Markie

One of the things I committed to early on in my blogging career was never to engage in online dialogue with someone whose identity I didn't know.  Hence, I never get involved in debates in the comments with anonymous posters.  Sorry.  Nevertheless, a commenter to the last post wanted to know more about Markie, and I'm a complete sucker for that.  It's like asking me to show you pictures of my grandkids.

Markie, officially registered as Mark of Mine, is a 22 year old half-Arabian, half-Hackney gelding who stands roughly 15.3 hands.  He resides at Torch Valley Farm in Ellsworth, Antrim County, Michigan, where he is one of the very few Democrats but is on good terms with everyone, including the poor county clerk whose election night coding error on a Dominion voting machine has been fodder for the conspiracy theorists.  I don't have the heart to ship him back to Boston with me in the winters because he has a ten acre pasture that he shares with his good friends Drifter, Sully, and Tango. I have owned him for four years but leased him for two summers before that, when his prior owner gave him to me because she was moving away and she knew I would spoil him rotten.

He and I have ridden together in a couple dressage schooling shows over the years.  This video is from Cedar Creek Crossings in Kingsley, Michigan last July.  Ignore the rider who should have known better than to get in Markie's way and admire the horse instead.