Winning

I called our farrier because the girls needed trimming and Mica was limping quite badly. Mica is our elderly mule who is 27 years old. She is retired due to her other health issues.

She was a header and heeler in her day, along with team penning. 

As the guys said, 'She's been there, and done that.'

Mica had an abscessed frog, it went up her frog and split up her heel bulb. 

In the shot below, we are soaking Mica's foot in Epsom salts before we wrap it to keep it clean.

They were able to figure out what was wrong with her right away.

Holding Mica is Gracie. Her mom is also one of my CrossFit coaches. Her girls have been to my place to spend the day with me a few times. They were out last month for riding. 

I asked her mom if she could come and help me with catching up the mules and taking them in and out of the gate. I also thought it would be interesting for her to learn a bit about hooves from our farriers. Dan and Danny. Dan is an Licensed farrier and belongs to the International Farriers Association. If I have a hoof, leg problem, I call these guys.

The Diaper Boot. 

We made a diaper hoof boot to keep the wound clean. The guys taught me a new trick of adding a layer of Duct tape to the bottom of the diaper. I'll have to pull this off and soak her foot once a day for about a week until the abscess hole heals.

The diaper offers protection and cushioning for the sore frog. I've used this before with great success.

The guys said that Mica was such a good patient. She never offered to pull away or act up during the time we worked on her. 

When the farriers left, Gracie and I saddled up for a ride off the farm. I suspected Gracie would be just fine riding like this since she has friends that have horses and she goes to ride with them quite often. She tells me that they canter, trot and do all the kid things I used to do on horses.

I try to recall all the crazy stuff we did as kids on my uncle's horses and in some ways, I think we were better riders because we were not supervised most of the time. 

When Siera tossed her head around a little in protest of leaving her pasture mates, Gracie just ignored her antics and told her to behave. 

To Siera's credit, she is a very calm animal who doesn't really spook [unless she sees a bicycle!]. Her normal reaction to the unknown is to freeze and then relax and go on. 

We rode for about 40 minutes and checked out the neighbor's fresh round bales and then headed home. It was a good first ride away from our place for the season. The two mules together act much better than taking one out at a time.

Since it was so hot and humid, we gave the girls a quick little sponge bath so they could go roll in the dirt.

I have to admit, we really enjoy these chances to have Gracie and her sisters visit.
Rich literally lights up like a Christmas Tree when the kids are here.

And that is a win for everyone.

I love my mules!

I haven't had the mules out for a ride since October when I took my neighbor along for a ride down to the creek on my other neighbor's land.

With everything I have going on, I really haven't been able to do a lot with them other than brushing, cleaning their feet, and doing the chores.

I've got some great friends at our CrossFit gym. Last year two of her little girls came out to ride. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous because I didn't know how they'd act around the mules and how much riding knowledge they had.

They were actually pretty good and followed directions well. Gracie and Tory rode in September last year. 

Kids and Equine

I had such a great time with them ... and well, they've been asking about it again. You know girls and equine. There is something that just makes them 'horse' crazy.

Well, today I brought them home with me after our work out. Their littlest sister came along. They are 10, 8 and 6. I figured it would be a handful and maybe even a bit of crazy. But it wasn't. The girls were careful and got to work on cleaning up Sunshine and Siera.

Please excuse the yard, I haven't mowed this section again this week. [Mr. Pony will deal with trimming it first.]

Aside from trimming hooves, this is the first time since last year they were pulled out of the pasture.

[I go out to them to curry and clean their hooves]

The rest of the Motley Crew watched.

The girls wanted to ride bareback because after all they had learned to ride on their old pony that way. 

So we compromised and put a saddle on Siera and kept Sunshine bareback.

Gracie decided she could get on by herself.
And ...
she did.
I was pretty proud of Siera for 
not walking off.

[Yeah, I haven't given them spring haircuts either. But these young ladies did not mind one bit.]

The kids struggled a bit with figuring out how to operate turning, and the mules gals really wanted to be with their pasture mates. Neither mule put up a fuss.

With some encouragement and a little bit of work, Tory and Gracie got with the program. They still gave the mules a bit of mixed signals, but for what it is worth, the mules didn't really care.

Leesie on her first time on Siera....

There is a trick to this. My mules will follow me where ever I walk. So I walked ahead of Leesie and asked her to make Siera follow me. The confidence boost was amazing. She had no fear because in her head she was doing it just like her big sisters.

Eventually I had her walk about on her own. 

And then we switched things up.

We went to the bigger pasture. Big sister helped her little sister.

And they kept switching things up and taking turns until....the girls asked if they could ride double on Siera.

And Siera never batted an eye about it.

One sister slid off, the one behind got in the saddle and then I helped the other sister back on so she too could take a turn in behind.

And so it went.

In the long run, everyone got along fine. My mule girls figured out what their riders wanted even if it was communicated a bit differently than they are used to.

13 seconds:

I used to think, that allowing this to happen would totally ruin an animal. And I suppose it could. But the girls are open to learning how to be softer with their hands. After all, they learned on a hard mouthed and hard headed pony with no real guidance.

The sorrel mule is 26 and was trained by us to deal with the shenanigans of children. While riding and training her we'd grab branches and yell, squirm in the saddle, and do all the things kids will do. She is a solid equine. Will she ever show? No, but she'll do what is asked.

I got Siera when she was 3 and she'd been handled but not ridden. We spent a long time working together. She is great on the trail.  Unless of course a bicycle showed up in the woods or...even worse yet, a baby stroller. [She knows they eat mules]

Tory asked Sunshine to trot and when she started to jog, Tory got scared and slid off Sunshine by hanging onto her neck until her feet hit the ground.

Sunshine stopped and stood stock still next to Tory who tearfully told me she had gotten scared and slid off. 

I told her it was okay and that she did the finest emergency dismount I'd ever seen. She was more afraid that Sunshine would trot away and leave her. 

I kneeled next to her.

"Has Sunshine moved since you came off?"
"Um. No."
 

I reached out and put my hand on Sunshine. "She knows it is her job to take care of you and stay by you."
Tory tearfully nodded.
"Did you know that Sunshine loves you?"

Tory's eyes widened, "She does?"
"She does."

Sunshine took that very moment to nuzzle Tory softly.
Tory wiped her eyes and then asked, "Can I get back on her?"

"Absolutely."

The mules finally got tired of riding in circles and I called an end to the riding.

The girls brushed their mounts and cleaned them all up. 

It was time to put them away.

Tory's reaction?

A picture is worth a thousand words.

I do know my mules since I raised them and trained them. They are solid equine. They don't get fussy and they absolutely adore attention and young folk. They don't mind mistakes and they almost never get stupid.

They have worked all of their lives to be just like this. Good quiet, and patient. I attribute that to their donkey side.

The girls and the mules filled my heart up today.

A day with Gracie

   About a month ago Gracie and her sister Tori came to visit me at our place. They got to ride my mules Sunshine and Siera.

Since then Gracie has been asking to come back. Her birthday was October 1st and one of her birthday wishes was a visit with me. I was pretty honored.

She asked to go hiking which is one of my favorite things to do. So I packed a picnic lunch of PB&J, dehydrated apple chips, and some chocolate chip cookies. 

On the drive to Duck Egg County Park she asked over and over. How much further? When do we get there? As a Grandmother, I can smile and just give an answer. There is an advantage to being my age and one of them is more patience than I had as a mom.

This was my typical view for many parts of our hike:

We stopped and had a picnic lunch on a footbridge that goes over the stream. Charlie kept and eye out in case any good stuff fell on the bridge. 

We had to hike up a very steep hillside with switchbacks in the trail. The elevation from valley floor to the bluff is 702 feet. The bluff we were hiking to is in the top of the photo pictured below.

As we started up the steep switchback Gracie kept asking 'How far to the top?' Sort of like ... are we there yet? I asked if she was tired and she said her legs were so we rested often.

A bit of 'drama' is always enjoyed...

Kids are so great and it gives me a lot of joy to be around them. 

We did eventually make it to the look out. I looks down on the valley we'd just trekked through.

When I got back to the house Gracie visited with Rich and told him about the hike. We then visited with the mules for a bit before it was time to take her back to her mom.

The mules recognized her and came right to her.

She wants to be immersed in horses and equine. I can recall wanting the same thing at that age. 

I mean, what little girl doesn't want that?

I grew up and had my dream. I surely hope she can do it also.

When I got ready to head back to town to drop her off she ran inside the house and wrapped her arms around Rich and gave him a huge hug. His and her smiles made my day. I am blessed to have made friends with her mom and family. They bring joy into our world.

Kids and Equine

Yesterday I did...  another 'Thing'.

I brought home 2 youngsters for a visit. Remember my visit with my coach's kids and their little pony in July?

Ponies and little girls...

Well today I got to have them for a few hours after CrossFit and Mobility Class. 

The girls are 7 and 9. They wanted to meet my mules and ride.

I will let this video speak for itself.

It is 2:39 long. The older sister has some experience and the younger sister is gaining confidence with her sisters help.

Both girls did very well!

The girls had a great time and even enjoyed visiting with Rich. Rich watched from the house and complimented them on their riding.

After a late lunch, we went for a hike in the woods to check the mule's forest fence and the girl's spent some time on my home made swing.

The youngest one fell sound asleep on our ride back to town where I returned them to their mom.

I'd forgotten how fun it is to have younguns around to 'play' with.

We'll probably arrange for another visit soon or make it a once a month thing. I could really enjoy that and these kids were polite, sweet, engaging, kind, and very well behaved. Kudos to mom!