I was tired today and had thought I might not go to the barn. But, with the storm coming, which sounded like it was going to be bad, I decided I'd better go as it might be a day or so before I could go again.
When I got there, the horses/mules had just been brought into the barn. Wendy was there and told me that Louie had been a very bad boy when she brought him up. She said he dragged her all the way to the barn. Then when she put him in his stall, she spun around, slamming her into the wall and bolted back out of the stall. She had not expected that kind of behavior so was not prepared for it. I did not expect that kind of behavior from him so of course had given her no warning. Wendy said all the horses had been keyed up and excited though. And this was the first time they had all come in the barn since Louie had been there. So, I'm sure he got nervous or excited or a bit of both about this sudden change and being handled by someone he didn't know, he just didn't pay any attention to Wendy. I can guarantee that won't happen again. Wendy will be prepared next time and will make him behave. I went out to my trailer to get my saddle and other tack. When Wendy saw me come into the barn with the saddle, she asked me if I was going to ride. When I said yes, she told me she thought I was crazy. She said she wouldn't want to ride any of them tonight as keyed up as they all were.
They were just starting to feed everyone and the woman feeding asked me what I wanted to do for feeding Louie. I told her to go ahead and feed Louie and then I would ride. She was very concerned about this. "You are going to wait at least a half hour before working him aren't you?" she asked. "And you aren't going to work him hard are you?". Well, as an endurance rider, so many of the things that I was taught growing up with horses such as: Never feed a horse and then work them. Or never feed a hot horse. Or never let a hot horse drink his fill of water. Or never let a hot horse just stand, you must walk them and cool them out slowly. You know, all the rules that if you break any, will cause a horse to die instantly. Endurance riding has taught me quite differently. (to a point of course, some common sense must be used as in all things) When distance riding, We ride hard, come into the holds with a hot horse, stand them as quietly as possible, saturating them with cold water, let them drink all the water they will and even do all we can to encourage this and feed them. Guess what, horses don't drop dead from this.
Now of course as I mentioned there is common sense to be used with this. I would not work an equine hard in the winter and just put him away wet. Putting them away hot would not worry me so much as putting them away wet in winter. That CAN cause them to get chilled. And I would not work them immediately after eating a large amount of concentrated feed (though I have seen this done in endurance riding often enough with no seeming ill effects) Louie only gets a small amount of concentrated fee. So, nothing to worry about in my opinion. So, I know this woman was a bit worried when I took Louie out into the arena right after eating. But, what could I do, and I appreciated that she cared enough about the welfare of my mule to say something when she thought some harm might be done to him. I did decide not to ride Louie but just to lounge him again.
I took Louie out into the arena and turned him loose. We walked and trotted around for just a bit but that was it. He was very quiet and finally just went to one end of the arena to watch what was going on as Wendy was getting the plow truck ready for the coming storm. So, I put Louie on the lounge line. He was VERY good and quiet. Just once when I asked him to canter, which we haven't done much of on the lounge line, did he decided to canter but NOT make a circle and headed straight down the arena. He dragged me a bit before I got him stopped. He didn't seem to know that he'd done anything wrong. And running straight wasn't the thing he did wrong actually. I was not whoa-ing when I asked him to. But, it was the only time that evening he didn't come to a quick stop when asked to whoa. I did a few more canter, whoa transitions and he did fine. So, that was enough for and I gave him some serious mule love and put him away. He was quiet and relaxed when I put him into his stall and went right to munching hay. Dolly, on the other hand, was NOT happy about being in a stall and unable to see Louie. There are solid walls between the stalls. Now, I just hope the storm isn't as bad as they say it's going to be. But, this will be one time the forecasters will be right most likely.
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