New Adventures

Marley is back under saddle, but it took all summer.  The hematoma, while not painful, went back almost to where the girth hit between his two front legs.  Because of this, I didn't want to put a saddle on him for fear of making it worse.  Also it seemed like any time he ran around and played hard it would aggravate the injury and fill with fluid, so much to my dismay, we spent our whole summer walking and if I did ride, it was bareback.  While I had originally planned on having a dressage filled summer and lots of training, the town time with the big guy reminded me just how special he was.  I haven't ever had a horse that could sit on stall rest (especially when he was used to pasture living!) that I could hop on bareback and go for a long walk without any incident whatsoever.  He is such a special boy.

That being said, he is finally better and the hematoma is completely gone! We are doing some light riding, and in some exciting news Mike got his first pair of riding boots! I have started giving him lessons on Marley, and they hope to be able to go out for trail rides soon.  They seem to really enjoy their time together, and when Marley isn't sure what Mike is asking, he just stops and stands there.  It's really cute and I can't wait to see how they progress together!

We recently had a fantastic trail ride with Marley's friend and old paddock mate, Tyson and his mom Val.  It was a hot day, but the trail was shaded and it was nice to get out on the trails with someone else for a change.  Marley no longer lives with Tyson, but any time he sees him he nickers and I think he misses his company.

The biggest news we have is that we unexpectedly were adopted by another mustang.  We have named him Ivan, he is a 13.2 hand solid bay pony who is also from Nevada, but he was rounded up when he was a foal and after failing to be adopted multiple times, was placed in the sale authority program.  He has had multiple homes and has a foundation of training in dressage and jumping.  I will talk more about his history in future posts, but after a lot of reflection and searching for answers to some issues that he has, I have decided to completely start over with him from the ground up.  He has been learning the clicker and seems to really like it, and while I have ridden him quite a bit, I have decided that I am not going to be riding him for at least the next few weeks until he has had a chiropractic adjustment and a blood panel run.  I just want to rule out any pain as being an underlying source of his behavior.  I can't wait to share more about him, he is a really really cool pony with a lot of potential!  Marley and Ivan have been getting to know each other and will hopefully be pasture mates soon.  I hope Marley and I can show Ivan how to relax and trust.  We shall see.