What have we learned?

Saddle view from Sunshine's Back

Molly and I went for a 'sunset' ride on Tuesday night. Monday evening we worked with Sundance in the round pen.

Monday night Molly learned an important lesson. While working with Sundance she dropped the dog food bag that made crinkly noises between the back legs of the mule. She immediately bent to pick it up.
Sundance was startled and swatted with a hoof as she darted away.

No real harm had occurred but Molly did get her arm brushed by a hoof edge. We talked about that for a moment and Molly said she understood that she should have just stood for a moment and not tried to grab between Sundance's legs.

I had Molly lunge Sundance around the pen and placed the very very scary dog food bag in a spot that Sundance would have to eventually go over.
I told Molly that she wouldn't mess any training up at all. But since Sundance suddenly had an issue with one thing that was going on, we wouldn't saddle her until she figured out that the dog food bag wouldn't eat her.

Molly worked with Sundance who first jumped the bag, then later trotted over it, and lastly Molly got her to stop with a foot on it.
Lots of praise.
While working, Sundance did show the classic signs of thinking about what she was learning. Molly showed an uncanny ability to work with Sundance.
This young lady had never been in a round pen before.
We ended the session with more grooming and a bit of grazing in the yard. I let Molly handle her for all of that.

See. Sundance had been pretty much handled by Rich for most of her young life. She was to be Rich's mule. And Sundance could be a handful at times so I sort of backed off from handling her until this last fall when I realized that Rich would probably never get back to working with her.
The changes in this young mule have been astounding.

The small herd can be in the forest and all I have to do is start a series of whistles. Sundance comes at a trot or lope to my whistle.

She literally begs to be caught and worked with any time she sees me in the yard or her pasture out back.

 

Sunshine is not quite as attentive, but I must say that the red headed sisters are very people oriented. There was a time when Sunshine [the older sister] didn't want to be caught. However since I have been constantly doing things with all of the mules ... it seems all are eager to be handled.

So Molly and I saddled up Sunshine and Siera for our sunset ride. Off we went along the back roads on the ridge. The biggest challenge for Molly and Siera was to not leave Sunshine and I too far behind. Siera is gaited and walks as fast as Sunshine can jog.
Molly did a great job. A few times I told her to let Siera go ahead and stretch her legs but then turn around and come back or make Siera wait for us.

Molly did...

Not a great shot by any means. But you get the idea.

We sat and watched the sun go down where the gravel road meets blacktop. Then we turned towards home.
I could hear machinery that sounded like a large tractor just over the hill. It sounded as though it were coming towards us.
I asked Molly to bring Siera into a hay field and turn her so she could watch the tractor from a 'safe' distance.
Siera has had issues with loud machinery before and I wanted to avoid any accidents.

I lined Sunshine up next to Siera and sat still. Sunshine glanced up at the huge monstrous tractor and dipped her head to sample the hay under her hooves totally unimpressed by the size of the tractor and the large flatbed of round bales it was pulling.
However, Siera's eyes kept getting rounder and larger, her neck tightened and she started a bolt. I held my hand up and amazingly she collided with my open hand and stopped wide eyed.
Molly sat the bolt perfectly without losing her balance and calmly brought Siera back to watch the tractor move off.

At that moment, I felt that Molly was going to be an amazing rider some day. This was her fourth time on a mule and she'd had no prior experience. I do not believe I've ever seen anyone as talented as her at her age. Yes, I have really good animals for her to learn on, but she never lost her cool or her balance.

The rest of the ride was rather quiet and colorful.
Molly and I unsaddled the mules and treated them with some grass from the yard.

Molly came in the house afterwards to tell Rich what she had learned. The two of them talked about mules/horses/training/riding and skills.

The farriers came out yesterday to trim the herd for me. Sundance used to have a habit of not wanting to stand quietly for them. She also would not put her foot on their stand to allow them to rasp her hoof.

I'd been working on that for a while now. Every day I catch her and clean her feet and have her bring her front legs forward while I pretend to rasp them.

When finished with the red heads the farriers did comment on how nice Sundance had behaved.
What did I learn?
Hoof work pays off.

This month has been a whirlwind of mule riding and training between all of the other things I have going on.

I'm diggin' it. It has been nice to have my interest in working with the animals sparked again.

However leaves on Monday to spend the rest of the summer before she heads off to college at her Grandmother's. Can I say that I am going to miss her?
Oh yes.
I will.

What have I learned?
I still love riding and training.

Sundance in Training...

I know this has been a long drawn out effort for training a mule. Sundance is 10 yrs old now. So many things have interfered with getting her under saddle that the last 5 years have flown by.

She was supposed to be a project for Rich. I didn't want to train another mule. I'd worked with Badger as my very first full blown project in 1998. Sunshine in 2002 and Siera in 2006.

Anyway. Cancer, stroke, and other health issues took away Rich's desire to work with Sundance. I thought she was too wild and crazy at first to work with. However since she is here, I decided that she should be useful. So last year I started working with her. She made great progress and then...winter happened. The round pen got filled with large square bales for the winter and the training there stopped. I had good intentions of all sorts of work with her...but didn't.

Now we start up again. And the intense human contact has made an impression on all of the mules.

The red headed sisters always come to the gate and stare at me when they see me outside. Sunshine is the older of the two and has years of riding under her girth.
Sundance evidently loves the challenge and work. She will spot me anywhere and find me.

Even in the forest she hears my footsteps and comes on the gallop. She reminds me in a way of her half brother Badger. Her sister Sunshine is very similar. I've been blessed with some very fine mules in my life. Sundance may be one of those special ones and I may not have known it.

Here she is at the gate with her sister. Demanding to be noticed.

I made her wait though until I was ready.

In the round pen I just decided to start treating her like any mule I'd take riding.
No ground work first.
Brushing and picking the feet.

Blanket and saddle. This is the second time she has had a saddle on. She twitched her body when I brought it out but then stood still as I put it on her.
Bridle.
She really is not sure about having a snaffle bit in her mouth and kept inching backwards.
I did not have her tied, she was at Liberty and could have chosen to bolt away. However I stood quietly and spoke to her, explaining how I felt she needed to trust me on this.

She took the bit and let me adjust the straps. The bit and bridle really bugged the crap out of her. So I added a few jugs with rocks to her saddle and asked her to trot around me.
She shook her head and bunny hopped in protest. She went faster, slower, faster, then stopped and became a mule statue.

I put the crinkly dog food bag on her next and she listened to it as she walked around and then stood quietly again.

I attached reins and we worked on feeling the bit on one side and another and giving to the bit. It only took a few minutes for her to figure this out. I stopped as soon as she responded.
I then put a foot in her stirrup and laid across her, first on one side, then another.

A huge thunderstorm started moving in so I decided to end our session. I unsaddles her and did it as if she were a seasoned mule. She just stood quietly.

I'm looking forward to another session hopefully today.
One thing I have going for me, is that I am not like a paid trainer. I don't have a time limit on her work. I don't have to produce results in 30 days. I can take my time and do it how I like.

I will be moving the herd back to the forest so they have lots of shade as the weather is turning very hot and humid.

I'm pleased with Sundance's progress. They say you need to train them very young. I'm thinking that Sundance is more like her sister and half brother Badger. They needed time for their mature brains to kick in and accept things.
This work would not have gone well when Sundance was two or even five years old.

I guess things happen for a reason.

Wonderful Saturday

The morning started like any other except that Molly had asked if I wanted to go riding.
Well, of course I did! Mornings are the best time to go for me on the weekends. In the afternoons there are guys that race around with loud 4 wheelers and I just don't think mules and loud machines would mix well.

Not a great shot, but I just took the camera and pointed behind me. Molly's mount is Mica. She used to be a roper/heeler and team penning mule but has now retired into a life of quiet trail rides. We didn't use her for about 5 years and I pulled her out of retirement and found that she was excellent for novice riders and as a rock solid dependable mule in all situations.

I rode Siera. Molly wanted to ride her. But Siera can be funny on her first trips away from home. She can be obstinate and when it comes to black sucking mud, she will sometimes prepare for a down right refusal to move through it.
Putting a newer rider in that situation is not a good idea.

And I knew my chosen route had mud sucking holes that the 4 Wheelers had created. [No photos of the mud sucking route nor the creek crossing that was similar to the swamp of Sorrows ~~ Movie reference to The Never Ending Story]

My hands were totally full of convincing Siera she would survive the black muck holes of death.
We had to cross the valley floor but the 4 Wheelers and made deep ruts in the already saturated valley. Instead of trying to cross to the other side, I walked Siera upstream on solid ground to the snow mobile crossing.
Less stress for her and probably safer too.

We finally made it to my favorite destination. The Back Valley, The Lost Valley...well, the 4 Wheelers have beat down a trail there too. However I took Siera upstream and she didn't mind at all. At one time it would have been a bit of a fight. Not any more. In fact she was being Miss Perfect by this time.

Maidenhair Fern Hill

I was pleased as this was her second ride away from home this year. Too many variables in my life had to get straightened out before I could take the time to ride again.

As we left the Back Valley we had a steep slippery trail to go up. I told Molly that these guys could do it easily, just let Mica have her head and lean forward, keep your balance, and trust her to do the proper thing. 

It was a hard incline for both mules, but once we got on the old logging trail, we let them catch their breath.

Mica is aged but in much better shape than she was in last year. Both mules are a bit soft in muscle and endurance but that is because they don't get ridden enough. I am aiming to fix that.

We eventually made it back to the first valley. The Black mud sucking valley of ruts and black water and muck. 

When I crossed the creek I offered Molly the opportunity to ride Siera. She didn't hesitate. We swapped mules and I rode Mica the rest of the way home.

Siera knew the way home up the camp road and was not going to offer up any resistance.

Molly had met Siera the first day she came to visit and fell head over heels for her. I have two other teens girls who have done the very same thing with her. Siera is that kind of mule. She loves attention. 

Molly beamed all the way home. 

I took Molly home and told her that around 3pm I'd be taking Sundance out for her next training session. We took a vote and decided to start calling her *Sunny*, Sundance and Sunshine are just too much of a mouth full.

Sunny, it is.

The funny thing is with Sunny and her sister, it that they are the two that were born on this place and raised here. Both out of my slightly nutty but fun mare Cheyanne who is no longer with us. Both mules are extreme people mules.

In one respect it almost makes it a bit harder to train Sunny. She doesn't want to trot around the round pen. She wants to hang out with the human.

Trainers like those that they can force into lunging and moving. 

Sure I can lunge her. But then I can also work with her a bit differently and use her human trust in other ways.

Put strange things on her back. Toss balls around. Ask her to follow me over killer tarps. Kick a ball.

All with a curious attitude at first then a Ho Hum attitude.

Crinkly Mule Eating Dog Food Bag. At first it was a mule eater. After a while it was a grooming tool. Legs, stomach, ears, back and then a neck decoration.

HO..Hum.

Finally. A saddle. And a jug with rocks in it to make annoying noises as she walked.

Reaction?

Look at the jug, walk, listen to the jug. 

Stop.

Look.

Ho Hum.

I let her trot the pen with the saddle to feel the back of it bouncing around. I'll use the back girth next so she can feel that. Then add a breast collar and crupper and perhaps a britchen.

I stood in the stirrups on each side and laid across her. She just sighed.

And that was the end of the session.

I was pleased. I recalled watching a video of an old mule/horse trainer who commented that in truth training the animal should be as about boring as watching paint dry. You don't want snorting bucking and challenges every step of the way. I agree, but to me it isn't boring. It is more about watching her reactions and body language to everything we are working on.

I put things away and she followed me.

...as if to ask...

What's next?

Admittedly, this was to be Rich's mule to train and I kept holding out the hope that he'd get interested in her again.

But she is doing so well.

I am simply awed by her calm attitude.

Let's hope it eventually translates to trails!

Mixed Bag

A horrible shot of Charlie, but evidence that now the two dogs are tolerant of each other.
Charlie was a bit put out by Teslin taking over that side of the couch. He preferred it when she would lay in her cozy little bed or go upstairs. She has quit going upstairs now and prefers our company.

She has decided that Charlie's food is better and has gained a pretty good appetite. Teslin will come and stare at me when she wants dry food. She has free feed food in her own bowl. That is fine with me. When Miss Picky eater is hungry and she gets food.
Both dogs went with me on a long walk yesterday. Mistake. Don't let Tes off leash, she has a way of deciding to take her own way and wander. My son said she isn't deaf, but she is when I call her.
So she was put on a leash and our hike was rerouted towards home. Coming through the meadow ... I had to carry Charlie. The grasses were so thick and hip tall on me.
Note to self. Stay out of the tall stuff with the dogs.

I took an afternoon to start to clean all of the saddles and gear. I sat on the porch Sunday with the dogs and cleaned 5 saddles and oiled britchens.
After pulling a tire off the zero turn mower, I took it in for repairs and then spent the evening trying another first.

Rich has always roached our mules' manes. So I decided to use the clippers this year as I'd used scissors last year with okay results, but it took forever.

So there is Sunshine with her Shaggy Messy mane.

Clipped! And I did her ears too. She looks much better. I used an old set of clippers on her. I asked Rich why he had quit using them. He said something about not cutting or some such thing. I thought I'd find it's manual and well...

Holy cow! I fixed them, cleaned the blades, oiled it, and then used the clippers on Sunshine! I even watched videos on YouTube to see if there was an easier way to clip. I followed a video and it worked out better.

Siera was a cakewalk. I used the large clippers on her. I'd taken them apart and cleaned and oiled them also. See? I am learning!

 Messy...

Stunning!

Last night I caught up the youngest mule. Rich said she hated clippers. I put her on the tree and turned on the quiet clippers. Sundance lost her mind. I know Rich had twitched her in the past to do it. But I am in no hurry. I left Sundance tied to the 'Naughty Tree' while I put everything away.
I was going to have to calm her down and we'd take our time regarding clipping.

Sundance and I went to the round pen and worked for a while. She decided that the goat in his pen was a mule-eating transmorgifying monster of some sort. Eventually she walked over and stared at Sven who just talked to her through his pen.

Sundance thought he was okay to look at. But I was still the enemy and I was NOT going to touch her at all. This was my own fault for not properly dealing with her clipper issue. But at the same time, it opens up a door for us to work together. She was doing so well last fall and it fell apart last night.

I worked with her and as soon as she turned, dropped her head, and walked to me with a kind look in her eye...I praised her and then took her back to the pasture after a short time grazing in the yard.
I let her loose in the pasture and she decided to glue herself to me.

I think I was forgiven. Her sister, Sunshine thought she'd like to get caught again.

Soon.

I think I am glad I didn't do a vegetable garden this year. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time working with Sundance. My goal is to have her under saddle this summer at some point.

Here is where we were last year when I had to end our lessons in the round pen.

~~ This is where the large square hay bales are stored for the winter. I dislike having to use this space but hopefully I'll work something out soon enough.

Sundance Day 3

Now I don't have a lot of photos because basically I have my attention on Sundance and Sundance only.

Consider this. I want the training to go quietly and without much excitement. I don't want her just to accept what I am doing and be very ho hum about.

Yes, eventually we will be in the woods and on trails. But that is where I want her to have it in her head that she can still be calm.

The blanket was an issue again. I walked her into the round pen and let her loose. I grabbed a brush and began to groom her. She stood quietly. I then tapped her feet and asked for 'give it' and cleaned out each hoof.

I consider this pretty good. Rich used to be able to be the only one to handle her feet and she wanted to 'shake hands' with you and pull the foot away. She even gave our farrier some issues one time. I dislike that in an animal.
So before I get on my soap box of how there is no excuse for not being able to do hoof care...I will change the subject.

I grabbed the Big Black Blanket and approached. She stepped away and flinched. I let her stand and then approached again. She didn't turn her head but watched me anyway.
I stood far enough away that I had to toss it.

She bunched up as it landed cockeyed on her back. And then played statue. So I walked up and let my hands do the complimenting and I spoke very softly. "You are a good girl."

I stepped away from her and walked to the middle of the round pen. Sundance thought about it. She stared at the gate. Fred was screaming out for her. It was almost as if she made a decision.

She walked to me.
I rearranged the blanket and asked her to walk around the round pen. I asked her for a direction change and a whoa.
She did it nearly perfectly.

I stood. She stood. She looked at me and then looked away.
Finally she sighed and walked up to me again.

Again. More gentle hands on her and sweet little murmurs.

"Would you like something new?" I asked.
Sundance didn't answer. She just watched me with quiet eyes. She was diggin' the attention.

I showed her Sunshine's & Fred's bridle. She smelled it. I took my time and put it on. Gently over the ears, gently the bit went into the mouth. I adjusted it so that she could play with the snaffle bit with her tongue.

It was statue time again.
Note the stuff in the purple sled by the gate. Those are grooming tools a spray bottle. If things get too boring, I pull the sled around in the round pen and Sundance watches from a distance and approaches when I stop.

She will eventually pull this behind herself calmly. At least that is my intention.

Since she was being so compliant, I began to toss other old blankets on her. I was met by the same ho hum attitude.

She did walk around for me and stop and turn while playing with the bit.

I did this for about 20 minutes and then pulled the blankets off. Sundance followed me while I was hanging the blankets back up.

I was sorely tempted to try a saddle, but then decided to do some more prep work.

I hooked up a rein to the right left of her bit and put a bit of pressure onto it. I watched her feet and as soon as she moved her muscles and lifted her hoof, I eased up. After several repeats she anticipated the movement of the rein and sidestepped towards me.

I switched to the other side. Sundance was left 'handed'. Of course that made sense from all the years of leading her from the left side. Now on the right side she resisted. I held the rein and waited. I saw the muscles flex in her shoulder and stopped.

After 3 more repeats, she moved her legs and side stepped slightly. I stroked her neck and praised her.

I moved her back to the center of the round pen and took off the bridle slowly, letting her chose how to spit out the bit. More murmuring and more soft stroked on her poll, withers, and neck.

I put the items away while she watched and then we left to take a walk up the driveway together.
She was alert and looked around as if to look for her herd.
I considered separating her for training but since she seemed pretty content with me once she was away from the others, I decided to let her be with the rest of them.

Another boring training session.
I like it.

Next session will involve some of my body language with Sundance. I want to see if I can use a method of relaxation to keep her attention on me and not what is happening outside.
I've used the Horse Stance in Tai Chi before and it works well.
What the heck, at least I will be super relaxed!

Sundance School Day 2

I've had this mule for a while. So the purpose of taking her to the round pen first few times are to learn a bit more about her actions when separated from the rest of her pals.

I stood in the pasture with a halter and lead rope. Sundance spotted me and walked up quietly. I just scratched her ears and rubbed her neck a bit before haltering her.

I took her out the 3 line electric gate. This was something she had done a few times before but I wanted to see how she'd do with the the distractions of the other mules and of the two donkeys on each side of the lane.

She watched everything calmly and stared intently at the hot wires I'd dropped on the ground. They snapped and she respected them but didn't freak out. I held her rope and put the gates back up. She softly snorted and again watched with great interest.

Maybe she was trying to figure out how to move gates on her own?

We walked down the lane to the shed and she looked around. She'd never walked this way before so the piles of metal that my husband had stacked in the weeds were new images for her to process. She did and decided they were nothing of great concern.

I walked with her into the round pen. We did the customary warm up and a bit of lunging. I will see many trainers lunge their animals over and over and over again. A smart mule doesn't see the point in the lunging. If the mule is friendly he/she would rather just spend time close to the trainer and only move off if made to.

Sundance did a few laps and then stopped at the gate which I expected. I snapped the lunge whip and she gave me a curious glance as if to say..."So? I know you won't hurt me. I have no fear of you."

So I decided to make that an uncomfortable place to stop. I grabbed the old beat up plastic sled and tossed it in front of the gate.

SNORT! It was some sort of monster.

We worked on trust after a few minutes of lunging.

Oh that blanket! It was a killer blanket again. She scrunched up her back each time I approached her with it and trotted off.
I didn't punish her for it or make her run around the pen. I waited until she stopped and then approached again.

After 3 tries, the blanket was on and she sighed.

The point is trust. I want Sundance to trust me not to put her in danger. I want her to accept what I do with her. I want her to think about it. I could hurry her training along by saddling her and letting her buck it out and lunge the crap out of her, but that is not my way.

I tossed another old blanket into the round pen. It too was some sort of strange mule eating monster. Sundance avoided it as she walked and trotted around the round pen.
So I moved it.

Here I ask without any words, "Sundance do you trust me?"

I ask her to step forward onto the killer blanket. Note the sled behind her which is no longer a purple mule eating sled.

And...

Apparently, the blanket wouldn't kill her. I could lead her over it. Her concentration was on me and not the blanket.

I took this moment to work with her feet. She picked each foot up for me and let me pick them out.

I added my version of 'Rope Games' and Sundance seemed totally unconcerned.

One of the particular things I've noticed about her is that if Sundance has a new item introduced on her body, she plays statue until she figures things out.

Here she stands with the rope draped over and between her ears. She is thinking about it. She let me put the rope on her like a girth and just stood still with her ears flickering back and forth.

School Day 2 was over.

I left the pen and we walked out into the yard and around another lane back to her pals.

No excitement here. But it was interesting to observe her reaction to new items.