Sunshine and Changes

The end of July is here, that means I start to think only of riding. It seems that I spend the spring and part of summer tending to everything else but riding.

I had hired Molly to help me with things around the farm and sadly that only lasted two weeks. She stopped coming over and then after the lost dog incident she took off to who knows where.

[The dog was found alive 5 days later in a creek bottom about 1/2 mile from their house!]

With Rich's PT schedule which is 3 times a week, I have to rethink my whole weekly plans. 

Thankfully with the nicer weather and the yard and gardens all doing quite nicely, I turned to my other summer project. I dove into saddle and tack cleaning.

Most of our tack is kept in the horse trailer as the tack room Rich was 'gonna' build in the shed never happened. I have 3 saddles that I do use. So I keep all my gear for Siera and Sunshine in good shape.

The saddle shown below was a custom built saddle for me. It even has my 

name stamped on it. 
It is a nice mule saddle. The only drawback is, it is heavy.

My Mule Saddle is always ridden with a britchen as the places I ride are steep. This saddle would slide forward on those steep downhills. I use a crupper on the lighter saddles but am thinking of using a britchen on the other western Simco saddle too.

While I was cleaning and inspecting the gear, I tried to think of how old these items where. The britchens are well over 30 years old. The Simco saddle I purchased in 1991 at Midwest Horse Fair in Madison WI.

Anyway the Mule Saddle looks like this when being used:

Old photo from 2009 with me on Siera at Wildcat parking area

What britchens look like on our mule Mica who is fully retired now:

So I got off track with all the saddle stuff.

In the evening I caught up Sunshine and planned on taking her out and about on the ridge to visit some neighbors.

So, the little mule herd decided to run, buck, fart, and carry on when I came out to catch my red mule.

The turds! I caught up Sunshine and tied her to the shade tree just as I always do. As soon as I walked off to get a brush and other grooming tools, she brayed and started to paw and shake her head.

She calmed down when I groomed her and saddled her but was all wiggly and sketchy. 

Hmmm. I decided to do a bit of 'ground' work with her to check her attitude since this was so unusual. Her sister didn't help by running the fence line in another area and screaming.

Finally! After a few commands on a long line, she was ready to listen. I got on and sat. I explained to her that behaving stupidly was not in my best interests. 

We rode to the ridge to get the mail. Once we reached the mailbox, she was all mule business and eager to ride. 

I kept it short and simple. We stopped to watch deer.

She went back to her calm and chilled little self. 

When I got home I put her in what we call The Jenny Craig paddock. I put Siera in there too. Both Siera and Sunshine are super easy keepers and probably a bit on the fat side. If they are handy and not out back where it is harder to get them, it is easier for me to grab one for a ride. Be it a short one or a longer one.

I plan on evening rides and exercising them. 

At least, that is my goal.

[Separated from their buddies, even just by a mere hot wire, they both are now self exercising by walking back and forth. Rich said they are self lunging. In a few days, they will get over it.]

As I was putting gear away after our short ride, I saw my neighbor walking with a young couple that had a baby and a young one around the edge of the woods.

I guess the house at the top of the hill must be for sale. 

Huh.

Eventually I will have to break in yet another set of neighbors?

Changes. 

At least I still have my beautiful girls, Charlie, and of course, hubby.

Our days of riding together are gone, but I still have the memories of all of our fun adventures:

The Mob

I haven't said anything in a while about the mules. I have gone riding quite a bit this year though.

Tomorrow the heat index will be back up around 100 degrees in our area so I won't be doing any riding or heavy out door work.

Here is my Mob.
Or our Gang.

When a cold front moved through with a wicked shelf cloud on the 4th of July the mules had a fit.

They came out of the woods and proceeded to run willy nilly. Even Fred who is in his 30's ran and bucked.
I don't know if it was because of the front, the rapid temperature change, the winds, or perhaps the change in the barometer...but they entertained us with some antics.
Sorry the shots aren't the best but I was watching for severe weather and prepared to go to the basement at the same time.

This last shot is of the red headed sisters. The one on the right was to be Rich's mule to train.
I am torn between selling her and training her.

I think she'd make a fantastic mule for riding, just like her sister is. Their mom was my first horse that I ever owned.

Perhaps my schedule will start to settle down enough to let me work with Sundance at least once a week. Truly, I'd like to work with her every day.

Well. We shall see how things go.

I have to rotate pastures today along with several other errands and some much need weed whacking before the heat wave hits tomorrow.

Outta here ...

I used to only ride and talk about mules. Mules were my entire life as was riding.

Here is a morning shot of the 'herd' sleeping and lounging.

Here they are in the afternoon. Fred is peeking out from behind the red headed sisters. He is 33-ish years old. Mica is the white-grey mule, aged also. If my calculations are correct, she should be 20ish. Sunshine is 19 which isn't old for a mule at all.
Siera is somewhere around 14 years old.

Holy Cow. Can these mules all be so old?
Sundance is only 9 and she was to be Rich's mule. I don't think it will be too difficult to make her into a saddle mule. She is always eager to please and seems to have a fantastic temperament.

I had Charlie yesterday when we came back from our adventure in the creek. I put Charlie on his little line and started to carry him through the mule pasture.

He wanted down. The red heads saw us and it happened again. Charlie glanced up at the huge creatures and ignored them.
Sundance, Sunshine, Mica, Siera, Fifteen, and then Fred all lined up single file behind Charlie and I as we walked the pasture.

Our mules have touched many lives over the years...

I won't bore you with all the pictures.

But this one was from last year.

And then there was this last August.

Well there you go. Mules and horses have always been such a big part of our lives.

I'm finally catching up on things around the farm...I think, and can concentrate on our equine.

This weekend I hope to take some friends on their first real all mule ride.
We will be celebrating two June birthdays and Father's Day also.

I will be stashing my laptop this evening and leaving it hopefully until Monday.

I will leave you with one of my favorite evening shots from a sunset ride with hubby and Fred... in 2009.

Have a great weekend.