. Thankfully, the ICU nurse realized something was wrong, and on Monday, I went in for my third open heart surgery to fix the issue.” Although she recovered, the surgeries took their toll on Lyn physically. She used to be an avid runner, knocking out five miles every morning before going to work, but after the three surgeries, she couldn’t do that anymore. However, she could still ride well and focused on her horsemanship. She and Dancer spent thousands of hours exploring trails together and were often accompanied by Lyn’s sister, who is also an avid Downunder Horsemanship follower. “I’ve got a nice little area set up with obstacles at my place in northern California and we can go straight out to the trails from there,” Lyn says. She’s gone to every tour that she can, attended two Ranch Rallies in Texas, and has participated in three clinics. “The knowledge I’ve gained from Clinton and being a member of the club is great, of course, but one of the best things about the club is meeting people from all across the country and even the world. I’ve built some great friendships over the years from going to tours and clinics and attending the Ranch Rally that I never would have if I wouldn’t have joined the No Worries Club,” Lyn says. It was one of those special friendships that ultimately led Lyn to discovering her newest horsemanship passion.
Re-enacting History
Like all horse-crazy girls who grow up in the city, Lyn dreamed of having a horse. She’d gallop around on her imaginary horse during recess, and while the other girls her age saved their money to buy Barbies, Lyn stockpiled every penny she was given for Breyer Horses.
She was lucky to have two women in her life who encouraged her love for horses. “I had a wonderful aunt named Gert who lived out in the country. She took me to my first horse show at the Cow Palace in the ’60s and I got to spend a few weeks with her, getting to ride with my cousin who had horses,” Lyn says. And she looked forward to her German grandmother taking her camping. “Anytime there was a stable at the campgrounds where we could rent a horse, she’d do that for me,” Lyn says. “I was lucky to have both of them in my life.”
Along with looking out for her horse-obsessed granddaughter, Lyn’s grandmother was a stamp collector. When she passed away, Lyn’s dad gave her a box full of stamps. “My first thought when he gave them to me was, ‘What amI going to do with these?’” Lyn remembers. “Then I wentthrough the box and discovered three Pony Express stamps, which I found interesting.” Shortly after finding the stamps, Lyn received a Pony Express letter from her friend and fellow No Worries Club member Linda Jenny. Every year in June the National Pony Express Association holds a re-ride in which riders carry letters in a leather mochila (a saddle bag) over the original trail. The trail spans across eight states, from St Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. Covering the nearly 2,000 miles takes 10 nonstop days as riders hand off the mochila to one another until the mail is delivered to its destination. Over 750 riders take part in the event and nearly 1,000 letters are delivered.
“Linda and her mare Roxy rode it, and Linda sent out letters to her friends,” Lyn says. “I looked into it more and found out about the California division of the Pony Express. From there, it was just like a tumbleweed down the road. It’s funny how friends create opportunities for you.” To join the California division, riders have to take a test to make sure they and their horse are suited for the ride.
“The test ensures that your horse can maintain all three gaits and can handle obstacles you’re likely to encounter on the ride, such as going across a bridge and crossing water,” Lyn shares.
Lyn joined the National Pony Express Association in late 2020 and intended to take the California division test and participate in the re-ride with Dancer. It wasn’t meant to be, though. In the wee hours of an early October morning, Dancer colicked due to epiploic foramen entrapment—a type of internal hernia where a portion of the small intestine becomes trapped within the horse’s epiploic foramen, a natural opening in the abdominal cavity. Lyn and her veterinarian worked tirelessly to do everything they could for Dancer, but in the end, Lyn had to let her go. She was devastated and her heart was crushed.
A few days later, Lyn was on Facebook with tears still running down her face when a post came up from a veterinarian friend located in Idaho. “One of her clients had breast cancer and needed to sell her mare, Vintage Firefly. She talked the mare up and said what a good horse she was,” Lyn says. “I was still heartbroken over Dancer and wasn’t looking for a horse, but I knew that if this vet spoke highly of the mare, she had to be a good horse.”
The more she looked into Firefly, the more Lyn couldn’t shake the feeling that the mare was a gift from God and meant to be hers. After speaking with the vet about Firefly, Lyn was sure the mare would be a good fit for her. She spent an hour on the phone with Firefly’s owner before convincing her to let her put down a deposit and hold the mare until Lyn could come and look at her.
“My husband and I hooked the trailer up and headed north,” Lyn says. “It was 1,934 miles round trip up to Athol, Idaho, where Firefly was. When we got up there, I immediately liked her and how calm she was. I did what Clinton says not to do—I bought her without even trying her. We made the deal, and we headed back to California with her the next morning. It just so happened to be our 52nd wedding anniversary the day we loaded her up.” On the drive home, Lyn got to studying Firefly’s American Morgan Horse Association papers and was shocked to see a familiar name. “Four generations back, there was Kings River Morgan, a stallion I’d ridden in my 20s when working for my mentor Suzy. He was a wonderful horse, and it still gives me chills remembering when I saw his name,” Lyn says. “In my heart, I believe that Firefly was God’s way of saying, ‘Here’s a gift for taking your Dancer.’”
Ready to Ride
Shortly after arriving home with Firefly, Lyn received a call from the California division of the National Pony Express Association, letting her know that her test date was set. “Even though I’d only had Firefly for a few months, I went ahead and rode the test. We did pass,” Lyn says. She and Firefly took part in their first re-ride in 2022, and this year marked their fourth time doing the ride. “Each horse and rider are given a section of the ride. In California that can be anywhere from two and a half to four miles that you have to complete in a certain amount of time,” Lyn explains. “Firefly and I have done the ride out from the Folsom History Museum a couple of times. There’s always a good-sized gathering there to see history re-enacted and Firefly handles it well. She’s very good with kids that want to pet her and handling all the commotion.” Along with the annual re-ride in June, the pair also takes part in the California division’s Christmas card ride each December. Community members drop off their Christmas cards at a set location, and then the association collects and stamps each letter with a special Pony Express mark. Riders work together to carry the Christmas cards more than 30 miles from the Folsom History Museum to Old Sacramento, where they are delivered to the postmaster. “I’ve belonged to the association for five years now and enjoy doing the rides. We recreate history and make sure that it lives on,” Lyn says. “This July, our group will be representing the National Pony Express in our town’s 150th Independence Day celebration.”
Lyn enjoys taking part in events like that where she and other riders can build interest and share information about the Pony Express. She’s given demonstrations at her grandchildren’s school and presentations in the community. “It’s important to give people, especially children, a taste of history. There just isn’t enough of it today,” Lyn says. “Last year, when we visited the school, I made a card for every kid and stamped it with the Pony Express mark. It gives the kids something to touch and feel and understand how mail was delivered in 1860. It’s more powerful than just reading about history in a book.”
Thankful for the Method
Lyn is 73 this year and Firefly is 17, and the two plan on taking part in the Pony Express re-ride for many more years to come. “I love that the Method has given me confidence to do the re-ride every year and share history with young people,” Lyn says. “I can’t do all the things I physically want to due to my health, but I’m grateful to be able to ride.” In fact, Lyn’s doctors encourage her to keep riding. “It keeps me motivated and they know that. It’d be easy to say, ‘Oh, I’ve had enough.’ But Firefly gives me a reason to get up and keep going, and because of Clinton, I am able to safely ride her,” Lyn says. While Lyn’s husband doesn’t ride horses—his idea of horsepower is his Harley Davidson—he’s supportive of Lyn’s passion. “He’s gone with me to almost every tour and he loves Clinton because he’s real and raw; there is no BS. Plus, he knows using the Method helps to keep me safe,”
Lyn says. “There are no words to share how thankful I am that I found Clinton all those years ago.”
Published with permission of Author Rachelle from the No Worries Club Journal