Holy Cow, What a Ride!

Rich was supposed to take me for a nice long picnic ride for my b-day, but we decided to take a ride in the neighbor's timber instead and not go too far as Chey is due to foal.

Okay, so we go to the back valley and do some tricky mule maneuvers to get through the mess that the flash floods left last year.
We ended up jumping the mules 'in hand' over about 4 downed trees. [Very cool!]

Then I decided to stop behind Rich and take some pictures. Rich's mule, Mica, was being a turd so I let them get up by the creek...
I stepped Badger into the tall weeds and grass that nearly touched his belly.

So camera in hand, I asked Badger to take one step...

He did...and the next thing I knew is that I was hollering 'OH S**t!'...

I had no idea what happened except that a hen turkey came up past my head at the same time I hollered...I felt Badger move...

~~and the next thing I think is~~~

I wonder where in the h*ll is my saddle ?

I'm holding the camera, hubby is laughing, and Badger is standing stock still like a statue.

Badger had levitated me right out of the saddle.


I was sitting on his neck!

HIS NECK!

Now how goofy is that?

Rich said Badger probably stepped on the hen and got pecked. Well Mr. Badger went straight up in the air like magic...all 4 feet off the ground.

[Badger has had turkeys fly up under him before with a ho-hum attitude]

Rich said when I hollered Badger turned into a statue.

I did an un-graceful dismount off his neck and hugged that mule long and hard.

Damn I love this mule...I surely do.

Strange but very true.

We rode

Molly came out to work with Sundance. When I first met Molly we worked with Sundance and she was ready to start under saddle. I'd mounted her in the round pen and she was very ho hum about the whole thing. Her training was about as exciting as watching paint dry.

However with things changing on our place and my husband's health issues, saddle training with Sundance pretty much just stopped. 

Molly had moved away and started her own life. 

When she came back, she asked if she could work with Sundance again and I said "Go for it!" 

Sundance was not happy about being removed from her sister and confused about working in the open. She didn't want to listen or pay any attention to Molly at first. Molly was persistent and calm. 

They went off to find their groove again. And by the end of their session, Sundance had decided that Molly was just the human she wished to be with and remembered most of her manners. 

She had been used to working in our shed in the round pen. So this was a new experience for the mule. She had  to concentrate on a different human with distractions on the other side of the fence.

We saddled up Sunshine [Sundance's older sister] and Siera and headed out for a ride in the woods. 

I nearly called it off. I started thinking about things like: 

What if Sunshine spooks?
What if I shouldn't do this?
Wait, I have 'bad' bones, is this okay?
What if...what if... 

Hmm. What IF I enjoy it?

I hadn't gone on any long rides in the woods for a couple of years. The trespassing 4 wheelers were always a constant for the past two years. There was this thought that I shouldn't go alone. And then this last 10 months there was this thought that due to my osteoporosis diagnosis, I should never ride again.

All of that was going through my head.

Molly chatted as she saddled up Siera and I just kept quiet. 

I took the lead and headed our through the neighbor's big meadow and off we went. Sunshine walked as if on eggshells. Weird.

We went up the hillside and had to brush bust to get around some fallen trees. We dropped down the steep hill into a hollow and crossed over logs and ducked branches. 

Molly kept up a conversation and I kept thinking Sunshine was behaving strangely.

Then.

I started to laugh and I relaxed. I started reaching up and breaking branches as we ducked under them.

"Mallard!" I yelled over my shoulder and laid over Sunshine's mane [Mallard means DUCK! in our woodsy rides ... something that we started so many years ago]. The branches slid over my helmet and I heard Molly say, "Oh Sh-t!" Molly is 5'8" and was riding the taller mule. She didn't negotiate around the branches and 'ate' some of them. 

We stopped and checked our cinches before entering the valley. I remounted and noticed that Sunshine was flopping her ears as she picked her way through the stream crossings.

Sunshine had listened to my tense body. Once I stopped thinking of "What IFS" she chilled out and became the excellent riding partner I'd always had. Granted, we hadn't ridden this valley in over two years and ... I hadn't really ridden Sunshine since??? Well, a long time.

Here we were laughing and riding. 

Molly on Siera.

Me on my little Sunshine mule.

Molly said, "Put your ears up Sunshine!"

So I helped her.

If you are wondering what kind of saddle I am on here is a link that shows it. Lucky me that I ended up with this saddle!

Stonewall saddle.

Siera decided that she was not going to cross one part of the tiny stream. I'm sure that the shadows on the grass and water were MULE monsters. The shadows only ate Fat Gaited Mules. After a bit, Molly got her through the Monster Shadows, rocks and water. Phew. The Monsters did not Eat the Fat Mule.

We really had fun making up reasons why after about 10 stream crossings, that one seemed to be so scary.
So we decided to just ride right up the creek for a bit.

Yeah. 
No mule eating monsters appeared and all was good. 
Sorry about the messy manes, we just haven't clipped them yet.

Siera with Molly standing in the Mule Eating Stream.

We headed back up the ridge road which is also an old snow mobile trail. Once we got into the wide open area I turned to Molly and started telling her a story about how Sunshine's mom was a great mare that always rode well in the woods.

"However," I said, "If a deer..."

A doe jumped out in front of us and darted away. Sunshine did a hop quarter turn and stared hard at the disappearing white tail.

"...jumped out of the woods," I continued, "Cheyanne would do a 180 leap and be off at a gallop."

Funny. The worst had just happened and I didn't even react except to sit the little spook and continue on as if nothing had happened.

I didn't hurt.

I didn't fall apart. 

I had a most excellent time.

Just.

Wow.

Siera? What was her reaction? Well, fairly normal for Siera. She is too lazy to spook at wildlife. She would rather spook at Combines and Tractors.

What to do on a rainy day

The weather was warm but promised to do nothing but get colder as the day went on.

I'd run my errands to town, ran into someone from CrossFit while shopping.
Then in another isle I ran into one of my neighbors who I had not seen in a while.
He inquired about Rich and how was he doing? Then he said "I should really come over and visit with him."
I answered that he'd like that very much.

I run into people and they inquire. They all then say how they 'should' come and visit. This is the one thing that really can brighten my husband's days and I do mention that.
And yet nobody comes or really calls. I do say that Justin often stops in to talk with Rich when he comes to grab some hay out of the shed or something like a post pounder.

It wasn't turning out to be a very good day.
Some days get to be like that.

I was tired of staying inside and doing 'much of nothing' so I walked out and whistled to Sunshine.

After all Gun Deer Season starts on Saturday and that keeps me from wandering the woods like I love to do.
I decided to ride. Even though it was a bit mucky and it was raining/snowing.


I worked on some graphic art too.

Later on that.

Sunshine and I had a blast. She has come into her own and is surely my go to mule in bad weather and bad footing.
She is a champ, just like her mom was.

Perhaps I should reconsider my thoughts of training Sundance.

I got out!

I couldn't help myself but take some shots of the bike. After all, once I posed it...it stayed put!
Since my Infrared conversion didn't come, ... I decided to go anyway and take the little point and shoot IR camera.

The 'ponds' were stunning.
It was quite warm so I had shorts on and didn't dare cut through the weeds to the pond on the other side to take some shots of the dead trees reflecting in the still waters...

I cruised down Old 131 trail and admired the wildflowers, bee balm, brown eyed susans, and yellow coneflowers.
Oh I have some beautiful color photos of those on my other camera, but just haven't downloaded them yet.

I stopped at each bridge and took a few shots.

I had the Reserve to myself basically. I heard someone talking up on the Little Canada Trail. It had to be folks on horses getting in an early ride.

What a great morning to ride. Absolutely delightful.

This morning I got to the post office and was able to talk to our carrier. How funny, he is new...and so is his substitute. The reason they have never successfully made a delivery to my door? Apparently even with two fire numbers, they never made the connection that there are two
seperate
houses.

Um.
I drew the carrier a simple map.
Here are the mailboxes.
Here is the driveway.
Drive down it to my house.

I had to explain it more than once to the lady behind the counter, but I think the carrier got it.
Oh. Boy.

I'm not stating the obvious here. Would you not look for the second house?

Shrugging.

This n that

Self exercising critters.

Play time at dawn in the meadow.

No animals were injured during the early morning photo shoot.

Just fun and happiness with a dog and his goat.

Sven still thinks Charlie is his best ever pal.

I probably should clip the rest of the long hair of Sven, but I love the look he has right now.
It appears as though he is wearing knickers.

Those two played in the early morning light while I took some 'dew' drop photos.

And a Japanese Beetle and his shadow on a milkweed leaf.

 Lastly, a bit of artistic license with a Fleabane flower....

~~~~~

Rich has an upcoming surgery so we have some hoops to jump through to get it all done.  It will have to be done at the larger facility as Rich has a complicated Medical History.

The surgeon's PA left me a bit bothered with his know it all attitude and frustrations with the fact my husband is a veteran.
Obviously he has never been trained to deal with a veteran with PTSD. One of the reasons I do like the VA staff much better.
However this will be closer to home and so will all the follow up appointments along with the Physical Therapy that will have to be done.

So last night to ease stress levels a bit ... I went out and called out to the mules.

Good ol' Fred came up! He is retired, but insisted.
So we took a very slow and easy walk on the ridge.

I dismounted and walked the steep parts, but all in all, ...
well
the old boy surprised me!

When I ride...

I am like the kid who rides a dragon.
The magic of the world opens up to me.

My spirit is suddenly free.

Something wild calls me...

Home...
Home...

And we can fly with unbounded joy

until I have to return to

reality...

Failure of the Not Day

I did intend on having a quiet day. So I'm going to try again.

When I went out to do chores yesterday morning, I found that Little Richard had gotten loose and had decided to visit the garden and ate up a row of sweet corn plants before laying and rolling on the carrots.
Sigh.
Little Richard got put back in pony jail until I can fix his broken tie out rope.

After my town errands, I found that Hank would not cross the fence into the meadow. Hank was born the same day as Charlie, he is a 7 month old Dexter Steer.
My day yesterday just wasn't working out.

Frustrated, I sent the mules to the Meadow instead.

To work off the frustration, I chopped down groups of elderberry trees that were threatening to take over the Dexter Pasture. I stopped when I started to get blisters on my hands.

Enough about that.
So this morning I decided to take Charlie for a short drive in the old Jeep. Charlie seems to get car sick unless he is being held.

We parked on the ridge near where one of the neighbors has an entrance for trucks to bring in cattle to his pastures. I park there often and watch sunrises, sunsets, and sometimes the night sky.

Charlie stood on the road with me while I took photos.
The neighbor's pasture...
I love it here, it is a high point and you can look down on the ground fog as it grows and ebbs.
I thought about driving down to the bridge and taking a look, but decided against it.

I waited for the sun to peek over the trees and then...

we got back in the Jeep and headed slowly home. Charlie sat in the passenger seat and looked slightly uncomfortable. We made it home without incident.

All the farm critters are quiet this morning. Charlie pulled his blanket so he can sleep at my feet while I browse the internet.

The grass needs mowing. The grass needs mowing.
I am going to ignore the grass one more day.

I've got a hammock from my Kenosha Gang friends. I know exactly where I want to put it. I think a pillow, and a good book are in order ... I can lay under the hickory tree and listen to the birds.

Perhaps my "NOT" day will not fail me on this next effort.

Take the Long Way Home

With so many appointments on our schedule with the VA coming up on our schedule, I took my camera and some favorite critters to go hunting for some beautiful signs of spring.  I probably should have been raking the yard or some such thing, but a 70 degree day in April?  

We found the skunk cabbage on the east end of the valley in 'its' usual spot and of course a mass of it growing around the spring.

Morris came along to help guide us of course, he knows all of the trails.  And since it was our one very warm day, he decided a walk in the creek was in order.

Siera was again extremely co-operative in leaving home with no issue what-so-ever!  Has she finally decided not to be herd sour?
Probably not.
I think she has learned that I take her out in the woods and travel all over my neighbor's 400 or 500 acres, and I always bring her home.

Here is a shot of our trail.  Yes it goes under that tree and curves around through the woods.
Well if you can't see it, that is all right too.  It is a path I keep cut out just enough for a person to walk through and mules to walk single file in.
You may even think of it as a deer path.

Years ago it was a cow trail.

Here is Siera's 'Trail Necklace' ... one of many I've made over the years.
I first started using a version of this with a mare named Cheyanne.  She was afraid of the noises of vehicles, so I bought bells and hung them on her.
It seemed the jingle of the brass bells calmed her.

Later I saw a fad of these being sold for horses.  I decided to find the old brass bells and make some 'necklaces' for my mules.

I like to put them on my mules sometimes.  I should do it more often.  Siera likes the bells and any wild turkeys or deer that are bedded down are long gone before we hit their area.

Less wildlife to contend with can sometimes be a good thing.

This view was taken when we used the deer trail to cross the gully above the ice cave.

Siera handled the mud-slop-slip-slide like she was an old pro.  I gave her lots of praise.

Which brought its rewards in the form of the first Marsh Marigolds in bloom!

We found these by a spring.

Our ride was fantastic.
Morris was tired.

We took the long way home up to the ridge top and down the road.

Ride in the Rain

I'd been itching for a ride.  It was late and it looked like rain but I hadn't been to the valley in a long time.

I walked over to the pen and Fred bullied his way in past Siera who stood and nickered at me.

Fred seemed ready to go also.

I cleaned him up and tied my raincoat to the back of the saddle just in case it began to drizzle.

The skies were grey and very overcast.

But that only added to the brilliance of the trees once we entered the forest trail.

It did start drizzling so I stopped and put on my raincoat and we rode on.  It was a light enough rain that we could here it on the leaves above us, but it didn't feel like it was going to get us wet or turn into a hard rain.

Fred's steps were muffled by the damp leaves.

The further we rode, the darker it got.  So midway up the trail to the 'velodrome' I turned around and headed back.

When I glanced up I could see that rain would be coming and the light in the forest just kept getting darker.

Actually it was quite beautiful in the way that the colors were drawn out in the subdued light.

Although the point and shoot camera I had in my pocket had a very hard time with the light.

So this is why the photos appear painted in a way.  I rescued them as best I could with a little photoshop magic and some Topaz plugins.

However the short ride did wet my appetite to go back today and enjoy the colors.  The back valley ridge road is generally brilliant with yellows.

The skies are supposed to be cloudy which might make for great lighting again today.

I think I will take Siera and perhaps Morris too as he is my assistant and rides well on Siera.

I'll have to make it a point to dismount and take photos instead of trying to take them from Fred's bouncy back.

So here is to Fred for taking me for a nice evening ride in the light rain.

Fred, you are the last of the aged...grand aged mules we have and I hope to have your around for a lot longer!

Siera and I

Sometimes getting time to go for a ride seems near impossible around here lately.

Busy with the garden, busy with work around the farm, always...always something to get done.

So today while hubby hauled hay I went to the pasture gate and called.

Siera came strolling up as if it were no big deal.

She must have wanted some adventure in her life too.

Maybe she wanted to show off how nicely she has shed out and how shiny and beautiful her coat is.

Or maybe she wanted me to know that she just really is a great mule.

And that the view from on top of her is outstanding.

I did discover today that she prefers nicely wooded trails and really doesn't like the gravel road rides as much.

The last few times I rode her, we just traveled the ridge roads and she acted as if it were a big deal and there were monsters waiting for her in every ditch and culvert.

Yet when I pointed her down the old almost obscure logging trails, she just calmly walked and was totally laid back.
No trying to turn around, no tossing of the head, and she just dogged along.

I was able to dismount and take photos, or ask her to stand and I took them.

She was back to being a dream mule.

We went down this old trail that is covered in Maiden Hair Ferns.  I dismounted and tried to take some decent shots.  She stood quietly next to me as if she'd been doing this all of her life.

Of course she thought that sampling the overhanging leaves were something that I should try.

I had to laugh as this was one of Badger's favorite tricks.  ...Playing giraffe.

She was in no hurry and did not rush our ride.

Things to point out.
We were riding solo.
She was super easy going and not in any rush.  She was alert and helped me spot fawns and their does.

She didn't mind the low flying airplane that went over head.  I really don't know what that was all about.
But she was alert and happy.

She was alert to what I was doing yet every step was relaxed.

She was loose reined and completely  'with me'.

I didn't want our ride to end, but I know that I had things to get done at the farm afterwards and after letting her graze in the yard some, I put her back in the pasture.

She stood by me instead of running off.

Thank you Siera for making my day.  
Heck, for making my week!

Let's go again soon.
We'll do your favorite route again.

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!