Today I had planned on having Marley's feet trimmed, but that has been pushed back to Wednesday now. That's ok because it gives me a couple more days to work with Marley's feet to prepare him. The first major victory of the day was when I arrived and found Marley's blanket still on AND intact! Woohoo! Way to go Marley! He was also no longer afraid of the grain bucket... guess he learned that one pretty quickly.
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| The blanket survived! |
We had a really nice ride tonight as well. I was by myself but feel comfortable enough with Marley's understanding of breaks and turning, so I decided on riding in the large arena rather than the round pen. We worked on serpentines and figure-eights, and even some trot/canter transitions. Marley really has a lot of muscle to build up in order to hold a canter for too long, especially in a circle, so I would rather have one great circle of a balanced canter than 5 where I'm pushing him to hold it. I think he is happier to transition because of it, and I know the muscling and endurance will come with time. We also worked on some leg-yield (side pass) today. Some people start their horses out learning basics like this, but I made the decision to wait with Marley because he was so apprehensive about going forward when I first got on him. I figured that once we had forward movement, Marley would be more successful in his basic training anyhow. He was really good, and I used the clicker here to help him understand quickly what it was I wanted. It worked well and I'm looking forward to seeing how he does tomorrow.
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| 25 days ago this horse couldn't be touched... pretty special. |
You are doing awesome job with him. Keep it going and keep him for life, you guys have a bound.
ReplyDeleteOh yea! He kept the blanket on, and ate his grain. Could the day be any better! :)
ReplyDeleteIs it possible for you to keep his for life? Or does he have to get auctioned off?
ReplyDeleteYour mom is going to HATE me for saying this but I cannot imagine how you will say goodbye... either of you :'(
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading (devouring??) your blog for a day now, love it! It's great to hear about how you train that mustang and you must have been incredibly lucky to get such a wonderful horse - I've heard of so many mustangs being a lot more work, a lot more shy.
I was wondering though why Marley needs a blanket? I always thought mustangs didn't need any because they're so used to the weather. Hope you can illuminate me. :)
Hi Luise, I'm sorry I never saw this comment... I have been unable to login to my blog for a long time! But WE ARE BACK!! To answer your question, Marley didn't NEED a blanket. At this time, I still wasn't planning on keeping Marley even though I wanted to. I blanketed him for two reasons. First, I wanted him to be used to everything. Who knows what his new family would do to him. Blankets, shoes, baths, trailers... I wanted him to know it all. I also blanketed him because he had finally started shedding, and his coat was in really poor condition at this time. I didn't want him to hold onto any hair because he was cold! I hope that is helpful, and I hope you'll follow our blog now that we are back!
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