Yes, my little Marley is AMAZING!!! I am very much in love with her. She has been ridden now, well before the carnival, a total of six times. You see, my friend Shannon came one day, haltered her, lunged her around a little and hopped on bareback and uh, that was it....no buck to her, no crow hop, nothing. Shannon was riding her. She may have ridden her one more time when my other friend Keyarra rode her around. Then the call came, it was Shannon, "Jaime, you should come and ride Marley, she is just fine!" So, of course, I did. I went over, Shannon worked her a tiny bit first, saddled and lunged her then I hopped on. I rode her around a little on the property then, Shannon mounted Safar, and Keyarra mounted her horse Autumn. Then we hit the streets-YEP, right there through the neighborhood!!! We rode down 98th Terrace, turned onto Wallace, road to my street and past my house, around the whole block and back towards the pasture. It was a good hour ride. No incidents at all-maybe because she was with her friends, who knows but all went well.
The next thing you know, a few weeks later, my dear husband said, "Jaime, the masjid in Overland Park wants the horses for the carnival." I told him that I did not have my experienced horses with me and that I did not think I could do it with Marley...but I was wrong! I decided to take her, Autumn (another two year old), and Alex-my friend Sheila's horse (well Shannon's too). They were the best horses.
It was a very windy day. I set up the fencing for a make-shift corral while the girls worked with the horses, just brushing them and making sure they were alright. We saddled up, lead the horses around so they could get used to the property and see the moonwalk and other "scarey" things there (if you know horses, you know what I mean!). They were all very well behaved. It was soon showtime and the kids came in DROVES! From 3pm-7pm, Marley, Autumn, and Alex gave children and parents rides in the fenced-in area I created for the purpose of keeping little kids OUT and away from the horses. SAFETY FIRST ya know!
For four hours, 4hrs!, Marley selflessly let people on her back. Okay, there was one little incident, being a two year old horse, she nibbled on my arm-I am convinced it was a love bite- but other than the bite, no incidences. I WAS AND STILL AM SO PROUD OF HER!!!
So a couple of days ago, a whole month after the carnival, I decided to take my friend Amira over to ride.
I took Marley out of the pasture and tied her so she could be groomed, and BOY did she have a TON of cockleburs! Sara brought me the saddle blanket and saddle, I threw the blanket up on her, no reaction. I put the saddle on her, no reaction. I went to tighten the saddle, SHE STARTED TO LAY DOWN! I pulled her head back up and she stood there. I tightened the saddle the rest of the way.
I then picked up her front left hoof with the intention of picking it out...she started to lay down again! This happened three times until I started to get worried about her! I then moved to the front right leg to see if she was maybe lame and could not handle weight on that hoof. I picked it up and sure enough, SHE STARTED TO LAY DOWN AGAIN!!! okay, now by this time, I was getting worried. I had never had any of my horses do this before. I had my seven year old walk her around while I watched. I could not tell she was limping so I had Amira ride her. After the ride, after I took the saddle off, I picked up her front left leg again, NOTHING...then the right leg, NOTHING...she did not attempt to lay down.
THEN IT DAWNED ON ME- SHE WAS SILENTLY PROTESTING BEING RIDDEN!!! YEP, SHE WAS TRYING TO CONDUCT A SIT IN!!!
TRUE STORY...and that is MY MARLEY!
Since then, she was ridden just yesterday for a whopping five minutes before it started to pour down rain! This time no sit in protest just a little complaining about having that saddle tightened around her and all she did was move around a bit. What a good little girl!!!
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