Day 40

Has it really been 40 days??  The time is flying by, I really wish everything would just slow down a bit.  I'm heading into the final weeks of school and we've been staying very busy outside of Marley's training.  With everything going on, I'm glad I have this project.  You think it would be stressing me out to have one more thing on my plate, but it's actually keeping me sane.  Each day I look forward to seeing Marley and working through issues and towards goals, and I really love that Mike has taken such a huge interest in him as well.  It's great to do something you love, but it's even better to do it with someone you love.  I'm really thankful for his participation in Marley's training.

Today was a day of exploration with Marley.  I started by riding in the arena and worked on basically the same things as the last couple of days.  He is progressing really nicely with the snaffle, but I wanted to give him another day or so to feel really comfortable in it before I start developing a frame or working over jumps at all.

After a great ride, I took Marley out and walked him all over the property and through the barn.  I even tied him up (while holding onto him still) in cross ties, which is something very new to him.  I don't think it is the cross ties he minds, but he is a little nervous about being indoors.  We don't have an indoor arena, so this is definitely something I'm going to want to address before we head to Fort Collins in June.  Marley also met lots of new horses today.  I'm going to slowly introduce him to the pasture horses so that he can be turned out with them once in a while.  It's a big herd though, and I don't want to just set him loose and hope for the best as I don't want him hurt.  He does need some socialization though, and he'll be happy to have some horsie friends again I think.

I don't have pictures again today, it was drizzling pretty much the entire time I was at the barn so the camera stayed in the car.  I will try to get some soon though, and some video of Marley under saddle as he is really coming along.  I'm hoping to get together with some other EMM trainers and their horses in the coming weeks, so I'm really looking forward to that.  I think it is going to be a great learning experience for Marley and I, and I can't wait to meet the other horses. 

Marley on Day 3

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography