This is Marley, and she is a teddy bear of a horse.

Marley came with her name, and at the time my aunts (my mothers sisters) considered it to be a sign as all family pets have had M-y names: Murphy, Mikey, Molly, Monty and now Marly.

Turns out, Marly was so named by her previous owner of 2 years – the rest of her fifteen years she has been called Blondie. It makes you wonder if the Marley name was inspired in part to help my Aunts see her as their next horse. Horses who end up at my aunt’s farm generally live out their lives there.

This handsome fellow is Monty, a no-nonsense cow horse who is the most responsive horse I’ve ever ridden. It’s funny when you can feel the horse sigh or give the feeling of an eye-roll when they get a rusty rider like myself.

That was years ago though, and Monty is starting to show his age. Meanwhile, Marley’s younger brother has been up for sale, and my aunts intent to buy him if he comes up for sale again.