When I Retire....

I had a dream of retiring when I was in my later 60's and had worked much longer.

Hold the horses! Hubby's stroke put a quick end to my part time job that paid so so very well. However it was a double edged sword, the pay was great. The hours were awful. Midnight shifts, 12 hour shifts, shift during the day or night all within the same week. But dang, that money was good and it all went into a savings for our future.

We live lean, don't do shopping sprees, and our main costs were of course the animals on the farm.

So.
I used to drive by the Wellness Center in our town each morning and got a glimpse of people working out early on stationary bikes, treadmills, and other equipment while I was getting fuel at the local gas station.
I told hubby that when I retired, I wanted to be able to go to the gym.

He wrinkled his nose at that and said that I was just fine. ALL that hiking I did surely kept me in tip top shape.

Well. Yesterday I stopped at the new Wellness Center. There are two other gyms in town one a franchise AnyTime Fitness, and another one that boast low prices.

The Wellness Center will cost me more, however, I've had two shoulder surgeries, and one elbow surgery and the WC is connected to the local hospital and the staff are certified Physical Therapists and Certified Trainers.
Besides, they are the only ones in a 60 mile radius that offer CrossFit.

When I went over the cost with Rich I explained that it works out to about $4 per day. His argument?
Waste of money. You are fit.

My argument?
I need a routine outside of the home with folks that I am not a CareGiver for. I need to take care of me and my body to stay mentally fit and physically fit.
I can always BE more fit.

I'm doing it because I used to be crazy about staying in shape. I ran distances for fun, I rode bicycles for long distances for fun...

My father went back to a gym when he was in his 80's to improve leg strength and balance.

CrossFit is new to me.
But now that I am retired? Or semi retired, but working at caregiving, I still need something to do for me.

The flexible hours are pretty incredible too. Sessions are held at 5, 6, 8:30, 11am, and I think at 4pm and 5pm.

Well. Thank you Ed for suggesting this. I visited with them yesterday and start today.
I won't be the oldest person in the group either. There is a woman who is 76 that has been doing this for 7 years!

Ok.
I'm out of here!

And Dixie passes it on...

When Morris was a puppy he was shown 'the ropes' by Queen a black and tan hound.
This photo was taken in 2004. Queen shows puppy Morris how to play. They rough and tumble and Morris learns his first lessons by following Queen. Always, always follow Val and keep an eye on her....

Morris goes on to teach hound dog puppies for years. Thelma and Louise.

Dottie

...and then Dixie in 2012

I see a pattern here...of dog butts...


Dixie had no idea that she would be part of the tradition.

Dixie's kind temperament and laid back attitude absolutely shined through today as she was patient with that tiny black and tan pup that kept leaping on her and chasing her.

But somehow I think, dogs love playtime with their own kind no matter the size.

And in the end you can become best Mud Buddies.

Two beautiful black and tan dogs.
Playing together.

I am actually thinking of introducing Charlie to a puppy class, then obedience, and then Therapy Dog Class.
His disposition is excellent for a tiny dog. I think after visiting hospital rooms this week and the nursing home, that he could do a lot of good.
Maybe he isn't a 'working' dog, but he sure is a calm little guy and he makes both my husband and I feel good just petting him.

Gone Riding

Just before it was time to do chores, I grabbed Lil' Richard and put him in the round pen where he proceeded to run, buck, and roll in the dry sand.

He 'self lunges' for a bit and then waits quietly for me to come in and work with him.

I let him run in the round pen, while I took Siera out and rode her for a while bareback in the meadow.  She did a great job and only gave me a bit of her 'typical' grief once.  She did a little hop with her hind end and I laughed.

Riding bareback is so much warmer than riding in a saddle when the temperatures are in the 20's.

I rode Siera to the ridge to get the mail.  Since there were no stumps around to get back on, I led her back home.

Next it was time for some work with Lil' Richard.  I went in the round pen and we worked on a 'kiss' for getting up and his whoa.  He nailed it quickly.
I made makeshift reins out of the lead rope and swung my leg over him.

He just did as before.  Stood there.  I thought about it for a moment then re-created the specific 'kiss' that had moved him before.

Suddenly we were in motion...and then he stopped.  I kissed again and we went into an extended trot which I just sat and rode out.  He was extremely smooth, incredibly smooth.
Since we were just working on the Go and Whoa, I let him pick the pace.  He did however follow my lead as I used the rope to guide him.

Win Win!

We kissed to go and Whoa to whoa.  After about 15 minutes we quit and I groomed him, then took him to his pen where dinner awaited him.

He is an incredibly smart pony/mini horse.

Of course he is mature and has age on him.  But who would have thought that you could train an animal who was somewhere between 16 and 19 yrs old?  True enough we stake him out in the summer and lead him from place to place and he stands well for the farrier.
But he never had any formal training.

Well, the saga continues.

Tai Chi with Lil' Richard

While I was working with Lil' Richard I thought I'd try out some Tai Chi breathing techniques that I'd learned with hubby last week.
One of the exercises is called the "Horse Stance", it is a way of being in the 'now' and present and controlling your breathing and becoming totally tension free.

So Lil' Richard was doing very well, but I wondered if I couldn't make him relax and come to me easier.

Well, it couldn't hurt could it?  Besides, I needed to practice my Tai Chi before we had another session.

So I had Lil' Richard standing facing me after a 'whoa'.  I took the Horse Stance, and then began letting the tension out of my shoulders, and letting my whole body relax into my breathing.

I concentrated on watching Lil' Richards knees.  Pretty soon he began to drop his head lower and lower.  He began to lick his lips and look totally relaxed.

I took my baby finger and lifted slightly on the rope.  Lil' Richard quietly walked into me and took a deep breath.  He was totally relaxed.

I couldn't believe it.  Well really, I could, because I am well aware that a tense wired up person near a horse will make that horse -- or any animal -- tense themselves.  I've always practiced relaxed body riding.  So this made perfect sense.

I wanted to make sure that this was not a fluke so I worked him a bit more and tried a more aggressive stance.  Lil' Richard ignored my commands and picked up the pace.

I returned to the relaxed breathing and body stance.  Lil' Richard progressed rapidly and willingly.

He is a an older pony, somewhere between 17 and 19.  I figured this would be an impossible job.  But I think he is enjoying the work.

Later I brought Siera in the round pen so that the sand could dry out her feet and I could check on her frogs.  She thought that she'd just nag at the gate to get back out with her friends. After asking her to work whenever she misbehaved, she settled in.

Siera then heeled me for the next 30 minutes, while I cleaned the roundpen.

I stood in front of her and did my relaxation technique.  Siera watched me and soon dropped her head and stood quietly as if she had not a care in the world.

I'd like to call it magic.  But it isn't.  It is just body language and it shows how quickly and animal can pick up on it.

Hopefully today will be the day that Lil' Richard gets to try a bridle and we get to our first ride by the weekend.

Busy day

El Nino hasn't been kind to us.  Sure the weather is milder and wetter, but we are swimming in mud and goo.

According to our farrier most of the equine he has had to trim have been in the sticky muck.  As he then said, "Hey, I chose this job."

Before he arrived we got each of the donkeys and gave their feet a bath and then put them in the round pen picking them out so our farrier wouldn't have to.

Not all of the donks liked getting their feet washed, but we got it done anyway.

Two hours later when Dewey showed up he was pleasantly surprised and very happy that we'd taken care and time to wash and clean the feet so he wasn't handling gooey mud caked hooves.

After Dewey finished, we talked about Siera and her frog issues on her one foot. We decided to see how trimming and regular 'in hand' exercise would work before we decided to go with special shoes.

I love Siera and she is a great ride.  Everyday I get her out, clean her up and either hand walk her up the gravel road or lunge her a bit in the round pen.  She enjoys the attention and the work so much that she trots to the gate every time I am in the yard.

Lil' Richard had his second training session.  In the first one, he was full of nonsense.  I put a rope halter on him for this session and we lunged on a line.
Between the last session and this session, he must have decided that he was going to be a smart pony and work very intelligently.

His Whoa became instant.  He learned to walk to me with finger pressure on the rope.  He learned to back up with finger pressure on the rope.  In all of his years with us, he has just been led around, trimmed, and basically had no formal training.

He took to this like candy.  He even took on the ever fearful blanket.  Lil' Richard gave it the stink eye, then walked over it after only a few minutes.
I put it on him and he smelled it and stared at it and then promptly ignored it.

He is a very quick study.

At the end of his session, I spent a bit of time with grooming.  He still has burrs in his forelock and in his tail from his late summer grazing.  He stands like a statue when I work on these.
Of course I've done this for years with him, so I didn't expect anything else.

He may make a great little mount after all.  He won't be for anyone who weighs over approximately 115 lbs, but that is fine because he'll work for me to get little short rides in.

My feet will only be about 3 inches off the ground.  My inseam is 3 inches less than his height.

I'm looking at an older donkey to start under saddle and with this mild winter I may have time to do that also.

So I guess El Nino may have some good things after all.

I look across the pastures and see Pedro, one of my favorite not trained mules. I'd started him quite a while ago but had that ended when I had to have multiple shoulder and elbow surgeries years ago.

Hmmmm.

Yard Pony

Lil' Richard has been with us I think since 2002.  That makes him somewhere around 16 to 17 years old.  Most of his life has been at leisure.

He has guarded our driveway.

He has lounged in the yard when he was supposed to be on weed and grass trimming duty and Guard Duty.

He is the farm comedian and Morris's good buddy.

He has been a frequent escape artist. He normally just goes to our neighbor's place up the road to visit with her horses.
She shuts him in the barn and feeds him breakfast, then gives us a call.
We usually just drive over and take him home like this.

We got him because his prior owners could never keep him in an electric fence.  He'd lay down and roll underneath it.  So we tie him out in the summer time and in the winter he gets a pen.

So this fall I was thinking about how he might make a nice little moped of sorts.  Instead of being of being a lazy weed whacking, grass mowing, 'guard' pony, he could 'get' a job.

I could use him to ride up to the ridge and get the mail.  Or if I wanted to go berry picking, I could take him.  He is easy to get on and off.
I put a leg over him once just to see what he'd do and he did a little buck.

Well, I took him inside to the round pen on Saturday and decided to see what we might learn together.  I wanted to see if Lil' Richard has any smarts.

His first reaction was to buck and rear then run like a ninny around the round pen as hard as he could.  It probably felt good after being cooped up in a pen.
After he started to slow down I began to work with him.  
He didn't want to look at me, he didn't want to pay any attention to me at all.

He acted as if he'd never been handled before and that was okay with me.

After about 15 more minutes of ME telling him when he should move and when he should whoa, he listened.
I stopped him then and groomed him.
He did one right thing in 15 minutes and that was good enough for me.

I didn't want to over work him as he is out of condition.
He did however enjoy his grooming session and stood like a statue.
He has always been good while being groomed.  At least we have that as a good starting point!

With the mild weather I'll be able to do more work with him.  I hope to get him to moped status in a month or so.

If nothing else, it will be an exercise in seeing if I can train an old horse/pony to do new tricks.

Afternoon Delight

What do you do when it is cold, windy, and it is March?

Well, Siera started to 'talk' to me when I walked across the yard.

She did little mule grunts and nickers.

I took her out of the muddy paddock and started to clean her.
Her mane was full of mud and hay particles.  
So carefully cleaned her mane, then took the scissors and tried to clip out a section for her bridle.

Oh dear.  I didn't stop there.  I pretty much butchered her mane.

She turned away when I pulled the camera out of my pocket.  I think she was embarrassed by my lack of hair cutting skills.

No matter, at least I could see her head when sitting in the saddle.

And off we went for a ride on the ridge to visit anyone else that might be out and about in the 'neighborhood'.

What a delight it was to ride Siera who had decided that this was an adventure for her too.
She had no hesitation regarding leaving home.

She stretched out and moved along as if this was a part of a normal routine.

We stopped and visited with one of the farmers.  Her dogs kept moving around Siera as I stood there, holding her rein.
Her dogs are cattle herding dogs.  And they thought Siera or I should be moving for them.

My neighbor stroked Siera on the forehead and kept saying what a nice calm mule she had turned out to be.

I had to agree.  Siera and I have worked towards becoming a 'team' for quite a long time.  Finally, our work was paying off.

We took a round about way over the ridge and through some hay fields.
Siera never offered to argue about who was in charge and she was super willing.

I couldn't have had a better afternoon ride.

New Beginnings

Last night we had our first break in the heat in days.  I waited until 7pm and then took Siera out of the pasture.

Here is the last time that I make comparisons between her and Badger.  She is not Badger, though she comes willingly when I call her.

She doesn't walk like Badger, she is gaited.  She walks with pride, purpose, and a 'go get 'em attitude'.  She is a bay mule of 14.2 hands.  Bay is the only things she shares with the infamous Badger.

When I take a ride with her in the flat out open, it only takes me half of the time to get from point A to point B.  She walks [when she wants to] at an even 5-7 miles an hour.  Her faster gait is 9-12 miles and hour.  Badger was never ever in a hurry.  His was like Eeyore, we get there when we get there.  

Siera doesn't seem to mind dogs, even stray dogs.  So far we've only met nice dogs in our wanderings and one little nasty yappy dog.  She didn't offer to stomp it.  This is good.

Siera lacks confidence in rough terrain where she cannot see where her feet are going.  

She dislikes deep shadows and road ditches...where the deep grass may hold a huge dip.  We are working on that.

My husband says she doesn't trust me yet.  I think he is wrong, she trusts me, but not her own abilities yet.

The mule that Badger was ... was not done in a day or 30 days.  It was years of riding of exposure and of constant work.

My husband used to say...*If you'd only spend half of the time working with 'insert mule name' as you do with Badger, that mule would be fantastic!*  He is right of course.

So last night, we took off for a ridge ride and to visit with any of the two neighbors that may have been outside.  We met a couple on the road.  

Siera was NOT going to have anything to do with the dust monster coming towards her.  I made her get off the road and stand next to the corn field.  Lo and Behold, the folks in the car were in laws of a neighbor, they have raised and trained horses for many years.  They idled by and let Siera get a good look at the 'dust monster'.

We got to Linda's in no time flat.  As I went around the 'Slack' corner and turned Siera towards home, Linda came out from the shed with a tractor and a hay bine, her herding dog Bandit in tow...

Bandit thought Siera was the perfect animal to 'herd'.  Siera didn't bat an eye.  She didn't mind the dog but carefully watched the tractor.  

Linda shut down her tractor and we talked a while.

She inquired about Badger's health and was sad to hear about his passing.  

Siera learned that the huge tractor would also not going to eat her alive.  Surprisingly, Siera doesn't have HUGE reactions to things that may frighten her.  She will sometimes do a quick twist away from the object, but so far no bolting out of control.

When we turned towards home, she turned up the gait and strutted out.  We practiced ditches, stopping, walking, crossing the road into fields, and some reining to round things out.

For Siera and I, these are new beginnings.  We need each other.

When I let her out into the meadow, she didn't leave my side and seek out the other mules.

She stood by my side quietly even when I quite petting her and rubbing her ears.  She did not seek out her pasture mates until I stepped through the gate and shooed her away.

That alone makes her pretty special.