Two Day Versatility Clinic with Chris Lombard

Louie getting ready to go through the "car wash" against his better judgment

This weekend was a great weekend in Louie-ville. Friday night, Bonnie called me to tell me she was going to a Chris Lombard clinic over at Triple J Farm and that she'd be heading over around 8:00 AM. When she arrived Saturday morning, I said I should probably have signed up for the clinic with Louie to help me get over my stupid and unreasonable fear of riding him. Bonnie gave a quick call to Triple J Farm to see if there was still room in the clinic and there was. SO, we quickly loaded my tack in Bonnie's trailer, loaded up the mules and off we went. Bonnie was only going to be able to stay half the day. But that was OK with me. The morning session was all ground work and that was all I felt up to doing with Louie anyway.


When we arrived at Triple J and I unloaded Louie. He somehow got the butt bar between his hind legs backing out and it scared him and he did some scrambling. He was ok with just one minor scrape. But he was wound up tighter then a drum! Yikes! He came out of the trailer all bug eyed and snorty and not paying much attention to me at all. So, I'm already thinking I've made a big mistake here in bringing him. We arrived early so we put Louie and River into stalls until it was time for the clinic to start. There were 12 of us in the clinic. I was not feeling too good about this. First Chris gathered us all together in the barn and explained to us what just what we were going to do in this clinic and what we could expect. My heart just kept on sinking as I felt I'd gotten in way over my head with this. There would be plenty of ground work but also a lot of saddle work. I just wasn't feeling I could do this. But, I was here and I'd paid my $100 so I had to give it a try. So, we all got our equines and headed out to the course that was set up in a large pasture. When I got Louie out of the stall, he had settled right down and got his head back together and I had my sweet little mule back. He was still quite bright eyed and bushy tailed but soft and manageable. Phew!

The clinic did start of with ground work. Getting the equines to release the hindquarter, shoulders, bending, side passing and some lounging. Chris told us that he preferred to have us "send" our equine through obstacles were we could. he felt it was safer and gave the equine more confidence as they had to go through the obstacle first rather then being led. So, after the ground work we started working with some of the obstacles. The obstacles consisted of:

1) Ground poles in a criss-cross pattern
2) Blue tarp on the ground
3) Car wash. This was 2 vertical poles with pool noodles sticking out of them to be walked through.
4) Cross rail jump
5) Back though L
6) Box where you had to do a 360 turn on the haunches
7) Weave through 8 cones (or 10?)
8) Broom polo
9) Bridge
10) Cowboy curtain
11) Debris box
12) Side pass over pole on ground
13) Mud hole and bridge
14) Log drag
15) Ground tie
16) Open Gate *
17) Load in trailer

* The gate was just a rope along the fence line. Louie was convinced it was electrified and I did not really wish to teach him any different as he is very respectful of fences. So, I did not make him side up close to this at any point in the clinic.

Louie really surprised me by doing very good with the ground work. All though we had worked on most of this stuff a few days at home. That was a big help. And I was extremely pleased with how Louie handled the obstacles. He wasn't thrilled with the bridge at first, the one thing I didn't think he'd mind..... but he didn't make any big fuss, just rushed over it at first. He hesitated at the car wash and cowboy curtain but once again, no real fuss. He was cute at the car wash as he soooooooo carefully eased his way though the pool noodles. He didn't like the rolling ball from the broom polo but once again, quickly decided to deal with it even if he wasn't thrilled. He was quite good about the log drag also. And only had a second of hesitation at the debris box. Louie let me send him through the ground poles, over the tarp, the jump and the debris box. And he ground tied very well though I'd never really done it with him before.

I was starting to feel a bit better and was now wishing I could stay for the whole day. So, I called Fred and asked him if he'd bring my truck and trailer over and he could ride back home with Bonnie. Triple J Farm is only 6 miles from my house. He said yes. Then he called back to tell me he couldn't start my truck, the battery was dead but he said he would jump it. Then he called back quite disgusted because he couldn't get the hood open. I had to explain the secret "push and thump" to get it open. He finally called back again to say he had the truck running and would be over. He did come and Bonnie and he headed out.

We took a lunch break after the ground work session. Jan, the farm owner, ordered pizza for everyone. It was nice to sit and relax in the barn. It was hot out and we were all hot and sweaty. I'd put Louie back into a stall and he was being a brat about it. He was pawing and banging his stall door. We all ignored him as he wasn't doing any harm to either himself or the stall.

Then, it was time to saddle up. I was once again feeling quite sick to my stomach. I asked Chris if he would ride Louie. I knew I'd feel better if I saw someone else ride him and not have any problem. Chris said he would but he'd rather see me get on him first. He had us all go through the obstacles once. And we had the choice to do so on the ground one more time or in the saddle. I chose the ground. My stomach was in knots. Chris finally came over to me and asked if I was ready to mount up. I told him no. I was feeling like such an idiot at this point and was in tears in shear frustration. Since my fall from Louie, I have ridden quite a number of horses, mules and even a donkey with no fear at all. Yet here I was so afraid to get on gentle, sweet Louie. Chris told me to think about it a bit more. But, he wanted me to mount up, then dismount, the mount up and sit for a minute and dismount. Then, mount up, do a few circles and dismount. He left me there to think it over. I screwed my my courage, and mounted. Louie was tense, because I was tense. But, he stood still. I sat for a minute, Chris spotted me and gave me a thumbs up and I dismounted.

I did as Chris instructed and soon Louie and I were doing some circles and figures 8's. I still was quite nervous and Louie was walking like he was carrying a crate of eggs on his back but, we were doing it. At this point Chris gathered us all together to show us a few thing and he got on Louie to show everyone. Louie was much more relaxed with Chris so know I knew just how much he was picking up from me. But, It really did help to see Chris ride him. Then, he gave Louie back to me. So, I mounted up again and rode around a bit. We both started to relax. Soon, we attempted a few easy obstacles. The ground poles, tarp, cross rail jump. When I got too nervous, I'd just have Louie stand for a minute then dismount so we could both catch out breath. Pretty soon I was staying on longer and longer and we were doing very well. I then rode him through the curtain and Chris was delighted with our progress. Then we rode through the debris box, did a nice side pass over the log. We even did the log drag. I couldn't pick up the rope from the pole, but Chris handed it to me and Louie was good about dragging it. He kept one ear on it pretty hard but didn't spook. He did another great ground tie. Then, we were done for the day and I was thrilled at how well it had gone. I'd ridden my mule!!!! And done some things I'd never done with him before. And Louie was so well behaved all day I was super proud of him. He was a good mule ambassador. River had been very good also. I untacked him, loaded him up and.......my truck wouldn't start. AGH!! Jim, the farm owner, jump started it for me. All the while Louie was pawing like crazy in my trailer. It took a while to get my truck charged enough to start. I had to unload Louie as it was so hot in the trailer he was sweating up bad. We did get the truck started eventually and Louie loaded back in pretty well. He was glad when he got back home and got a good roll in home dirt!

Day 2 of the clinic
When we arrived today, Louie was pretty calm. Today we were starting out saddled up. Chris explained we would spend the morning working on the obstacles under saddle. Then, after lunch, we would be doing the course as a judged competition. EEEKKKK! We went through all the obstacles once. I chose to do them on the ground along with several others. Once though, he told us to split up and work on the obstacles as we wished. Once again, it was time for me to cowgirl up and get on my mule. So, I mounted. Louie was quite tense at first. I had to get off a few times, just sit still a few times, do a few circles. But, once again both of us soon were relaxing. I went through most of the obstacles in the saddle. All but the car wash, the broom polo and the log drag. He was still nervous about the cowboy curtain but he was dealing with it without panicking. I was very pleased. We then took a break for lunch. Bonnie and I untacked and put the mules back in stalls. At lunch, they announced the order for the competition. I was the first one up. AAAGGHHHH! The good part though was that I would get it done and over and not have to wait around worrying. So, lunch finished, I saddled Louie back up. I took him onto the course for one last look at things. I was VERY pleased that we were out there alone and he was making no fuss at all about leaving River. I left the course and mounted up ready to go. Then, it was time......and onto the course we went. First up was the ground poles. No sweat, Louie was actually feeling very relaxed and cruised right over the poles, then right over the tarp with no hesitation. Next was the car wash. I had not yet ridden him through that, only led him. But, he was feeling really good and I decided to give it a shot in saddle. He just had a very slight hesitation, I took a deep breath and put a little leg on him and through we went. Nice and easy with no rushing. GOOD MULE! The over the cross rail. He hit one cross rail and knocked it down but went over nice and quite. He backed through the L very nicely. He did a very good 360 turn on the haunches in the box. We walked through the weaving cones so that was no issue. I did dismount for the broom polo. I know I'd never be able to get close enough to the barrel holding the brooms and wasn't going to start a fight with him at this point. And he was fine with me pushing the ball with the broom on the ground. I mounted back up and went on to the bridge. He did it perfect. Nice and quite and then the same through the curtain and the debris box. Then on to the side pass. He did well here also. A little crooked to start but I got him corrected and he completed it nicely. He walked nice and quite through the mud pit and next bridge (slatted bridge) and much to my delight he DID get close enough to the poles holding the log drag ropes that I was able to pick the rope up from the saddle. He did very well dragging the log. Just one moment of concern as the rope came across his hindquarters, but he responded quickly to my cue to swing his hindquarters away from the rope just a little bit and he settled right down and we finished the pull. He did a very good ground tie once again and then I was back on and headed out of the course. I dismounted to do the "gate" and then on to the trailer load. He hesitated a minute here but not too bad before going in and and standing quietly. WOOOOHOOOO!! We did it! I was SOOOOO proud of my little brown mule!!! He far surpassed my expectations. And I had also accomplished more then I expected or thought I would.

We placed 6th out of 12 riders. River did very well also and Bonnie placed 8th. We were both extremely proud of our mules.


Bonnie & River on Bridge Obstacle