25 Years together

Sunshine and I have been together for 25 years now. Her mom was a grade Arab/Quarter mix that I was riding when I met my husband. At that time I'd never seen a mule until I met hubby and his mule Fred.

Cheyanne was with us until she crossed the Rainbow bridge at 28 years old.

I took Sunshine out last night because for the first time in a while, the weather was nice and not insanely hot or smokey.

Rich told me that I needed to work with her and I have done so for all of her years. Last night she thought that perhaps she'd creep away while I was mounting her. I told her she was naughty so we did some practice walks, stops, and back up until she recalled her manners.

Then it was time to ride about the yard and driveway to make sure her brakes and turn signals still worked.

They did.

She felt so comfortable and relaxed that we went off for a short jaunt to watch deer on the ridge and collect the mail.

She detected a hen turkey and we watched them scurry out of the corn field and across the road in front of us. The little ones were so cute.

Her reaction was a big sigh and then we moved on. 

I just wanted a short ride to see where her mind was at. She was with me and not worried about the calls from her sister at home. The funny thing about most mules is that they generally don't like leaving their herd mates. Sunshine has always been a bit more independent that way. As long as she has a human with her, she is relaxed.

We saw three bunches of deer who came running out of the cornfield and bounded into the woods. It was too late in the day to go down into the woods for us, it would have been too dark. So we just walked out to the open ridge and scoped out the fields.

I figured that was good enough for our first jaunt this year.

A view from the saddle on a long eared mule. [20 seconds]

The woods were getting dark.

When we got home I see that Sundance [Sunshine's sister] had been having an absolute fit that her sister had left the property.

Siera on the other hand was peeved because she was separated from the bay horse we call 15.  Or perhaps they were both pissed because they had hot wires between them.

In a few more days they will get used to this arrangement and I won't have to walk all the way to the back woods to grab either Sunshine or Siera.

I did take Siera out and ask her to recall her manners on a lead line. At first she wanted to look for her pals and then she decided that she'd follow my directions. Walk, turn in hand, back up, and stand for inspection.

Here she is after grooming. Her attention is on the other mules.

Siera used to be give me a very hard time about leaving on her own. I do miss the days of going to Wildcat or Duck Egg to ride. There was never any 'home' drama. But since hubby can't drive and the old truck is Kaput, I make do with woodland trails and open fields and back roads.

Meanwhile, Sunshine trotted up to the fence and had a talk with her sister, Sundance. At home in the pasture she can be a real goof. 

I turned Siera back out and the rest of the evening was rather undramatic. They all took turns rolling in the dust to get the flies off them.

I look back and am amazed. One mule for 25 years? We've certainly become good friends. There won't be any more after Sunshine and Siera. 

It is Siera's turn under saddle on Sunday. 

 

Siera ~ Naughty

Siera is doing well her hoof/frog issues seem to be clearing up.
I should have been exercising her more, but with mud or ice being the normal all around us, I haven't been able to.

However, I was able to get her out and ride her for a bit this past week.

She decided that she wanted to protest every step of the way and be back with her friends in her paddock. 
This is pretty much Siera's normal spring behavior.  She needs to be weaned from her friends/buddies each spring and learn that yes, she can walk away from them under saddle or on lead.

But sometimes she just needs to stand and think about it.

She is actually getting better at this and realizes that when she is going to toss her head and act like love sick animal, that she will get a time out at the 'naughty' tree.

I let her stand there for about 45 minutes while I did some yard work.  She pawed a few times and tossed her head only once or twice.
Then she settled down and stood quietly.

I loved her up and we took a short ride to the ridge.  The woods were too slippery and muddy or we would have gone on a nice narrow trail.

When Siera has too much open space and nice even ground, her mind wanders and she thinks more about misbehaving than worrying about her next step over a log or climbing through a ditch.

We worked a cornfield for a while until she realized that I was not going to just turn her in the direction of home.
We did a lot of circles and many 'stand stills'.

When she finally took a deep sigh and moved on with forward ears, I knew that we'd gotten through the first stage of separation.

Since she hasn't had to work most of the winter, I rode her out 1/2 mile and back to get the mail.

It is funny that different animals have different attitudes about leaving the farm.  Siera puts up a fuss and eventually quits when she is asked to work a difficult trail.

Lil' Richard was more than happy to leave the farm. 
Badger never minded.  
Fred brays and vocally carries on for about 1/4 mile, and then steps right out.  
Opal used to turn her head towards the farm and walk with one ear turned to home.  When we got past that magical mark in the trail, she'd stop and she'd be all attention to detail.
Sunshine will turn her head and may even bray once, but then she marches on.  She waits until you aren't paying attention and then will try to turn back home.


I would like to see Siera get over her separation issues, but I also realize that she may never be that kind of mule and I will have to deal with it each spring.
That is okay, she is a fun ride. 
Siera's best feature is that she doesn't spook.  

She is one of those equine that will lock up and stand still as a statue until she figures out the situation.  

I'll put up with her idiosyncrasies if she'll put up with mine.

Siera and Me, the perfect ride.

Siera and I have been struggling this spring.

She has been herd sour and 'home' sour with great intensity.  Tossing her head, trying to turn, and even an offer to try and buck.  She seriously sucks at bucking so each ride has been a small struggle.

But apparently the frequent rides and steady persistence pays off in the end with something like a perfect ride.

Up the driveway and down the road we went last night away from home without any hesitation.

[Oh yes, she is in a big need of a mane roaching!]

I chose the wide open spaces on the ridge to 'go visiting'.  We ran across the crew that is putting fiber optics in.
We stopped and chatted.

One of them, the foreman, was the grandson of one of the very first mule person's I have ever met.

Siera was quiet, relaxed and incredible.


All in all we ended up riding the roads, then some forest trails and then out to get the mail.

It was all good.

I think we are getting in the groove again.

Isn't this an odd looking creature!
Our shadows were not flattering to Siera at all.

Siera and me.

This photo proves it, I've been riding Siera off and on for nearly 4 yrs.  She has a severe separation issue every year.

Yesterday was a prime example of it. 
We went into the meadow and rode.  At first she went along nicely but the further from the gate we went the more head tossing and walking sideways she went.

She reined pretty well around the trees until she decided not to.
In one place the ground had some standing water and was mushy.  This is when she got down right angry.  Okay, maybe not angry, just pissed off.

Her ears went flat, she refused to go forward, she backed into an apple tree.
So I went about it a different way and we did get through it with some coaxing.

I let her gait out as fast as she wanted away from home but not towards home.  This too made her upset.  Enough for her to try and bolt once and make an effort at a buck.

I started to get frustrated so I just made her stand still.  We eventually went back home and then I took her into the forest loop.  She came to a log that she has stepped over and launched it.
Well then we worked on crossing twice more.

She then did the forest loop with no issues, paying attention to where her feet were going and what she was doing.

A deer popped out of the brush and she did nothing but stare at it.

I'm also wondering if she may be in 'heat' and that is part of her recent issues.

No matter, we did fine towards the end of the ride.

This morning we did some basics in the round pen and then she spent some time while I did yard work...learning patience.
She was tied to a tree where I could watch her.

After pawing a while, she stood still.

I think I have to get more 'wet' blanket time on her.

However, it seems that the little red mule, Sunshine, needs some riding time too.  She after all, is Badger's little sister, and out of my wonderful old red mare.

Some days I miss the likes of Billy Bob, Jim, Badger, and Buck ~ they were all geldings and quiet.

Siera has 'tude, which I like.  I love her gait, I love her looks, and most days I even love her ride.

Just sometimes we both have a 'bad' day.
Though I realize nothing can be accomplished if I am an Angry Rider.

So she'll have the weekend off while I go visit my mom and my older son.

Back to work soon Siera!

My Mother's Day Fun

Hubby had to go get hay.
The weather forecast said RAIN and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Siera and I hadn't been out for almost a week.


So I saddled Siera up and grabbed my Drift HD POV camera and clipped it into the helmet mount of my old riding helmet.

I thought it would be fun to see how the video of us would turn out.
I hadn't used it before because my old computer took forever to convert and save a HD version of the videos.

Unfortunately, it takes forever to upload to YouTube with our internet speed. It can be even longer if you are trying to upload HD quality.  4+ hours in fact.

So here is Siera, Morris, and I on our first part of the ride.

One of the things is, Siera is very herd bound each spring.  She gets antsy and a bit excited.  She doesn't buck or spin, she just tries to go fast and faster.

I thought I'd take her on our ridge road which is steep going down and let her 'pace' off some steam.
Morris wanted to come along.  He and Siera are buddies.

Sorry for the poor quality.  If you watch this, do it in a small screen, the big screen stinks!

Morris got exhausted after two turns up and down the hill, as you can see he was running full out.
Siera can pace at 12 miles an hour, by the way.



After a few rides up and down the hill, we were good to go through the 1/2 mile trail in the woods.  
Giving a mule a slightly more difficult terrain to navigate helps them put their mind into their work.

Yes, Siera does a lot of head flipping but that is her natural way of going when she is excited.  Once she calms down as you may see if you watch all the way through on part two, is that she finally drops her head and gets to work.

This includes going over a huge log that she refused to go over when we first went out.
Note this.  THAT log was between her and her home, so she decided it was workable.



Siera is a speed ride compared to old Badger.  But after a few more spring rides she'll settle back into her good old self and calm down.

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: