Working at Liberty Again

It was quite cold this afternoon and I was sorely tempted to not go to the barn. But, we have a big storm coming that may prevent me getting there for a few days so I decided I'd better just bundle up and go. I took the new dog, Lance with me. I found one of Zephyr's sweaters that fit him and put that on him to help keep his short haired, skinny body warm. He didn't mind the sweater at all. That was nice as Zephyr HATES it when I "dress him up".

All was quiet at the barn when I got there. No one was around and at first I couldn't find Louie! Wendy had moved him to a different paddock. He seemed happy to see me. He still resists going into the barn though. Even after being at the barn for nearly six weeks now. I have decided that it is the barn he doesn't like and not a reluctance to work in the arena. Because he resists going into the barn with Wendy also and she's never worked him. And he never hesitates a second about going into the arena and always seems content enough when we are working. But, when entering the barn, he is never sure if he is being put in his stall or going to work in the arena. He really hates being stalled.

Anyway, I let Lance run loose to see how he would be. The barn is way back off the road so pretty safe in that respect. Since no one was around I decided to work Louie at liberty again. When we entered the arena, the first thing both Louie and I noticed was there was a big pile of sawdust in one corner of the arena. Under the spot where it is normally blow into a sawdust storage room. Louie was quite fascinated with this enormous pile of sawdust in the corner. I let him wander and investigate for a few minutes. Then, when I asked him to "lunge" he complied immediately. Though his circles were not quite a perfect as the other day as he was for some reason drawn to the pile of sawdust and kept swinging close by it. Funny boy. I asked for some walk, trot transitions which he did nicely. At first his whoa was perfect. But, he had a short spell were he decided to ignore me. When he ignored me, I made him do numerous quick direction changes to work him harder and asked for the whoa again. A couple times of this and he decided that whoaing was easier. It's the only thing I could think of to do as not being on a line, you are limited in what you can do to correct unwanted behavior. Once he was paying attention to me again, I asked for a few canter transitions. I wondered if that would send him off down the other end of the arena but it didn't. He wouldn't hold the canter long in the smaller circle around me but he did transition each time I asked. So, good enough.

Lance the dog was in the arena when I started working with Louie. Thankfully, Lance is starting to show some caution around the equines and now seems to realize they could potentially hurt him. He's not afraid but is showing some caution. I noticed he was no longer in the arena and called him a few times and he didn't come. I really wasn't to worried so continued to work Louie.

I decided to see if I could teach Louie to "pick me up" at the mounting block. I put the block out in the middle of the arena and free lunged him around it for a minute. Then I sent him off and climbed up on the block. In just a second, his natural mule curiosity kicked in and he came to me standing there on the block. I used the word "park" and used the whip to "tap" him into place and line him up as if I was going to mount. He fully understood I was using the whip to cue him so was not bothered by this at all and quickly figured out what I wanted and I soon had him lined up. I patted and rubbed him all over and gave him a treat. It was tempting to just slid onto his back. BUT, the arena is too large a space and it was that kind of bright idea that earned me a bruised hip and some broken ribs this past June. So, I put that thought out of my head quickly. I then sent Louie off and repeated the exercise. He was easily convinced to line up each time. He never did it all on his own and required a bit of tapping to get lined up properly each time. But, for his first time doing this at liberty, I thought he did great and was very pleased. Louie was a very good boy today and did not display any of the immature behavior of our last session.

Before leaving the arena, I went to the back door where I had last seen Lance. I called to him several time but he did not come. Now I was a tiny bit worried and I was sure hoping he hadn't wandered off too far or gotten into some trouble. I figured I'd put Louie away and then go look for him. When I got to the arena door that leads into the barn, I heard some pitiful whining. Lance was on the other side of that door. He'd circled the outside of the barn and come in the side door. So, he'd been trying to come to me when I called but didn't know how to get to me. Silly dog! He sure was some happy when I opened the arena door and he saw me. Louie is real good with him too thankfully. When the were both loose in the arena, Louie approached him a few times just to sniff but did not threaten him at all. So, they should be fine when I bring Louie home.

All is well that ends well.........

I guess not every day can be easy. Ah, but what would we learn if we never had challenging days. Lets back up a few day back to last Monday. When I got to the barn to help Wendy clean stalls, she had asked me if I knew anyone that would take a dog that had just been taken from an abusive and/or neglectful situation. I thought right away of my parents who had recently lost their dog. So, she told the woman that had the dog would bring him to the barn. The woman said she'd bring the dog to the barn between 12:00 and 12:30 PM. Wendy had to leave but I waited. Wendy didn't know too much about the dog other then it was 8 months to a year old and thought it was a Lab.

When the dog arrived, it was indeed in poor condition. VERY thin, small (only 18 lbs) and skittish. A male and not neutered. But, very pretty and sooooooooo sweet. Long story short, I took the dog over to my parents house and mom said no but foolish me couldn't let him go once I had him.




Anyway, back to the mule. I decided to go to the barn to ride Louie today. And I decided to take the new dog Lance with me. Wendy had left a crate in the heated viewing room where I could put him while I rode. The barn was busy today. Several kids riding in and out of the arena and around the barn outside. When I got Louie up on the cross ties, he was VERY anxious. The kids were riding in and out behind him and he did NOT like that. He wiggled around and pawed and danced. I couldn't pay attention to Louie and Lance both so I put Lance in the crate. Well, as soon as I was out of sight, Lance started barking frantically and LOUDLY like a crazed thing. I went into the viewing room to try to quiet Lance. When I got back out in the barn, Louie had spun around and was twisted up in the cross ties. And....Lance was right back to barking frantically. At this point I am starting to feel as anxious as my beloved pets. AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH! And everyone is eyeballing the crazy lady with the spazzy mule and the barking dog.

I straightened Louie out and let him know I was not pleased with his immature behavior though I did realize that his anxiety was real. Then I went back into the viewing room and let Lance know I wasn't pleased with his behavior either though I understood that he too was suffering from very real anxiety. In the end Lance shut up and Louie stood still though none of us were very happy and just dealing with our situations.

I got Louie saddled and took him into the arena. I lunged him first. He was quite foolish. There were mule eating monsters everywhere today. Sigh. I thought they had all moved out but I guess not. The girls rode by the open door on the end of the arena spooking Louie who jumped, spun and bolted off. I just got him settled when the girls passed the door again with the same result from Louie. I got him settled the second time when Willow, the barn owners dog passed the door with yet another spin and bolt from Louie. He was not pulling away from me but still, geesh!

After a while, he did finally start to settle down enough so I decided it might be safe to ride him. He lined up like a perfect boy at the mounting block and stood like a rock. Finally some good behavior! And overall he rode well. There was one spot in the arena where there was an extremely large mule eating monster and Louie kept jumping and spinning there but nothing that was at all hard to handle or out of control. In the end, he got his mulie brain engaged and we had a good ride. So, as they say, all's well that ends well.

Working at Liberty

I went over and helped Wendy, the barn owner, this morning. It was just sooooo cold. -16 degrees when I got home from work at 4:00 AM. About -10 degrees when I got to the barn at 8:30 AM. I'm glad I went over as Wendy had no other help today.

The horses and mules were going to stay in the barn due to the cold temps. A wind was picking up outside and it was really uncomfortable out with wind chills factored in. So, horses were given time in the indoor arena while we cleaned stalls. The first two I turned out were Louie and Dolly. Louie was all excited and got Dolly going and they ran and bucked and ran some more. Then did some good old mule rolling.

Once I was done cleaning stalls, I got Louie again and took him back out into the arena. I turned him loose again wondering how his mulie brain had processed our last session. He headed down to the end of the arena at a trot and I asked him to whoa and he did. Not an immediate whoa but he only took a few steps before stopping. I was pleased. I sent him back off and he did another nice whoa. When I sent him back off the 3rd time, he started circling me in just one half of the arena just like I had a lunge line on him. Now I was really impressed. And he stayed right with me the rest of the time. He did walk and trot and whoa in both directions very nicely. Smart boy! And I was so pleased that he worked with me so willingly.

Madison Meets the Minis

Tonight I wanted to get over to the barn to pick up a cinch. It was getting later in the evening so I knew I would not be spending too much time there though I did want to work just a little bit with Louie. Our grandaughter was over for the weekend. She is 6 years old and I thought she might enjoy seeing the barn and all the horses. So, I talked my husband into going over and bringing Madison.

No one was around tonight. I gave Fred and Madison the tour. Of course Madison fell in love with the two mini horses there. They are very nice little horses, I don't blame her.

I brought Louie into the arena and lunged him for a short time. He was quite good so I turned him loose to do what he wanted for a bit before putting him back in the barn. As he was trotting down to the other end of the arena, I asked him to whoa to see what he would do. He tipped an ear in my direction and hesitated but didn't stop. As he was trotting back up in my direction, I asked him again and he did whoa. Not immediately but he did. I rewared him and sent him off again. The next two times I asked him to whoa he pretty much ignored me but then he gave me a good whoa. And after that he stopped most of the time I asked him to. I just thought it would be a good thing to try and work on as it would be great for him to form the habit of whoa-ing on command when at liberty.

Very Nice Day at the Barn

I was going to be lazy today but when I heard this weekend is going to have record cold temps, I decided I'd better go over and ride. I got to the barn around noon time. Louie was napping in his paddock but perked right up when he saw me. He was very quiet coming up to the barn. Though he did want to stop and investigate an open horse trailer by the barn. But, then he locked right up at the barn door and didn't want to come in. I'm not sure if he does this because he associates the barn with being shut in his stall,(though that's only during storms)or he knows he has to work when in the arena and doesn't want to do that or because most of the time when I go over, no one else is in the barn so he has to leave his buddies. Possibly it's a little bit of all theses reasons. He never locked up at the arena door though so I don't think it's the work that he is protesting about. Anyway, he didn't really make much fuss, just enough to let me know what he wasn't thrilled about going in the barn. I didn't really get after him, just quietly kept asking him to step forward and after making all sorts of funny faces, he walked in quietly.

He was very quite on the cross ties today and real relaxed when we got in the arena. I was wondering how it would go after the "tire drag episode" of the other day as I'm really not sure how his little mulie mind processed that session. But, nothing to worry about. I did lunge him first but he was quiet enough that I didn't really need to. He didn't goof around today. He simply did what was asked nicely. And for ONCE there were no mule eating boogers in the arena! One of the MulesOnly list members said maybe Louie figured he'd scared them all away with his tire slinging. He was kidding but knowing how mule think, he may just have been right! LOL.

Today I asked Louie to trot in hand in a straight line as I'll need him to do at CTR's and endurance races. Took him a few tries to understand what I was asking but then he caught on and was willing. And to think that not so long ago I was so sure I would never be getting Louie ready for distance competitions. And while it still may not work out for Louie to be a distance riding mule, how nice it is to see Louie doing so well that there no reason for me not to give it a try with him.

He was perfect for mounting. Lined right up to the mounting block and stood like a rock. And then he went right to work with no silliness. He was super light with all cues and did very nice transitions. His whoa is getting VERY good. When I was done riding we practiced ground tying and he did very good with this also.

So, it was a great day at the barn.

Driving Lesson

It was COLD today and I had second thoughts about going to the barn. But, once I got done cleaning Marie's stall, I hand warmed up a bit and decided to go. Today I decided I would try hooking Louie to a drag. He does real well with ground driving and I figured it was time to move to the next level. I got my evener out of the barn. I had to dig my tire drag out of the snow as I never put it away after the last time I used it. But, I did find it and headed to the barn.

When Wendy, the barn owner, saw me she told me I was crazy, it was too cold to work with the horses. But, it wasn't bad in the arena and I'd be doing a lot of walking with the ground driving so knew I'd be warm enough. I asked Wendy if she mined if I used a drag in the arena and she said it was fine. No one else was around so it was a good time. Louie came up to the barn nice and quite but once on the cross ties he was very anxious and was very fidgity. I got him harnessed up and took him into the arena. Once there, he quieted down. I ground drove him for a while and he was very good. Nice and light on the reins and stopping immediately when asked to whoa. So, I grabbed the rope on the drag and pulled it while driving Louie to see if the sound bothered him. He did not react to it at all. So, after a few minutes, I hooked Louie to the drag. I held my breath and asked him to walk out. And he did just fine. He didn't seem to mind pulling the drag at all. I drove him around the arena for about 10 minutes and he was just as good and quite as you could want. Then, as we were walking along the outside wall of the arena, some ice came off the roof with a crash outside. And Louie was off like a race horse out of the starting gate. I held him for all of about two seconds and had to let him go. He did about 15 laps of that arena each lap faster then the last. The tired finally hit one of the big I beam supports and broke free of the evener. Luckily, I had lengthened the traces so the evener was well behind him. And though it was bouncing, it was not hitting him, just scaring the poo out of him. Finally he came to a stop by the door. I went and got him and just worked on getting him relaxed again. I unhooked the evener, bounced it around him, dropped it behind him a few times with no reaction from him. So, not wanting to end on a bad note, I hooked him up again. And again, he was just fine about the drag. About 5 minutes into getting him going again, Wendy drives by in her truck and the truck tires make all kinds of crunching sounds on the snow and ice and Louie was off to the races once again. AGH! He only made about 5 laps the second time and then came right to me. At this point I know I will NOT be hooking him to any cart any time soon. I went back to driving him like nothing had happened and once again he was quiet and good. After about 5 minutes of him walking quietly and whoaing very well, I quite before something else could come off the roof or drive by. I needed to end on a good note. I was a bit dissappointed as he has heard these sounds of ice falling and tires crunching on snow lots of time while being ridden in the arena and has not been spooked by it like that. On the upside, he did not mind pulling and in all the running he did, he never bucked or kicked out.

So, I guess I have a lot more work ahead of me to make him a harness mule. Unless someone is looking for a mule for a chuck wagon or chariott racing team.........Cause by golly he is all trained up good now for racing in harness.......

Nice evening ride

Today some friends and I went to the NorthEast Horsemans Conference at the Augusta Civic Center. The trade show is kind of small and not too exciting but it is a fun day out with the girls. After wandering around at the trade show, we go to lunch then go up to Hemphills tack shop to see if we can spend even more money.

So, by the time I got home from my day out with the girls and fed Marie, it was about 5:30 PM when I got to the barn. I was surprised no one was around so I had the arena to myself. Louie was fairly quiet on the cross ties. But, once in the arena he just wanted to goof off big time. I lunged him first and he kept heading for the door. He has not done this before. We had to have a discussion about this and eventually he quit. When I got on him, he was fairly quiet but it seems the mule eating boogers had moved down to the opposite end of the arena this evening. Wendy (barn owner) had parked a snowmobile trailer and a snowmobile down on the boogery end of the arena and at first I thought that was what he was snorting at. But nope, he was snorting and blowing at the open door to the outside which have a pipe gate across it. That is nothing new...... sigh. At one point he almost dumped me when I was strongly encouraging him to go down near the gated door. He did a cutting horse style spin where he dropped his front end. Luckily, he didn't go anywhere after the spin and I was able to get myself back in position.

He finally did settle down though and was quite good. Boy mules..........

Another Storm Coming

Another storm coming tomorrow. Somehow, I think the animals can sense this.

Today was a lovely day. Sunny, in the 30's and no wind. When I arrived at the barn today around 1:00 PM, Louie gave a loud bray of greeting when he saw me. As I am no longer the person delivering food 2x's a day. So, when he greets me, I do think it is because he is genuinely happy to see me. How cool is that? He led quietly up to the barn. Well, he did try to stop and visit with the 2 mini horses. He seems quite fascinated with them as they are with him. But, Louie is no longer paying much attention to Dolly mule when we go by her paddock. Nor is Dolly calling to him any longer. I think it is actually a good thing they were separated. Louie was so quiet leading up to the barn I was thinking it was going to be a real quiet easy day working with him. HA!

Once Louie was in the barn he became quite anxious and wiggled around a bit on the cross ties. But, didn't actually cross the line into being bad. He had quieted down by the time I was finished grooming and stood quietly while being saddled. Once I got him out into the arena.........Yeeeehaaaaa, the fun began. I quickly decided lunging him would be a good idea. And it was like having a 1000 lb flea on the end of the lunge line. He wasn't really bucking so much as jumping and bolting off at every little tiny sound and moving shadow. And I mean anything! I had put the chain over his nose so he didn't drag me around but he jumped, spun, bolted, jumped, bolted etc and it was quite a chore getting him to settle down and pay attention. Wendy, the barn owner, drove by the open arena door in her truck and when that went by, Louie went about 10' in the air and bolted off. Wendy mentioned she saw that when she came in later. Louie did finally settle down into some semblance of control after a bit and lunged fairly well.

I finally decided Louie might have blown off enough steam to be safe to ride. At least I was hoping. I led him over near the arena door where I dropped his bridle. I asked him to stand ground tied while I walked out of the arena and put away the lunging equiptment. He actually was pretty good about this. He only walked forward when he hear me crinkle some plastic thinking he was about to get a treat. I quickly backed him up and asked him to stand again and he did. Then, just as I was starting to slip his bridle on (standing with our backs to the arnea door) Wendy walked through the door and startled Louie who then bolted off dragging me with him. Thankfully, he didn't put much effort into it as he didn't go far. Or, it was the 200lbs of me hanging off his face.......

Wendy is working with my friend's mule Dolly doing some training with her. I asked Wendy how that was going. "Well," she said, "It's going fine I guess." After a minutes she then says to me. "You know with theses mules, whenever you ask them to do something, they want want to know why they should do it." I got a chuckle out of this as she was so right, this is definitely mule mentality.

Louie was a perfect boy for mounting. He lined right up to the mounting block first time and stood like a rock as I mounted and did not move an inch until I asked him to. But, once moving he was a bit light on his feet. And, the mule eating boogers were back along one side of the arena. He just did not want to walk straight down that side of the arena. At first when I was asking him to walk straight along the boogery side of the arena he locked his neck on me a couple times. But, only for a few seconds. I gave several quick sharp pulls on the reins to avoid getting into a pulling match I know I would not win. At the same time I asked for him to yield his hindquarters and he did. This did not get us by the boogers walking straight but it did get him to unlock his neck right away. Good enough for me. Someone had left a blue tarp on the ground in the arena. We walked over it several times and he didn't mind that at all. But, he's done this quite a few times before. After a while, Louie did settle down and relax and eventually did several very nice canter transitions for me. After I had untacked Louie I brought him back out into the arena to see if he wanted to roll in the sand (possibly not a good habit to get him into in the place I work him...) When I turned him loose, I could not get him to leave me at first. He just stuck right with me. I walked around for a bit and he just followed. After a few laps around the arena, he finally did decided to take a good roll and then came right back to me.

So, all in all it was another fun day with Louie at the barn. He sure is interesting to work with. I'm not sure who is teaching who the most but I do know we are both growing and learning with this time at the barn and arena. I'm getting really excited now about the prospect of trying him out at distance riding. Now that he is sound, he is showing more spirit then I originally gave him credit for. The question is how tough will he be. And I can definitely foresee the first few rides being a bit interesting at the start. I really think he is going to feed off the excitement of the other horses and be quite a handful at first.

Ground Driving Louie

Today I had a wonderful time Louie at the barn. I think the nicest session I've had with Louie in the arena. I was feeling lousy today and didn't head over until this evening about 5:00. (nothing wrong with me, just that time of the month.... blah!) So, I didn't feel up to riding Louie but couldn't stand a day of not seeing him. So, I thought today I'll do something totally different and ground drive him in harness. He has been ground driven a few times before but not in a long time, nearly a year.

Louie greeted me VERY eagerly today which was soooooooo nice. He came up to the barn today with no hesitation. Was very quiet on the cross ties. No on else was around so we had the barn to ourselves. When I got the harness out, Louie wiggled just a tiny bit on the cross ties as he then realized we were doing something different and he had just a moment of anxiety. But, I just took my time grooming him and took plenty of time putting the harness on and he settled right down and relaxed.

And he was wonderful in the arena and ground drove very well. In just a few minutes he got right into in and was so relaxed. I put out some cones to weave through and did a lot of walk, trot to walk transitions. He got a little silly just once at the trot, shaking his head and hopping but stopped when I corrected him and was just a good, good boy. It was a good decision to do something new today, we both needed it.

Naughty mule caught on video

Dolly in paddock at Gray's Equestrian Training


Louie in paddock at Gray's Equestrian Training


Another interesting day at the barn. Today I took my camera as I thought Bonnie was taking a lesson today and I thought she would like some pictures of her riding Dolly. When I got there, I found out Bonnie had cancelled her lesson so I figured I might as well work with Louie since I was there. When I went out to get Louie, the first thing I noticed was that Dolly was in a paddock up near the barn and not in her usual paddock down next to Louie. And she was not happy about it. She brayed and ran to the fence when she saw me. I guess hoping I would fix her world. I gave her a pat and told her I was sorry that I could do nothing for her. When I saw Wendy, the barn owner, she said that Dolly had gone through the fencing of her paddock so was up where the electric was working more reliably. Louie wasn't happy about the separation either but did not seem as unhappy as Dolly.

When I was leading him up to the barn, he once again planted his feet and said "no" about half way up. He know the barn means work. It didn't take much to get him to come with me though. There were 3 other horses already cross tied in the barn aisle so I crossed tied Louie in the 4th spot which is right by the side door. From there he could see Dolly and he wanted to be out with her and not in the barn. So, he proceeded to throw a temper tantrum which I happened to catch on video. I think Wendy was a bit disgusted that I was videoing Louie's tantrum rather then doing something to correct him but hey, you can't pass up on such a good photo op! Once he threw his little tantrum though, he was quiet.

I took Louie out in the arena and lounged him. There was one other woman lounging her horse and 3 riding. Louie was pretty good only pulling on me once. I then took him back out to saddle him. He was quite for that though he is STILL honking for me when I get out of sight. When I took him back in to ride, he was a bit keyed up. When I first mounted up, he was a bit bouncy and I couldn't get my right stirrup so I ended up getting off walking him around for a minute then mounting up again. He was better the second time. He rode very well today. Though for some reason he was sure there were some mule eating boogers up at the viewing room side of the arena and would not walk straight past that end of the arena, but kept jigging sideways and snorting. After he started feeling relaxed, I asked for a few trot to canter transitions and he did them beautifully. So, we ended there. Since yesterdays work out was a hard one for him, I wanted to make today and easy day.

So, another good day at the barn.



View from the Barn



Louie at Gray's Equestrian Training

Poor Louie

Today was our first lesson since I've had Louie at the barn. When I was leading him up to the barn, about half way, he planted his feet and didn't want to move. He now knows the barn means work. It only took a second to get him going again and I was now aware of his feelings on the subject. No one was using the arena so I took Louie in and just turned him loose so he could just do his own thing and have a little fun in the arena. And fun he did have. He ran, and bucked and played. He did the big moose trot all over that arena and let out big deep belly snorts. Then rolled a few times. After that he just came to me in the middle of the arena and when I walked off he followed right at my shoulder.

He was quiet on the cross ties for grooming and saddling. Three people came into the barn, a woman with two pre-teen kids. They walked by Louie. Once by him,the woman stopped, spun around and said, "Is that a mule?" I told her yes and she then made the typical statement of, "I didn't think mules got this big." And I explained they come in all the same size, shapes and colors a horse does. She came back and loved on Louie which he soaked up like a sponge. And when I walked away and Louie honked for me, I heard her laugh and say that she just loved the sound of that. The young boy called Louie a donkey once but the woman quickly corrected him.

I took Louie into the arena and lunged him just a little bit. He's already gotten all the silliness out of his system when I turned him loose in there so he was all settled down already. Then the lesson began. Poor Louie! He already doesn't know anything and I sure do my best to keep him confused. You just don't realized how many wrong things you are doing until someone is watching you. I constantly keep holding my right rein shorter and tighter but I can't feel or tell that I am doing this. "stop pulling, stop leaning forward, stop slouching, stop, stop, stop" AGH! And I kept doing something that Louie interpreted as being asked to canter. And he definitely thought he was being asked as he was not excited and speeding up. But, he would break into the most beautiful, slow, 3 beat western lope. And I kept having to check him back to a trot because I was not asking for the lope. Then when I wanted him to lope, he didn't get it. And after all, I'd just keep telling him not to lope (cause I hadn't asked for it...) He actually did quite well going counter clock wise picking up the canter on the correct lead. But, he was picking up the wrong lead sometimes going clockwise. And at one point when I asked for the canter and he picked up the wrong lead, and I checked him back to a trot and asked again, and again got the wrong lead, checked back and asked again..........He was just confused and told me enough was enough and headed out of the arena. He set that head and off he went. The arena door was open unfortunately. I was able to turn him just before he went out. The instructor shut the door to take that distraction away. She then had me ask him one more time for the canter on the correct lead going clockwise. He did get it and we managed most of a circle. We were only 1/2 into our 1 hr. lesson but Wendy declared the she thought Louie had had enough for one day and that we should end on that good note. I completely agreed with her. Louie and I were both tired and sweaty from just the 1/2 of steady work.

It was a good lesson. But I need to really work on myself and what I'm doing so I don't confuse Louie so much.

Silly Boy Mule

I went over to the barn to ride this afternoon. It was quiet and no one was riding today. Sooooo, I thought, good, I won't have to lounge Louie first as he should be quiet. Well, the first problem with that theory was that it was feeding time. Louie was down in his paddock pawing anxiously demanding to be feed immediately. So, when I went and got him and brought him up to the barn, he was shocked that I should even consider working him at feeding time. But, he was quiet on the cross ties for grooming and saddling. He still honks when I get out of his sight though. When I got him out in the arena, his eyes lit right up and he started getting a bit light on his feet. I decided that lounging first might be the wise thing afte all. Glad I did! Today I was pleased that he decided not to try dragging me around. He substituted the dragging with bucking and leaping. :-/ I reminded him of my opinion of this kind of behavior and in a few minutes he settled down though he was still bright eyed and snorty. The barn owner came into the arena with her ATV and a cart to get some hay. That didn't really bother Louie though he preferred to face it. I finally felt he was settled down enough to ride. And he was good. We went around the arena a bit sideways a few laps but then he settled right down to work. He is doing well. He is very light on the bit and he is starting to neck rein now quite well.

Louie is the first boy I've had in a long time. I love working with Louie but I do like the seriousness and work ethic I've found in the mares and mollys I've worked with. Louie is such a .....goober...LOL. (and that is said affectionately as he is a total sweetie) But, It is harder to get him to focus on work. He wants to gawk around, play, be loved....etc. But, once you DO get his attention and get him working, he does great. It's good for me to work with him though as it keeps me thinking. He is easy to work with, I just have to pay more attention with him then I've had to with my girls.

New Years Day Ride

I had a very good day with Louie today. Not because he was perfect as in fact he had quite a naughty moment today. But I was very happy with how well we were able to work though it and how well he did overall. Today when I went to the barn to ride, there were a lot of people around. Dogs, kids, people, horses etc. When I brought him up to the barn, there were 3 other horses already up and cross tied in the aisle. He didn't know what to think of this but was quite well behaved though I could see he was anxious. He was good while I groomed and saddled him. He was also getting more and more bug eyed and snorty by the moment. There were others already riding in the arena. This was the first time I've ridden there with others. I wisely decided to lounge him first. He suffered a bit of a mental overload at first and was quite a handful to start. His "excitement" caused everyone to moved down to one end of the arena away from us. Louie wanted to go with them. He did a bit of jumping and leaping just short of outright bucking that got him immediate reprimands. Then he tried to bolt down to the other end a few times. I was able to hold him just short of doing the "dope on a rope" routine. LOL. But, after about 5 minutes, his brain started to engage. Soon he was lounging nicely and listening to me and I decided it would be safe to get on him. He did great under saddle. He was very confused about what the other horses were doing. Passing him in all directions, walking, trotting, and cantering. He was a mix of worried and excited. But, his mind stayed with me the whole time. When he wasn't sure what to do, he would put his ears to me and wait for me to tell him what to do and did it. A couple times he thought about turning to follow a cantering horse. Each time I asked for a small circle asking him to disengage his hindquarters and he did so softly with no fuss. We did a lot of transitions, some turns on the hindquarters and turns on the forehand. He did well with all of it.

It was good working with Louie today with all the distractions. I love how he looked to me for what to do. (after he got his brain working....LOL)
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