Another nice ride

Look at Siera! What a typical mule face!

Basically she is giving me the stink eye for tossing the pad on her. Siera is my younger molly mule that I ride.

She came to our place when she was 3 years old. My hubby purchased her against my wishes. We did not need another animal! Of course, her mother was Peruvian Paso and she was gaited. Hubby saw $$$ signs in a trained and gaited mule.

 The folks who sold her to us kept her full sister who was taller and more elegant. Only to sell her a couple of years later because she was in their terms, Ill Tempered, and Difficult. They had sent her to a trainer in Iowa to be 'broken' and trained. 

I have found Siera to be rather sweet and calm. Sure she lets you know when she is a bit tentative about something that is being asked of her. And she will refuse to step into a tiny puddle. She can be a bit bull headed too.

However. She is a mule.

She was probably the easiest one I ever put a saddle on. Just two or three round pen sessions and I was riding her when she was 4. Obstacles like puddles are nothing to me. However, to her they were life threatening.

We worked in hand and under saddle together. She is one of those animals that works best when she thinks it IS her idea and not yours to cross that ditch or to walk through a puddle.

On a flat open trail she boogies in such a smooth gait. When she startles, she becomes a statue. When she figures it out, she sighs and proceeds.  

We moved over to the Hickory tree because it seems some wasps have taken up residence in the back of the trailer.

She is wearing my favorite saddle. I swapped out the western stirrups for English ones when I was doing Endurance with Badger. The ease of changing the length made this a perfect saddle for all the grand kids to use. 

Plus, the saddle is much lighter.

We headed out to ride the same trail as I took Sunshine on. It winds through the woods partly on the old 4 wheelers trail and drops into a valley before climbing again and then follows deer trails and old cattle trails just below the ridge.

Those Ears!

There are 3 dry runs or ditches to cross to circle back towards home. I planned it that way so Siera would think it would be a good idea to cross them.  When she was first ridden in these woods long ago, she absolutely refused to cross these ditches. She planted her feet if you tried to lead her across, or backed up under saddle. 

I don't think she had the confidence at that time to know she was capable.

I spent a lot of time with her and lesser 'ditches'. Eventually, I think she gained confidence in herself. Now? 

She just looks things over and then decides that heading towards home through the obstacles is a good thing. 

She got sweaty ears from worrying about being away from the others.

Our ride was quiet. I made her stand and look around several times. She wants to rush through things when she is by herself. When she is with another equine, she is very chilled.

We found no monsters and no logs or ditches that were scary. We found a lot of little stick tights though.

And ... it is always nice to take the very long way around to go get the mail on the ridge.

Oh. Remember how I said my hubby purchased her against my wishes? After I got her going under saddle I decided she wasn't leaving. I plunked down her purchase price in front of him one morning and said, "SHE is mine."

Her sister? Those folks contacted me after seeing pictures of Siera working with my grand kids. They offered to by her because they wanted a good mule. They went on about how awful her sister became.

And I often wonder if it was the way the mule was handled. When Siera balked at things I never punished or even cursed. I just figured she needed help in figuring out what I was asking of her.

I've done that with all the mules I've handled in the past. 

The trainer they sent the sister too? He was known for being rough and heavy handed to get results. Some mules could handle that I guess. Others? I think it ruined them.

I am not a trainer. Nope, not at all. I just learned through trail and error. I simply ended up often with animals that needed work and since I like to trail ride, I worked with them. 

I'd like to think that I created a bond with those few that have been special in my lifetime.

We had a great little ride and a nice chat in the yard before she went back with the others.

Muddin' with Siera

I promised myself I'd take Siera riding today.

I even put it on my 'to do' list. We've gone 36 hours without rain so I thought it would be a good time to take Siera on the 4 wheeler trail to the creek and all of the way down the valley.

Siera hates black muddy muck. She has told me that she is sure that the black nasty smelling stuff was only put there in the trail to suck her mule soul out through her hooves.
I have assured her that it is just mud. In the valley where the 4 wheelers have torn things up? Well indeed, it may just be sucking black muck that would pull you down.
However, since the trails those guys made are pretty decent except for low branches, I decided to take her to the end of the valley and back.

We slid down the first incline into a puddle of green slimy water that was at the bottom of a dry run. Well, it appeared more like deep rutted wash out with gobs of gunk in it. See Siera with her head turned? She knows that home is up over the ridge and to her left.

I told her how proud I was of her, she was taking on these slippery inclines and rutted ditches like a real trooper.
She was not impressed with my voice at all.

We made it to the creek and the path we normally use was partially submerged in ages old black dirt that had turned into quagmire.
She tried turning around to take the trail home and I asked her to go up and around.

She is a pretty good mule. Some of the branches I had to duck under had me laying over her neck and slightly to the side to avoid the saddle horn.

Here I gave her a choice. Walk in the soul sucking black muck or walk in the creek.

She turned her head again as if she'd rather go home. I told her that she couldn't head back until we'd gone to the end of the valley.
Hmmm.

Fine.
The creek, it was. We rode to the end of the valley and I made her stand still.
Normally she'd be a bit calmer with another mule along, but she was solo.

On the way back she was in a hurry and stepped over a tiny sapling that was bent across the trail. It slapped her between the hind legs and she did this buck/jump thing. Since Siera is terrible at bucking, it felt more like a trip than anything else.

I took the opposite side of the valley and intended on coming back a different route when we got stopped by a literal 'sea' of black sucking muck mud. I figured we could get around it by edging up towards the woods, but going through wild roses, thorny apple trees, and berry briers didn't look like an option to me.

Siera knew that she had to cross the narrow valley to get back to solid ground and we back tracked as she peered at the maze of gouged 4 wheeler ruts that were black and filled with smelly green oozing water.
I let her go along to seek a way to get across. It was if I could tell that she was really examining things or perhaps she was seeking the spot she'd safely crossed just a few weeks ago.

She made a decision and through the nasty stuff we went.

I could just hear her saying over and over.. 'Nasties! Nasties! My hooves are going to get dirty! Knee deep in smelly wet mucky muck!'

Her hooves did make sucking noises as she crossed the ruts and we got to the creek.
Big Sigh.
I like it when she sighs.
She is relaxed then.

We had two hills to go back up that we'd slid partially down. At the bottom of the hill I gave her her head and let her make her own way up the hill. I wished in a way that she'd had a luxurious mane to grab hold of ... but she doesn't. Up we climbed.

After the last climb we stopped. I wanted to let her catch her breath. The day had turned very humid.

When we got to the gravel road, I dismounted and loosened her cinch.

Siera sighed again and we stood in the road while a nice little breeze cooled us off a bit.
I walked her home.

She had really put out a great effort for me. Mud and water had always been a huge issue for her. Steep hills and tough terrain are also a bit harder for her than a mule out of a quarter type horse. She is gaited and doesn't have the incredible back end strength that Sunshine and Mica have.
On the open and flat terrain, she can really move out.

I tied her to the shade tree in the yard and took my time letting her cool off and brushed her until she was dry. She does like attention. I figured she deserved it after the hazardous adventure she'd gone on.

With dry weather coming up this week I hope to get some more rides in with Sunshine and Mica also. They handle the ditches and the mud in a different way, nearly a bored attitude.

The weather is to turn warm and muggy again so our rides will be early or late along with more round pen work with Sundance.

When I let Siera go she walked away slowly. The red headed sisters crowded me as if to ask for some attention. Sundance smelled my shirt which was spotted with black dried 'valley' muck.
Siera rolled in the dirt...
I took a shower.

...and I had to clean my saddle...
And it was a fine day.