History of Horses and Mules

For my friends with equines. I have a fun post. Show me memories!

I'm going to give a nod to Aurora for making me think about this. 

I started out riding and falling off as pure entertainment for my mom and her family. My uncle gave us rides his old horse Babe. To get two rides done at once we'd often ride double. After this shot was taken, my sister and I got to giggling so hard, I fell off and got stepped on in the mushy mud by Babe. I'm the one with the glasses. Yes, we could ride Babe in the pen with no bridle, she was that cool of a horse.

This was to be the first of many misadventures while spending time with my cousins in the summer. My uncle trained horses and had come from one of the last Calvary units in WWII. He was quiet and never raised his voice, but we knew he meant business when he got after us kids. MMMM. Like the time he made us wash the inside of his 3 stall mini barn after we'd blown up mice with firecrackers in the feed barrels and got into a manure fight.

I often got to ride one of Lyle's clients' horses. Very often there wasn't enough saddles to go around. If 4 of us went riding. Only 2 or 3 could have adult saddles. I often got a pad to ride on or went without.

If we went in a group, I'd generally get the shit little pony we all loved and hated. His name was Thunder. If you can see in the photo, Thunder has a snaffle tied to a leather strap and I have twine strings for reins. 

My cousins and us would head out at night after our parents headed out to the bars or to dance. We'd ride the back roads and look for trouble. Yeah. We found it often. We'd even saddle up and head to the dump where we'd shoot rats. No TV? No internet? No problem!

My uncle died. Our horse summers were over. But my wish to have my own horse never ever left my mind. Eventually I was able to get a horse. My first one was Red. An ugly headed red horse that was incredible. He was calm as a cucumber and powerful. He was supposed to be a quarter horse. Next was Cheyanne. I purchased her as green broke. I was green broke too. I had no idea what I was doing and had wished that I'd spent more time watching my uncle train horses.

There was Rocky who came to our place for retirement. An elderly Saddlebred who was trained and had been shown and... had been a lesson horse until the owner no longer wanted him. Nothing fazed him ever. Except leaving the property. Nope, to get past the property line you had to hand walk him sometimes backwards and then he seemed to be okay with it. I am sure I never became the horse person to understand all of his intricate cues and level of training. 

I'll skip through the next few years. I kept Chey, sold Red to my sister, gave Rocky away... divorced...met a man who had mules...married the mule man. Ceremony on mules. 

Mule man thought Cheyanne ought to be bred to a Jack. He also thought we should buy a Jack Donkey and that I should own and train ... and show a mule from said Donkey named Bruce.

Mind you, I was still STILL no trainer. And the Huge Lanky 3 year old mule was Green Broke. Those who owned him didn't like him much and didn't think he'd amount to much.

I'm going to skip the whole training thing. Basically because I am not a trainer. The equine train me and mules have taught me to be a partner in every sense of the word.

Badger. 15 hands. Here is with me waiting while I scour the hillside looking for Morel Mushrooms. Hubby had a custom saddle built for me. 

Nice saddle. Not my favorite as it is heavy and my shoulders sucked.

Badger at WildCat with Sunshine. I'm riding in my Simco with a britchen. Yeah, I swapped English leather for the western ones. My knees like it and I can swing my feet out of the way of stumps and brush in the woods. The britchen keeps the saddle from sliding forward. Mules generally do not have much in the way of withers. Back cinch and britchen or crupper keeps the saddle secure on downhill mule slides.

After the elbow surgery, I thought I'd go this way. Why not? This saddle was easy to put on and great for ridge riding. Sucked at hills. This is Siera. Badger was ill at this time and I was working with another mule that was training me.

Opal the hateful mule. She hated people. In the last few years her life, hubby turned her over to me. A mule who could not be caught, who was ear shy from the old methods of earing down, and who DID not trust humans...became my friend.

It took months and months for this to happen. And when we bonded? It was amazing. Hubby told me I'd never catch that Bitch. Opal was purchased by hubby specifically for team penning and gymkhana. It was a real Hate relationship. But she would preform under saddle.

I scored this Stonewall saddle all beat up and not all there. I called Stonewall and had them ship me the missing pieces. I'm going to say this is my absolute favorite saddle. Super duper lightweight and easy to ride in.

Don't read the link above on Opal if you don't have tissues handy. 
She was still with me and riding at 28 yrs young. And she was a speed mule, she could turn a barrel... and when a deer spooked her by actually springing out of a cornfield and running into us...

Opal did a 180 mid air spin and land at a gallop. She was an amazing athlete. Yeah, I think I nearly wet my pants, BUT I didn't lose the berry bucket!

In this photo, she is giving me her idea of waiting while I pick black berries in the woods.

There is Mica, who I still ride once in a while. She is a non comitted mule. She won't commit to a favorite human. They are just beings to serve her. If you are in the mood to groom? She is your friend. She is mostly retired now.

Photo below is at WildCat, a picnic break on the Yellow Trail I think.

There is Fred. He is 35 years old now. 

Our littlest mule. And most loved mule. 

Fred has probably the longest list of riders on him. 

And that leaves me with the last photos. Sunshine. The daughter of my first horse. Truly a beautiful red head. A good trail mule. A nice sized mule.

I've had her now longer than I've had Badger. We are getting there. 

I mean ... we absolutely are THE best of pals.

I was there when she was born.

One saddle

In 2011 I had a friend who rode Endurance call me up on a saddle she found on Craig's List. The saddle was missing the fenders and most of the other parts of the saddle were quite worn.
However, it looked much like an old Cavalry Saddle and weighed next to nothing!

I drove over and looked at it and realized that it may in fact be an old Stonewall Saddle.

The first photo is of Sunshine with the saddle on her.
Here is a shot of Siera after we outfitted the saddle with new straps ordered from Stonewall and English synthetic leathers along with synthetic stirrups.

It really doesn't look like much does it? With mules we use a crupper on the tail and a breastcollar. These items keep the saddle from sliding forward or backward while negotiating our steep hills.

Sunshine's back with the saddle again. You can see the breast collar is also sort of an Aussie style collar and not the typical western breast collar. We found that the typical western breast collar could choke the mules on a really steep hill.

Then here is Mica wearing the same saddle and you can see how the crupper fits.
Excuse the hair all over the yard, it is shedding time and I cut her mane with a pair of scissors.

When I first started using this saddle, I was sure that I'd fall right out of it with the least little bolt or spin that a mule would make.

One afternoon I took Opal [she's gone now] out to pick black berries and wild yellow raspberries.

She was by far the quickest mule we'd ever owned. She was my husband's Team Penning and Gymkhana mule. Eventually she retired from speed work and I would take her on solitary rides.
A doe burst out of the corn field we rode by on our way home. Opal leaped into the air and did a 180 turn and began to gallop in the other direction. Spooks happen.
How I sat that event out is still anyone's guess.

And then there is Siera. The least spooky critter I have. If she gets frightened, she generally freezes up solid. [Unless it involves farm machinery or baby carriages]

Well, back to the saddle. It works on all of these mules and is super lightweight. I like riding in it. The English stirrups require that I wear half chaps to keep my lower legs from pinching.

It wasn't until two days ago that I realized that I've used this saddle on every mule I ride and it works wonderfully.

Of course I have other saddles but when the grand kids show up to ride I have to let them use my Western saddles.

This is the end result of all the work I do to keep these mules in tip top shape.

What is nice?
I can just use one saddle for all these mules.
It is a terrible job, but someone has to ride them right???

It is riding season again!

Afterwards...Farm Life continues...

Recovering from Opal's loss has been tough, but we realize that animals don't live forever and they cannot tell us what is the issue if they get sick.
We can guess at what happened but cannot be sure unless we would have had a Necropsy done on her.
[That is an Autopsy done by a vet]

So we move on.

I've been riding Siera a little each day.  She has been my last 'project' mule now for a while.  While she is a dandy mule, she still sometimes has some issues about leaving sight of the herd.

Since my time lately has been limited, I decided to try her out bareback  [no extra time wasted by saddling up]. 
There are very few mules I would ride bareback. 

Badger was one, Fred is another, and Opal?  
NO never, she would spin out from under me and leave me sitting in the dirt!

She has her doubts about me using a bucket to mount her.  But we are working on that.  Twice now we have done this.

She actually isn't too bad bareback, I was pretty surprised.  Right now I appreciate the long mane to grab onto when we decide to boogie up hillsides.


For some relief over our grief with Opal, Hubby and I are going on a 'memorial' ride for her today.  Siera will now step up to the plate and take on more.  Sunshine will be moving up into our regular use line up also.

Training with Princess will continue.  The Dexter gals Valerie and Annie are getting ready to have their calves at any moment.

So while Opal's passing caused us great grief, we have new life to look forward to.

And...
I have found out that riding Siera Bareback is a great pleasure which increases my balance skills and her attitude at the same time.

I can still ride tall.

Farewell Opal, we loved you

Opal was our 'special' mule.  
She distrusted people, was hard to catch, and was extremely ear shy.
Under saddle she was an athletic and willing partner.
She could spin on a dime, neck rein like a fool, do slide stops, climb rocks, turn a barrel, and work cattle.
I could go on filling pages of her wonderful abilities but won't.

When I first met her I thought she was 'too much' mule for me to handle.  Later, when Badger became sick with equine COPD, my husband suggested that I ride Opal for my solo rides into the timber.
He assured me that she of all mules would take care of me.
But I didn't want to spend 1/2 hour each time I wanted to ride just trying to catch her.  Nor did I want her to give me the 'stink eye' every time I bridled her.

After two years of hard work Opal began to actually trust.  It took countless hours of patience and I never uttered a harsh word to her.
Last summer Opal would follow me around in the pasture.  By fall, she would see me coming to the gate and meet me with her peculiar chortle or snuffle noise of greeting.

No longer did she look at me with a wild eye, but she was always still wary.
Winning her unwilling trust was probably the best feeling I've ever had regarding working with animals.  She had been a difficult one to crack.

Opal seemed to enjoy our rides in the timber solo...and with Morris.  She would walk quietly and slowly so I could look for cool things to photograph.  She'd stand patiently tied to a sapling when I used her to pick wild raspberries.
At the same time, Opal gave me confidence that I could ride a 'spin on the dime' mule.  She gave lessons in extreme patience and she made me a much better rider.  She gave me freedom, confidence, and joy.

Opal also taught me again the pain of loss.
The Vet had come Monday as Opal was still 'off' somehow.  I'd taken her vitals and all were good, even the Vet concurred.  We even heard gut noises but he felt we ought to treat her for colic.  Outwardly she showed no signs of illness.
Except that she wouldn't eat, barely drank, and seemed lethargic.  
She allowed the vet to treat her without much ado.  
This, we explained, was NOT our Opal.  She would normally have never let a stranger close to her at all.  Period.

Opal spent a lot of time resting.  All I could think of was "please let this NOT be her time".  We had come so far together and had great trails yet to travel.  
I took her out in the yard and spent the day with her.  She picked at grass and would perk up once in a while.
Then she'd lay down in the yard and fall asleep while I watched over her.

Wednesday I had to work the night shift.  Hubby called me at work and said that Opal was showing the first signs of 'something'.  She was breathing hard and emitting a small cough or gagging type sound.

At 5am I parked my car by the house and jumped out with flashlight in hand.  I headed for the shed.

Opal had laid down on her fresh hay and had gone.  I knelt next to her and held her beautiful head willing her just to be asleep.
But I knew by the chill in her body that it was not going to be so.

I held her that way for quite a while, my tears dropping onto her face.

The mule that never fully trusted humans finally let me embrace her tightly.

The Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. 

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. 
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. 
There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. 

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. 
The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. 

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. 

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. 

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... 

Author unknown... 

Yes She Does!

Just before hubby left to see some folks in Missouri, he and I talked about Morris and Opal.

I wondered out loud if she would ever give Morris a ride in the saddle.  Both of us figured she wasn't of the temperament to try new things.
Especially at her age.

But Sunday morning I got her out for a ride.  I tied her up to the hickory tree in the yard and let Morris loose.  He ran circles around her and stopped to smell her hooves.

Now Morris has gone on rides with Opal before and she is fine with him running under her, behind her, and in front of her.  She seems to be actually calmer when he is along and we are going solo.

He seems to sooth her for what ever reason.  I did notice that effect on Siera also when he went along.

I attached the bell to her breast collar and then put Morris on the saddle.  Morris acted terrified.  Opal turned her head and looked at me.  
I handed her a treat.

We stood there for a moment or two.  Then I lifted Morris off the saddle.
Doing that at home and doing that on the trail was two different things.  
I started out the ride with Morris in the saddle.
Both mule and dog were content.

Morris had a blast.   He ran ahead of Opal.  Then he would stop and smell and sniff.  We'd ride past him  ~ after a moment or two I'd call and he'd come blasting down the old logging trail on a dead run.

Being a mule, Opal kept a close eye on her little buddy.

And she didn't mind it when he scrambled to stay on while I mounted.

Just before we crossed the creek to head home, I stopped to let Opal eat some nice luscious grass.

Morris waited patiently and stood back watching Opal eat.  When I lifted her head and put a foot in the stirrup, he came up and put his paw on her front leg.  
Opal didn't move.
I put the tired Jack Russell on the saddle and mounted up.

She carefully carried Morris and I home.

I guess the answer to our question has been answered.
Yes, Opal will let Morris ride in the saddle!

And...he likes it!

Leading and Following, Siera learns

Here is the driveway we have to take now to get into the woods where we ride.  The area of woods near us has been so damaged by this year's flash floods and wind damage that it may take me most of the fall and winter to re-claim my old mule trail.

Siera is in the lead here.  Note the ears.   She is watchful.

Here Opal is in the lead, Siera has relaxed and is letting Opal do the scouting.  She is thinking that any mule monsters will knock off the old lady mule first and she will be spared.

We ride the 'back valley' trail and Siera leads there.  She decides that she wants to go up the steep hill and go towards home.  I turn her briefly up a steep deer trail and then come back down and take the overgrown ridge road.
Hubby and Opal wait patiently.  Younger mules often think they can 'get one over' on the rider by trying to take a short cut.  We generally let them know that the short cut is not always a very nice way to go.

Siera settled down and stepped out then, weaving between branches, her reining skills back in place.

We rode to the 'old' section of the woods where the undergrowth has been shaded out by the canopy of old trees.

It was cool and nice there and everything seemed to have a green hue to it.

It was a nice spot to rest the mules and let Siera think about standing still.

It was also a good place for her to practice standing still for photographs.

She did very well.  She got a bit anxious of course when Opal and hubby rode off.  But that is expected when two mules ride together.  [Badger however was not like that!  He simply didn't care for other mules at all!]

We let the 'girls' graze some in the open field before heading back home.

Siera's biggest challenge was not to 'race' back home and to follow behind Opal quietly.

She did well.

I am very pleased with her.
As I said before, as a groomed trail mule, she'd perform fantastically.  Most would call her a fine trail mule.
She does very well with company.

But I don't consider her finished or experienced until she's had about 5 yrs of 'my' kind of riding on her.
That means she has to work on patience although that will come with maturity.   There are other things, but that too will come with time and wet saddle blankets.

Opal Wants to Get Caught?

Oh darn another mule related post.

Well with the good weather that is what I've been working on in any free time I have.

My work with Opal over the past few yrs has really paid off.  
She was the impossible mule to catch unless you liked to try and run her down or keep herding her into smaller and smaller areas.
It was very frustrating.

When my husband told me I could begin riding her when Badger fell ill, I decided that I didn't want to spend 30 minutes or more trying to catch her just to go for an evening ride.  In fact I was convinced I could get her to let me catch her.  
Or, so I thought.

She has even progressed to the point that she will let my husband catch her.  

Yesterday I went to catch Siera for her daily dose of work.  I am putting in the time and effort like I did for Badger years ago and that requires lots of hands on time.  Not always riding, but always doing something.

So I walked into the pasture with a lead rope and halter over my shoulder.
This long eared shadow appeared at my side.
Note the tilted ear as I tell her that I appreciate her and after I am done with Siera, she can get groomed.

Apparently that wasn't good enough, so she thought she'd try my other side.

I did get Siera first and we did a bit of halter work.  She can be pretty amazing.  We walked up to a large tarp in the yard that we had spread out to dry, the wind tussled it up.

She looks terribly concerned.  Never blinked an eye.  However the septic tank cover that we'd dug out was sure to eat her.  She is pretty leery about anything with holes it seems.  After a bit she decided it was no big deal and I groomed her.
Yes her face is oddly colored if you notice.  That is not dirt, but one half of her face gets very light while the other side stays dark bay.

Opal did get to come out.  I groomed her and let her work on the yard a bit while I sat on the picnic table.

Fred was not to be left out and decided he needed to be caught also.

Fred can always be convinced to come if I take Opal away from him.  He loves to hate her.  Can't stand it when she is out of his pasture.  Can't seem to stand her when she is in his pasture!

Mules, you gotta love them!

I'm sure that anyone who has equine can understand how nice it is just to spend some time with your critters.

Thank you Opal for turning out to be such a nice beautiful mule.

Hot Hot Hot

Even though the day is incredibly hot and humid, ... the clouds are producing some wonderful images.

While washing the Cavalier this morning I looked up and saw this.

Hopefully this evening I can get out and get some berry picking done.
The black caps are generous this year and very delicious.

I would like to bring Opal as my bucket carrier, and she can do the walking.

I caught a great shot of her seeking grass between daisies the other evening.

My ribs are feeling better with pain management.  
Floating rib contusion and cartilage damage. 
The good news is that I should only suffer for about one more week.

But that should not keep me from picking those luscious berries!

I should also get down to the creek and enjoy some fresh cool waters!

 

Parading by Opal

It started with her calling me to come on over.  Val had the lead rope.
Sometimes the lead rope just means a grooming and brushing along with a bit of sweet feed.

And sometimes it means you get saddled up and ridden.

I guess this was the riding day.  She got me ALL gussied up.  Ribbons in my tail, a fancy necklace to wear with a brass bell, and a pretty colored blanket.

First stop was the neighborhood kids' place.  The whole family came out and that really nice girl came out and petted me on the head.  I don't let adults pet me, or get near me if I can help it.
But this girl is so nice.  I even think I like her as much as ... Val.

The other folks stood back and admired my sparkly blanket and remarked at how pretty I was.
Well isn't that nice, maybe humans aren't as terrible as I think they are.  At 28, I still don't trust strangers.

We had our photo taken by the little girl and off we went.

From what I understand, this was a Parade with only one mule.  Me.  I'd done one before with Fred.  He complained the whole time.
This one was nice as it was only me and her.

Most of the ride was pretty quiet.  We were up on the ridge where there was a nice breeze blowing and it kept the bugs away.

At the place where there is usually barking dogs that like to come out in the road an annoy you,...there were two ponies!

They came running to the fence nickering.  
"What you doing?"  
"You have a horrid human on your back!"
"What is wrong with you?"
"What is wrong with your ears!"
"They are huuumongous!"

I gave them a glance.

"My ears are for hearing better than you.  My human is not horrid or she wouldn't dress me up special to take this ride.  Besides I am NOT in a fence and you are!  I am on an adventure.
Oh
And what is wrong with your ears?  I can barely see them?"

I snorted at them and walked proudly away.  Some Ponies don't know much.

At the bottom of the hill there was a whole bunch of human people and kid people.  They all called out to Val and asked her to stop so they could come and take pictures.  Val explained that this was the 5th Annual All Mule Parade In Folsom WI.  [Yeah, one mule parade]

They got all excited and wanted to pet me.  
I gave them the stink-eye as Val explained my non-human nature.

We continued on down a steep road and into a shady lane.  Val likes this road to go down...she usually takes the valley... but this was The Parade and we headed up back to the ridge.  
Our ride would take us 6 miles and would pass about 8 houses or farms.

 

Notice how relaxed I am.  Flopping ears tipped back to listen to Val tell me what a pretty girl I was.  What a good mule I was.  She even reached up and rubbed my ears.  Don't tell her I liked it.

 

On top of the ridge I saw some horses.  They looked up at me and whinnied.  The nerve, they didn't even come to the fence and talk.  Instead they took off like the dickens.
Must have thought I was a long eared monster mule.
Silly horses.

The traffic on the roads wasn't too bad, I didn't even have to yield.

 
But we did see two cars on the gravel road.  Talk about eatin' dust!
Soon we got to the Folsom School.  For some reason Val likes to have a photo of the school each year.
Something to prove she was in 'Folsom' I guess.

They put a pretty new red roof on the school since last year!

Then it was down the County Road towards home.  I didn't mind the black top, it was smooth and nice and trotting was easy.
Except.
Except...
....when those Mule Eatin' mailboxes presented themselves.  I simply had to turn and walk sideways past it.

Poor Val, she had no idea how lethal those things can be, she kept telling me it was OKAY.  Little did she know that us long ears know that mailboxes will literally launch themselves at you.
Well, that is, except the one at home where she gets the mail from.  I know that mailbox is friendly.

 
The rest of the trip was pretty quiet.  Nice blue skies and fluffy clouds.  Val even let me stop and graze a bit.
I think I could do this again some time soon!

All in all I think we saw 3 cars, 8 people, 2 dogs, and lots of farms.
It was a good day.
And I definitely looked most excellent in my red, whites, and blues.