Siera's work out.

More exercise for Siera.

Yesterday we 'did' the woods again.  She took to the trail with only one head flip and an 'Do I have to?' attitude.

I don't expect perfection so didn't get after her.  She will get used to the idea soon enough that we'll do what I want.

When we came out of the woods we took to the side of the gravel road.  She has newly trimmed hooves and I didn't want her to get sore.
She resisted walking in the grass at first, but relented without much of a fuss.

She is still thinking about her friends at home while we are out and lets me know with an occasional head flip.  Some people get just plain ugly on their equine for this behavior but she doesn't do it relentlessly ... the more I ride her, the less she tosses her head.

That however is her way of saying 'Okay, I'll do it, but this is my mild protest.'

We practiced standing still again.  I do swear many folks don't practice this enough.  I like a mule/horse who will stand still while I am either talking to a neighbor or just looking at scenery.
That is part of becoming a Mule Tripod for photographs.

Mount, dismount...
Mount, dismount...
Stand still.  
All things I value greatly in a ride.
Siera does excel and standing like a rock when I remount.

Yesterday's ride and walk were about 45 minutes.  We are slowly working up to this and none of the exercise is strenous.  She is handling it well.

On our way home we cut through a combined oat field.  I encouraged Siera to strut her stuff.  She wasn't as smooth as she would be on a nice trail, ... and her paso llano gait was a bit rough to start with.

She smoothed out towards the end and even did a nicer job the second time we did it. 

I'm happy with the way Siera is coming along.


For me, there is no 30 day wonder to get a broke mule. 
Siera is 'broke', not 'finished' and not my broke.
Broke for me is something that takes years. 
It is a relationship and trust and knowledge and...
connection that is very deep between rider and mule.

That is Broke.

Whirlwind week.

Just a few from the hike on Sunday.

Fungi...surprised I found this, it has been so dry...

Lots to update.

Two days ago I became a Grandmother again!  To Elena Ruby Mathein.  I hope to see mom, dad, older sister and Elena next week.

I feel rather Grandmother-ly today.

First Ride this Year ~ Siera

I never...okay...almost never give a mule a year of for no reason.  But due to my work schedule last year and ... well...
okay
I did it.  I left Siera unridden since last July.

Everything on lead has been going very well, we've taken lots of small hikes with and without Morris.  We've gotten the mail, we've looked for patches of fall wild berries and ducked through some trails in the woods together.
All of these things went well and Siera has shown no lameness at all.

In fact part of the day she walks around her paddock and keeps circling ... she is doing nice light exercise for herself.  I laughed and told hubby that in a few weeks she may even be up for a long easy trail ride!

Anyway.
I took her from her paddock and we saddled up.  She was quiet and seemed rather relaxed.
Our first test was going to be 'going up the driveway' and leaving the farm.  She has always been a bit sour about that but she wasn't bad!

She'd walk a few feet and stop, I'd give her a kiss to get up.  She'd go forward.  In years past she would balk and back up, sometimes we'd have a bit of a go 'round.  I'd have to slap her with a rein.

Not this time!  I never had to touch her with my heels!  I just kissed and she'd move forward and when she hesitated I just kissed again.

[Siera walking with her head and neck cocked to 'listen' to home...I didn't get after her for this as she was moving forward, I don't expect perfection and as long as she is doing what she should, she gets no reprimand!]

 

She kept looking back over her shoulder for the first 1/4 mile.  Then suddenly she decided to go past the 'triangle' [where the road splits 3 ways] and see what was up ahead.  I sat back and enjoyed the ride.   
Siera's attitude about riding has improved, her reactions have improved, her attitude has improved...and somehow she decided to neck rein with ease.  [I'd been working on that over a year ago...she must have thought about it on her lay off?]
 
Siera is gaited.  Her mother was Peruvian Paso and it really does show when Siera gets up and strutting.  She can gait at 12 mph.

Our ride was very short.  We worked on standing still and relaxing.  She can do this for almost 2 minutes at a time.  I don't know if anyone else does this, but I think standing still is such an important part of training.  Of course Opal knows know that when she hears my camera start up ... she is to stand still!

Siera gets her feet done today and we'll be taking more daily short rides and more practice at standing still...and perhaps visiting with neighbors.

The rest of my day was spent with Morris.  We went hiking.  Well, we went rock climbing in our dry gulleys.

 The rocks in these places are fantastic!  While hiking I found 12 iron concretions!  What a mother lode!
Here's a shot of some of them, not quite in focus, but the light was very poor.

I left some on a boulder in the bottom so that when the neighbor kids come hiking next time, they can 'find' some too.

Rest area while rock climbing:

 

Yesterday's morning dew on flowers:

Ahhhhh, Morning All!

It is cold this morning!  Brrr!  50 degrees cold!  I still would like it to a bit warmer at sunrise!

This is predawn this morning looking through the yet developing corn.  It should be tassled out and have ears, but that is slow in coming.

Yesterday evening we moved Bart and his ladies into another area for grazing.  These Dexters do such a nice job of cleaning up weeds as well as grazing grass.  They all seemed content.

After a supper of fresh zucchini, bacon and eggs...and toast [I know breakfast for supper]... I took Morris and went for an evening walk up the road to watch the sunset.  We'd had beautiful clouds all day and poof, they were gone come sunset.
I found the prettiest sky in the east though with the layers of colors quite beautiful.

Miss Siera seems to be back to her former self.  No lameness at all.  We've had a few hikes together and today...I think I'll tack her up and take her for a short ride.
Here she was patiently waiting under the Hickory tree for me to do chores.

She enjoyed her brushing and pampering.  She is absolutely fantastic with her lead rope manners, but can get a bit frustrated when she is tied up and not accompanied by a human or other animal.
She just stood there and watched the activity in the yard.  Good Girl!

The farrier comes tomorrow for his regular visit.  She is on his list.  Also on her list is a nice haircut!

Hubby got his post pounder thingy that attaches to the skid steer all set up just about.  Now if he gets the last part together...watch out.  New wooden fence posts are going up on the farm!  [See how technical minded I am?]

I've made a deal with the nieghbor girl [and her parents].  I am going to start mentoring her in all things mule.  She was too shy to ask me and her mom said something about wanting lessons.
I'm not going to do lessons for money.  Why do something I can do that causes me to feel good and paid for it? 

If I can get a young girls [girls if her sister joins in] interested in mules/horses and be safe with them, it is a win win situation for me.
We will be doing this much like the 4H program.  It isn't just about riding.  It is about learning colors, parts, sickness, care, foot care, grooming, cleaning tack, and safety above all else while handling the animal.

Me?
I'm pretty happy about it.
Our schedules will be haphazard at best, but I am looking forward to it.

So on with my day.
Siera is waiting for a short ride to the ridge.  

She has no sign of any leftover side effects from her crisis last Monday.
I am so grateful!

Done!

jeremie & samantha's wedding by Val Ewing | Make Your Own Book

Jeremie and Samantha's Wedding Book...

Siera's Big Little Adventure

Thanks to some of my Blogger friends who have equines, this includes Dancing Donkey ...[Her donkeys often hike with her and I have done the same with Eddie back when he was weaned.  So with a nod at both of my blogging animal friends...]

I have been inspired to go ahead and use Siera's down time to 'walk' with her and hike with her.
Many "trainers" don't use this method, they train in a round pen.
This is an extremely useful tool to use as you will see when you aren't riding.

Next adventure out, I may just let Siera carry our water and a lunch.  Morris and I would be grateful to have a 'pack' mule to lead.



I decided to take Siera to the BIG Scary Creek.

Morris went with us to give Siera encouragement.

The donkeys all came out of the woods to wink and talk to Siera.  These are my farm clowns, always giving their unadulterated opinion on anything.

Morris trotted happily ahead.  He wasn't so much interested in the equine, he wanted to get onto the 'hill road' and down to the creek.

Siera had a few hesitations.  She would stop often as a herd sour mule will do.  But she didn't fight me.  I instead went sideways up a hilly bank and over some logs.  She'd follow and stop...and look again.

No braying, no pulling back...but the resistance got weaker the further from the Meadow we got.
Of course her old gang was up in the Merry Meadow making noises.
So I thought this would be an excellent test to see if she was going to through a fit, or listen to me.

Good girl.  She listened!

I didn't take any photos at all during our hike down through the brush, I was concentrating on Siera and she was working with me.

However, she has a history of absolutely refusing a small stream crossing.  She will fight it, refuse, back up and try everything NOT to put her feet in a small creek.  A large stream?  No problem!

So we got to the creek and...

She climbed right down into it and followed me.

After all, if Morris the little bitty dog could stand in the creek...certainly a big mule could, right?

And...
The creek has some delicious beautiful green grass growing in it!

All in all our little hike went fantastically.

I have to thank my blogger friends again.  Without reading how they do it...I may never have thought of exploring this with Siera.

What a great way to spend time, bond, and do 'scary' things together.

Once you are used to it, it really isn't hard at all.

Walking the Mule

Part of keeping Siera healthy is to make sure that at this point she does light exercise.  She has been walking and doing moderate exercise in her paddock but I thought I'd take advantage of her 'down' time to also work on some lead rope 'stuff'.  She is very well mannered on a lead and seems to trust me not to get her into any 'bad' places.

So off we went.  She was hesitant to leave the farm behind but she went fairly easily.  She kept turning her head and looking back.

So we decided to go check the mail.

Nope!  An empty mailbox!

So we turned and headed up the road and walked to the edges of the corn field to check on the growth.
All along she seemed very calm, just curious and threw a glance back at the driveway as if to ask 'Can I go Home Now?'

I've done this before with Siera but there is another mule owner who does this quite regularily and after reading her wonderful blog yesterday ... I decided that I should take Siera on more walks and possibly some hikes.
It can only benefit the both of us.
For a great read please visit The Three Muleteers blog.  Learn about how versitile a mule can be along with adventures of a mini horse and a mini mule.

In fact as I was walking Siera I remembered her wonderful posts about talking her 'Dragon' on walks...I thought.  Yes, I can do the same while we are making sure Siera has recovered!

I wonder how she will react to hiking with me in snow shoes?
I guess I'll wait and see!

And yes, she adores Morris so I can see a lot of interaction with Siera in the future.