My first equine love...

I had many though...
My uncle raised horses and we rode them in the summer. I learned about horsemanship from my cousins. We rode bareback a lot because my uncle only had a couple of saddles. My mom promised us girls that one day we could have horses.

We had to make that promise happen ourselves.

Cheyanne came with me when I moved across the state to be with Rich.

She was half Arab and half Quarter horse. She floated when she trotted and had the nicest lope in the world. 

We were so bonded in so many ways. Below is when she had Sunshine who is now 26 years old. Chey was having trouble so I went out and helped.

She crossed the Rainbow Bridge at 28 years old. You can read what I wrote about her then: The Rainbow Bridge and a poem I wrote for her called Friend.

At that time I'd already fallen for my first mule I'd ever owned. Badger was my soul mate and pure of heart. There was absolutely nothing he would not do for me. Below is a photo of me on Badger with my dog in my lap. We were headed out into the neighbor's wild woods to pick black berries. He watched over me and kept me safe.

I do have to mention that Sunshine has been with me the longest. She is special in a way I cannot describe and like her half brother Badger, she watches over me at all times even when I am not riding her.

I guess she is special to me as she is Cheyanne's daughter and has proven over and over again that human - mule love is special.

I am so lucky to have a second generation equine from my first horse.

Thanks so Lori and Sandra for this idea!

History of Horses and Mules

For my friends with equines. I have a fun post. Show me memories!

I'm going to give a nod to Aurora for making me think about this. 

I started out riding and falling off as pure entertainment for my mom and her family. My uncle gave us rides his old horse Babe. To get two rides done at once we'd often ride double. After this shot was taken, my sister and I got to giggling so hard, I fell off and got stepped on in the mushy mud by Babe. I'm the one with the glasses. Yes, we could ride Babe in the pen with no bridle, she was that cool of a horse.

This was to be the first of many misadventures while spending time with my cousins in the summer. My uncle trained horses and had come from one of the last Calvary units in WWII. He was quiet and never raised his voice, but we knew he meant business when he got after us kids. MMMM. Like the time he made us wash the inside of his 3 stall mini barn after we'd blown up mice with firecrackers in the feed barrels and got into a manure fight.

I often got to ride one of Lyle's clients' horses. Very often there wasn't enough saddles to go around. If 4 of us went riding. Only 2 or 3 could have adult saddles. I often got a pad to ride on or went without.

If we went in a group, I'd generally get the shit little pony we all loved and hated. His name was Thunder. If you can see in the photo, Thunder has a snaffle tied to a leather strap and I have twine strings for reins. 

My cousins and us would head out at night after our parents headed out to the bars or to dance. We'd ride the back roads and look for trouble. Yeah. We found it often. We'd even saddle up and head to the dump where we'd shoot rats. No TV? No internet? No problem!

My uncle died. Our horse summers were over. But my wish to have my own horse never ever left my mind. Eventually I was able to get a horse. My first one was Red. An ugly headed red horse that was incredible. He was calm as a cucumber and powerful. He was supposed to be a quarter horse. Next was Cheyanne. I purchased her as green broke. I was green broke too. I had no idea what I was doing and had wished that I'd spent more time watching my uncle train horses.

There was Rocky who came to our place for retirement. An elderly Saddlebred who was trained and had been shown and... had been a lesson horse until the owner no longer wanted him. Nothing fazed him ever. Except leaving the property. Nope, to get past the property line you had to hand walk him sometimes backwards and then he seemed to be okay with it. I am sure I never became the horse person to understand all of his intricate cues and level of training. 

I'll skip through the next few years. I kept Chey, sold Red to my sister, gave Rocky away... divorced...met a man who had mules...married the mule man. Ceremony on mules. 

Mule man thought Cheyanne ought to be bred to a Jack. He also thought we should buy a Jack Donkey and that I should own and train ... and show a mule from said Donkey named Bruce.

Mind you, I was still STILL no trainer. And the Huge Lanky 3 year old mule was Green Broke. Those who owned him didn't like him much and didn't think he'd amount to much.

I'm going to skip the whole training thing. Basically because I am not a trainer. The equine train me and mules have taught me to be a partner in every sense of the word.

Badger. 15 hands. Here is with me waiting while I scour the hillside looking for Morel Mushrooms. Hubby had a custom saddle built for me. 

Nice saddle. Not my favorite as it is heavy and my shoulders sucked.

Badger at WildCat with Sunshine. I'm riding in my Simco with a britchen. Yeah, I swapped English leather for the western ones. My knees like it and I can swing my feet out of the way of stumps and brush in the woods. The britchen keeps the saddle from sliding forward. Mules generally do not have much in the way of withers. Back cinch and britchen or crupper keeps the saddle secure on downhill mule slides.

After the elbow surgery, I thought I'd go this way. Why not? This saddle was easy to put on and great for ridge riding. Sucked at hills. This is Siera. Badger was ill at this time and I was working with another mule that was training me.

Opal the hateful mule. She hated people. In the last few years her life, hubby turned her over to me. A mule who could not be caught, who was ear shy from the old methods of earing down, and who DID not trust humans...became my friend.

It took months and months for this to happen. And when we bonded? It was amazing. Hubby told me I'd never catch that Bitch. Opal was purchased by hubby specifically for team penning and gymkhana. It was a real Hate relationship. But she would preform under saddle.

I scored this Stonewall saddle all beat up and not all there. I called Stonewall and had them ship me the missing pieces. I'm going to say this is my absolute favorite saddle. Super duper lightweight and easy to ride in.

Don't read the link above on Opal if you don't have tissues handy. 
She was still with me and riding at 28 yrs young. And she was a speed mule, she could turn a barrel... and when a deer spooked her by actually springing out of a cornfield and running into us...

Opal did a 180 mid air spin and land at a gallop. She was an amazing athlete. Yeah, I think I nearly wet my pants, BUT I didn't lose the berry bucket!

In this photo, she is giving me her idea of waiting while I pick black berries in the woods.

There is Mica, who I still ride once in a while. She is a non comitted mule. She won't commit to a favorite human. They are just beings to serve her. If you are in the mood to groom? She is your friend. She is mostly retired now.

Photo below is at WildCat, a picnic break on the Yellow Trail I think.

There is Fred. He is 35 years old now. 

Our littlest mule. And most loved mule. 

Fred has probably the longest list of riders on him. 

And that leaves me with the last photos. Sunshine. The daughter of my first horse. Truly a beautiful red head. A good trail mule. A nice sized mule.

I've had her now longer than I've had Badger. We are getting there. 

I mean ... we absolutely are THE best of pals.

I was there when she was born.

Soulmates

The horse that started it all. Her name was Cheyanne and I purchased her for about $400 green broke. I was green broke too. She taught me so much about equine. She was super sensitive to human attitudes. 
Her awareness of her rider's mental state was hypersensitive.

She did a stint in 4 H with Horseless Horse riders and went to state with a rider. 

Unfortunately that atmosphere was not her forte. She did well but stressed out so badly especially when her rider came out of the arena and started to slap Chey because she didn't get first place. 
The rider blamed Cheyanne. Interestingly enough the rider's mother came up to me and complained that I should have made them do better and they would win next year.

I asked the rider to dismount and told mom that her daughter would never touch my horse again.

I ended up moving from the Kenosha area out to the western part of the state. 

I started riding mules and Cheyanne was bred to our Jack. Her first daughter, Sunshine has that floating trot that Chey had. Cheyanne was 1/2 Arab and 1/2 Quarter horse. We never were quite sure which breed would show up while riding her. If we had really tough trails, she would be calm. If it was boring, she would look for monsters. That was Chey.

Rich purchased a big tall lanky mule for me in Missouri out of our Jack. His name was Badger. If ever I had a soulmate in equine form, Badger was it.

I had to finish 'training' him and by doing that, I learned so much more about mules and their loyalties. We showed in Western Pleasure, played at Gymkhana, and explored wild woods nearly every day together.

The man who 'started' Badger under saddle said he was worthless and no good. He didn't have heart and sulled out all of the time. 

Badger was 15 hands and thought he was tiny. For the rest of his life he did not tolerate big male people. 

He even tried Endurance Riding with me. We never won anything, but we always passed vet checks with a great score card.

He adored little people.

We lost Badger in 2012 and I struggled to find another soul mate. 

Sunshine is Badger's half sister out of Cheyanne without the Cheyanne attitude. We also had Siera a Peruvian Paso mule with an amazing attitude. 

Sunshine is steady. She has had her moments, but has turned into one of the best wild wood mounts I've ever had. She is small enough to go morel hunting with, easy on and off, and confident in solo riding.

Siera is an amazing ride. On the flat she can gait out like nothing I've ever ridden. She is calm when she has company and a bit nervous solo. She rarely gets bothered if her rider doesn't understand what they are doing. She just stops what she is doing and waits.
Best thing of all, when she is frightened she just stands there. Siera is the ultimate in lazy.

At first I thought Siera would be my next pure mule soulmate. 

The more I interact with my mules, the more I have discovered that Sunshine, that little red mule that everyone laughed at...has become my little darling. 

Every day at chore time. She comes and stands before me and waits for me. She is kind and attentively listens to my daily troubles and offers only her friendship.

She never runs away from me when I have a halter.

She is like her half brother. True through and through. 

My beautiful redhead.

There I go ... Memory Lane. Mules, horses, life, and love.

I can't wait to go riding again!

I may have take Siera or Sunshine out when the weather warms up and do some snow play.

Have a great day.