Between Siera's Ears

Every animal definitely has their own character.  Siera is one of those.  

We hadn't ridden off the farm since March 22, 2015 when hubby and I went looking for antlers last year after his cancer diagnosis.  I did take Siera for a short ride on March 29th of last year, but I've only ridden her two other times.
Once with Lily and Fred and once a few weeks ago.

Siera said NO, I am not going into the woods!
I said, yes, we are.
It took some coaxing but we headed down my hiking/riding trail.  

Siera stared at the logs that had fallen into the ditch.  She gave it a once over and then stepped across.  She kept turning her head and looking through the woods towards the summer pasture.  She twisted her head and shook it, nodding her nose up and down.

Siera was protesting leaving her farm/paddock buddies.  She was peeved.  Yet she moved forward.  I wanted to see if I could get her through a section of trail I'd just cleared this fall and winter.  
However she decided she was not going there.

NO
Yes.  Gently I asked her.

NO, I said NO, I mean NO, okay but under protest.

We were able to get through the mess of downed trees and to the first big ditch.  I was slightly surprised by the amount of water in the ditch.  The dirt was black and inky.

NO! Alert! Killer Mule Ditch, eats mules alive, out of shape fat molly mules named Siera.  NO!

Really Siera? However I just walked her along the edge of the ditch and looked around.  She began to sweat behind the ears and act irritated.  I let her stand for a moment before I turned her away.  I'd told my husband that I'd only work Siera on the eastern hillside section.  This path would take us beyond that.  And I could see that I needed to do a bit more trimming to keep the sapling branches from poking our eyes out.

I turned her away and we wove back up in the general direction of the farm.

Thank Goodness, Pony Woman, have you lost your mind and sense of direction? Home, yes, Home!

When we got to the up hill trail, the one I use often to go check for morels, wildflowers, and sometimes the round about way to the road and mail box...I turned Siera.

NO, you idiot.  Home is not this way!

Protest from my mule.  Head bobbing and shaking.  Her ears twisted back and forth and I asked her politely and then forcefully to take the trail.  And we went.
By the time we reached the top of the hill she was breathing hard but still flopping her head up and down and acting a bit homesick.
I decided to tie her up and let her calm down.
This is why I always ride with a rope halter.

I did an equipment check and then sat down on a stump and listened to Fred bray at home.  When in the paddock together he acted as if Siera was his mortal enemy.  When she was gone, he cried like a lovesick child.

Really? Tied to a tree Pony Woman?  Oh never mind, this calms me.  I can stand and relax.  I like this tree, do you like this tree?  It is a friendly tree. Hi nice tree, how are you?  

Siera seemed to calm down once tied to a tree.  Now I have never figured that out. If she is nervous, tie her to a tree and she'll just stand there.  Odd mule.

After she relaxed we rode my eastern hillside trails a few times, making a big circle.  Siera made a nice trail to follow so it will be easier once the leaves start to come back.  At first she tried to charge going down hill.  Each time she did, I turned her around and had her work back up hill.

YES, down down, let's go.  Home, home.  Uh-oh, NO! Not back up. Oh darn.
Okay, you win, I will walk like a sensible mule.  This is hard work and I don't like hard work.

We ended our ride on a very pleasant note, the last time we did the trail her ears were flopping and she was relaxed although a bit sweaty.
We went home.  I had to fill the stock tank and Siera had to cool down.  I tied her to the trailer and turned the hydrant on.

Then I went back and mounted Siera.  It was time for standing still while doing nothing with a rider on your back.

Boring.  I see grass.  Can I have grass? Please?  Oh you won't notice if I sneak forward and grab grass.  Oh darn you!

We had moved the Dexter cows due to give birth in the next few months out of their winter area and onto a grassy area.  I thought I'd ride Siera up between the buildings and up the narrow lane to check on them.
We got between the buildings and Siera froze.  At first I clucked and then tapped her with a foot.  She shook her head and backed up.

YOU idiot!  That could be a monster!  See that piece of nasty orange rusted metal? It could eat mules.  Let me look at it.  Let me look at it!

I sat and wondered why she was suddenly frozen and being obstinate.  I waited. Her head moved up and down, she sniffed.  I then did a slight kiss and she moved on through.

I'd forgotten the golden rule with Siera.  She needs to look some things over and convince herself that it isn't dangerous.  We walked passed Thor who ran and brayed in his paddock, she ignored him.  We went back to see the Dexters.  Siera acted curious.

Stupid cows.  You get the fine new grass pasture.  I get bupkiss.  I am still in a paddock.  Why are you so special?  What? Can't you talk? Dumb cows.  At least I am useful.  See? 

I sat on her and she watched the Dexters who watched her.  Finally we went around the other side to go check on their stock tank of water.

UH oh.  This could be a trap.  No, yes, no.  Maybe.  That black thing, it is a grill. Yes that is where they cook bad mules who don't behave.  Wait.  They don't eat mules.  Nice people don't eat their mules, right Pony Woman?

Siera had to stop and look at the grill that was in the driveway near the outhouse. She was not going to go passed it.  I sat and let her look the situation over.  We haven't done 'yard work' together in a long time.  

We finished all the chores that I could do, riding from one area of the yard to another and then I took her back to the trailer and curried her out.  She was dry and seemed to like it.

Nice lady, you are nice.  Gotta scratch right there, a little to the left please.  Oh much better.  Maybe I'll be good next time we ride together.  Maybe, a mule doesn't always make promises, especially if they are a molly mule.  We are known for having a female temper sometimes.

I turned her out and watched her find a dry spot to roll in.  I felt good.  I hadn't realized exactly how much I loved our forest adventures together.  I really needed to ride more.

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.

Herd Sour Mule ~

Well, Siera is NOT Badger.  She is a good mule, she has lots of action and a willingness to please.

I had not ridden her in about a month [my fault, screwy work schedule].

So I decided I'd take her out for a ride this afternoon.  

She was easy to catch, but gave me an odd look while saddling her.

Okay, she is a female, and she does have her 'moods', but usually she is very good with her manners.

It seemed she didn't really really truly want to go.  Well, tough, she and I were going anyway.

What a naughty mule.  Okay, I shouldn't say really naughty ... she was balky, she wanted to turn around and go home.

She wanted to walk 5 steps and stop --not her usual 'go get 'em' attitude.  So I got off and checked her saddle and the rest of the equipment to make sure we were not having 'equipment' failure.

This continued all of the way down to the valley and creek crossing.  Stop, ... start, ...stop, start...then when she saw the creek she stiffened up and braced her legs. 

Mind you this is a creek she has crossed many many times.  Although today there was no path for her to follow, and the creek grasses had grown quite high.

Her: Nope.

Me: Yes.

To her credit she never reared or bucked.  She only tried to turn around towards home.  She refused to cross and that created a dilemma.  I never let a mule refuse something like this, she will only get it in her head that she will never have to DO it again!

Well now what.  

I dismounted and attached a lead rope to her rope halter that she wears under her bridle just for this sort of thing.

I tromped down the tall grass and 'made' a path to the creek, then stepped onto a stone in the middle of it.

Siera followed me as if this were absolutely normal.  She did it quietly and politely.

I told her that she was not going to be having ME lead her across all these little creek crossings!

She was not impressed.

We rode the valley floor like the whirlwind.  She gaited out hard and strong, until we hit the ridge road and Siera decided she'd take that way.  Nope, I wanted more valley riding.  This too became a few steps then stop, few steps, then stop.

Another small creek crossing.  You'd swear the sucking mud would have killed her.  We dealt with that and then headed back towards home.  She was over eager to head to her buddies.  So now it was my turn to make her stop and stand still.

Here are my thoughts.

She is 'herd' sour, or 'home' sour.  Last year after spending 3 days in a pen by herself, she was much more willing to be cooperative and not worry about 'home'.

Second.  She likes her trails to be clear and concise.  When on a groomed trail, she never balks or makes a mistake [usually I'm also riding with my husband].

Third, she needs more deep woods experience.

Lastly.

Siera was doing so well in March and April...also last year that this attitude sort of took me by surprise.  So I have learned that she can be a butt head.  Yet she did nothing dangerous except worry about what was going on at home.

She'll get over it!  Plus I discovered that I can get on and off in all sorts of places and she makes no move to dash off.  She waits patiently even for a remount.

Here is a sample of what we ride through.  The photo is of Badger a few years ago when he was still healthy.  We'd stopped on the side of a hill to photography weird mushrooms.