We rode

Molly came out to work with Sundance. When I first met Molly we worked with Sundance and she was ready to start under saddle. I'd mounted her in the round pen and she was very ho hum about the whole thing. Her training was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

However with things changing on our place and my husband's health issues, saddle training with Sundance pretty much just stopped. 

Molly had moved away and started her own life. 

When she came back, she asked if she could work with Sundance again and I said "Go for it!" 

Sundance was not happy about being removed from her sister and confused about working in the open. She didn't want to listen or pay any attention to Molly at first. Molly was persistent and calm. 

They went off to find their groove again. And by the end of their session, Sundance had decided that Molly was just the human she wished to be with and remembered most of her manners. 

She had been used to working in our shed in the round pen. So this was a new experience for the mule. She had  to concentrate on a different human with distractions on the other side of the fence.

We saddled up Sunshine [Sundance's older sister] and Siera and headed out for a ride in the woods. 

I nearly called it off. I started thinking about things like: 

What if Sunshine spooks?
What if I shouldn't do this?
Wait, I have 'bad' bones, is this okay?
What if...what if... 

Hmm. What IF I enjoy it?

I hadn't gone on any long rides in the woods for a couple of years. The trespassing 4 wheelers were always a constant for the past two years. There was this thought that I shouldn't go alone. And then this last 10 months there was this thought that due to my osteoporosis diagnosis, I should never ride again.

All of that was going through my head.

Molly chatted as she saddled up Siera and I just kept quiet. 

I took the lead and headed our through the neighbor's big meadow and off we went. Sunshine walked as if on eggshells. Weird.

We went up the hillside and had to brush bust to get around some fallen trees. We dropped down the steep hill into a hollow and crossed over logs and ducked branches. 

Molly kept up a conversation and I kept thinking Sunshine was behaving strangely.

Then.

I started to laugh and I relaxed. I started reaching up and breaking branches as we ducked under them.

"Mallard!" I yelled over my shoulder and laid over Sunshine's mane [Mallard means DUCK! in our woodsy rides ... something that we started so many years ago]. The branches slid over my helmet and I heard Molly say, "Oh Sh-t!" Molly is 5'8" and was riding the taller mule. She didn't negotiate around the branches and 'ate' some of them. 

We stopped and checked our cinches before entering the valley. I remounted and noticed that Sunshine was flopping her ears as she picked her way through the stream crossings.

Sunshine had listened to my tense body. Once I stopped thinking of "What IFS" she chilled out and became the excellent riding partner I'd always had. Granted, we hadn't ridden this valley in over two years and ... I hadn't really ridden Sunshine since??? Well, a long time.

Here we were laughing and riding. 

Molly on Siera.

Me on my little Sunshine mule.

Molly said, "Put your ears up Sunshine!"

So I helped her.

If you are wondering what kind of saddle I am on here is a link that shows it. Lucky me that I ended up with this saddle!

Stonewall saddle.

Siera decided that she was not going to cross one part of the tiny stream. I'm sure that the shadows on the grass and water were MULE monsters. The shadows only ate Fat Gaited Mules. After a bit, Molly got her through the Monster Shadows, rocks and water. Phew. The Monsters did not Eat the Fat Mule.

We really had fun making up reasons why after about 10 stream crossings, that one seemed to be so scary.
So we decided to just ride right up the creek for a bit.

Yeah. 
No mule eating monsters appeared and all was good. 
Sorry about the messy manes, we just haven't clipped them yet.

Siera with Molly standing in the Mule Eating Stream.

We headed back up the ridge road which is also an old snow mobile trail. Once we got into the wide open area I turned to Molly and started telling her a story about how Sunshine's mom was a great mare that always rode well in the woods.

"However," I said, "If a deer..."

A doe jumped out in front of us and darted away. Sunshine did a hop quarter turn and stared hard at the disappearing white tail.

"...jumped out of the woods," I continued, "Cheyanne would do a 180 leap and be off at a gallop."

Funny. The worst had just happened and I didn't even react except to sit the little spook and continue on as if nothing had happened.

I didn't hurt.

I didn't fall apart. 

I had a most excellent time.

Just.

Wow.

Siera? What was her reaction? Well, fairly normal for Siera. She is too lazy to spook at wildlife. She would rather spook at Combines and Tractors.