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Horseytalk.net Special Interview
Summer Marks
Summer Marks of Millbrook rehearses a demonstration of tricks with her horse Riley at Shade Tree Riding Stables in Millbrook. Marks is mostly a self-taught horse trainer and will show Riley at the River Region Horse Council's horse clinic today in Autaugaville. / Julie Bennett
Summer Marks glides into the training pen atop her quarter horse, Riley, with a grace that seems effortless. She rides without a saddle or bridle - only a very loose neck rope - but Riley responds to her with barely a word.
Summer Marks shows off some of Riley's
tricks.
Without saddle or bridle >>.
Using a riding crop only for gentle instruction, Marks has Riley perform a variety of impressive tricks: He performs a Spanish walk, in which he lifts his forelegs in an exaggerated movement that looks like he's prancing.
Then he rears on his hind legs, but Marks is never in danger of being thrown. He's completely under control.
In one of his cutest tricks, he'll "talk" to Marks on command, moving his lips in a very Mr. Ed-like fashion.
He also kneels and then lies down, in a position of total vulnerability. There is a complete trust between them, the product of years and years of constant companionship.
"The more time you spend with them, the more they'll want to please you," Marks said."I trust him. It's me I worry about." Marks is only 20 but has been riding pretty much every day for the last seven or eight years, since she moved from Florida. She works at Shade Tree Riding Stables in Millbrook and spends virtually every waking moment around horses.
Marks drops the neck rope to the ground. Almost on cue, Riley drops his head, digs the rope out of the sand with his nose, tosses it back up to his forehead and returns it to Marks, who gives him a "thank you" and a loving pet.Their bond is evident.
"I think that horse pretty much reads her mind," said Bob Phillips, owner of Shade Tree, who comes over to watch Marks put Riley through his paces.
"I swear, she could tell that horse to climb a tree, and he would try," Phillips said.