Day 69 - 72

I've gotten behind again on updating so I'll get you back up to speed on how Marley (and the weather) is doing!

Days 69 & 70

I'm grouping 69 and 70 together because they were equally terrible.  Still, the rain had not stopped, the barn was once again completely flooded.  I am not exaggerating, and just to give you an idea of how bad it really was, Rebel, the barn manager, had pumps set up in the arena and the round pen and built trenches for the water to drain through.  Marley and I worked both days in the drive way doing lateral work from the ground.  I also spent many hours trying to keep the shelter area of Marley's stall as dry as possible.  I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I'll take that awful wind back!  I feel like a drowned rat!

Day 71

FINALLY a sunny day!  The arena was far from dry, but thanks to Rebels tireless draining and dragging, it was ride-able.  Marley was a mud ball, so before I even attempted to clean him up, Mike and I got the work out of our lives shoveling hundreds of pounds of mud out of Marley's shelter and dragging it all to the manure pile.  It took both of us to move the wheelbarrows through the mud, but after a few hours we had made enough progress to put some gravel down to give Marley some solid footing.  We may have looked insane to some of the people who were watching, but I really think it made a huge difference for Marley, and it at least will give him the ability to choose whether or not he will stand in the mud. 

Next step, hose Marley down.  He didn't need a full on bath, but I at least wanted to hose the mud from his legs and clean up his tail a little bit.  Mike has also been looking forward to getting some photos with Marley, and has been dressing up "cowboy" for a week in preparation.  I wont say any more about that, but Katherine snapped some photos, enjoy!

Carrot?

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography

Yes, he did grow that mustache just for this....

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography

Whoa there wild horse

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography

So, while the Mike and Marley photo shoot was highly entertaining, the arena was finally dry enough for us to actually get some work done.  Marley was pretty rusty, so I spent a lot of time walking through all of our warm up exercises.  Marley was much stiffer than he usually is which I thought was simply due to his lack of routine and training these last weeks.  Because of this, our goal was to end the day with a quiet, relaxed, and responsive horse.  Sounds simple right?  Well, it took 45 minutes, but we got there and I left it at that.

Practicing some ground work after our ride

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography

Day 72

Another beautiful day and Marley and I are back on track.  Please Colorado, give me some good weather these next couple of weeks.  I do not want to go back to the rain, mud, and most importantly, no riding. 

When we arrived at the barn today, Marley was curled up in his shelter taking a mid morning snooze.  Mike and I tiptoed up to his stall and Mike snapped a picture before we woke him up.  He had his nose smushed into the ground, it was so cute.

Fast asleep with his nose in the dirt

When I came around the corner and said Marley's name, he startled a little bit, but stayed laying down and nickered.  We spent some time rubbing on him and talking to him while he woke up, but he still never bothered getting up on his own.  It wasn't until I put a halter on him and asked him to come with me that he groaned, stood up, and stretched. 

Our ride today was awesome, Marley was back to his old self and was soft and responsive.  We worked a little bit on our canter transitions, but spent most of the time on lateral work and moving away from my leg in either direction.  I'll try to bring the video camera out in the next couple of days as we try to make up for lost time.  I'm optimistic though and hope we catch back up. 

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography

Photo by Katherine Payne Photography