Scared Horse

I had an iinteresting night at the barn tonight. I went over a little early as I went to the grain store, and much to Louie's approval, did buy more hay stretcher. I had considered not feeding it anymore as they don't really need it but they really love it so........... Anyway, I just took my time filling buckets and such then brought everyone in at 4:00. Their bucket out in the pasture was empty tonight and Louie was very thirsty when he came in. Their bucket was not tipped over but it's very possible they did tipped it over and then playing around with it got it upright again. So, I don't know but they also might need more water put out during the day since they are munching hay all day now having the round bale. We'll just have to monitor this to see.


I decide to ride Louie tonight so after they ate, I put Louie on the cross ties, bush and saddle him up and just about the time I'm ready to take him into the arena Bart come over and asks me if I would mind waiting for a while to ride Louie. The woman who's horse is terrified of the mules is just getting ready to ride and the horse was already upset and hadn't even seen a mule yet. So, I switch plans and decided to ride Marie first, then when the other woman was done, I'd ride Louie. Well, I might just as well have brought Louie into the arena as that horse NEVER calmed down one bit. For about 30 minutes the woman stood holding her horses reins while he spun, danced, jumped around, kicked, snorted and blew. She never even came close to getting on him. There was one other woman riding and her horse kind of fed off that and he bolted out of control once and made a few circuits around the arena about 100mph. Geesh! The rider stayed very calm and quickly had her horse under control.  And I have to say that even though I had Marie out, neither mule was calling for her (much to my surprise) so they were NOT adding to the problems. Marie was fine and I, at least, had a nice ride. Finally the woman with the scared horse gave up as he started just dragging her around the arena and she put him away.

I then put Marie away and was getting ready to get Louie back out when my husband calls me. Fred, "Hey, aren't we supposed to go to your mothers house tonight?". Me, "No, that's Friday night." Silence on the other end. Me, with horror, "Oh, it IS Friday night isn't is......". DUH! So, rush home, clean up and head to moms as we were opening gifts with the family with mom tonight as she was so sick on Christmas.

The Big Green Monster Again...

From Tracy who took care of the equines this morning:  (Silly boys.....)

So, this morning we (Eric and I) fed the grain then went outside to roll the roundbale.  It went down and into place smoothly so we came back up to bring Prize out.  Well, wouldn't you know he was totally UNGLUED.  I'm talking spinning in his stall, snorting and being a complete DORK.  So, we go in to calm him down and get his halter on.  Luckily, he takes his reprimands to heart and gets much quieter for us.  Leads out like a dream with just a bit of sticky feet... while he is staring intently at the round bale in its new location.  A few words of encouragement from Eric and he goes in quietly.  Then off to Louie.  He picked up on Prize's dorkiness and spins a few times.  Then he tries the "bolt from the stall" but the door was only open six inches and he gave up.  Quiet as a mouse after that and led out beautifully.  Absolutely no fear of the roundbale and he was the first to go down and start snacking  on breakfast.  He definitely picked up on Prize's nervousness and then realized there was nothing to be upset about.  We figure Prize saw us out the window rolling that big scary thing into "his" paddock and was upset about it.  Once he was outside he was fine.  Mules.  Geez.

The Big Green Monster

My truck has been a bit fussy about running lately. Though once it gets going it usually runs fine but........ So, I asked my husband if he would clean off the battery terminals just to rule that out as a problem first. Well, it is nearly impossible sometimes to get the hood of my truck open. My husbands van is just the same way, both are GMC's.........Grumble, grumble. And sure enough, we could NOT, even between us, get the stupid hood to open. But, the truck was running so I headed over to pick up a round bale from a nearby farm. About half way there, the stupid hood pops!!! Well, that was fine as the safety latch kept it from coming up. I got to the farm, got the round bale loaded into the truck and the farm owner notices the hood is popped and goes to shut it!! NOOOOOOO!! I headed back to the house and we then cleaned off the battery terminals. Now I'm just hoping this is what the problem has been. Though I have a sneaky suspicion that the problem might be the alternator.

I had run out of hay stretcher pellets so I headed to the grain store to pick some up, only to find they were out of of them at the store. Dang! They told me a delivery will be coming tomorrow afternoon. The hay stretcher pellets are certainly not vital to my equines diet (though they would tell you different) so I'll just go back tomorrow. From the grain store I went on to Upper Pond Stable. I backed my truck down just a little way to the boys turnout. I didn't go too far as it is downhill on grass and it was 50 degrees today and mud everywhere. I figured I'd just unload the bale where it was not muddy. Rolling the bale out of the truck bed was an activity that was of great interest to all equines in sight. I rolled the bale down near the gate but was not even remotely interested in rolling it into the turnout with all the mud there is right now in the front half of it. It is supposed to get very cold overnight so the morning will be a better time to roll the bale out into the turnout as the ground will be frozen. I then went in to the barn to take a look at the Bale Buddy that Tracy had brought over for us to use. I brought it outside, turned it inside out to shake out the old hay and decided to see if I could get it on the bale by myself. Much to my surprise, I got it on the bale with no trouble at all. I noticed a few taped up holes in the Bale Buddy. I later found out if was from the first time Tracy used it and Prize decided he didn't want to share the hay and dragged the whole new bale across the pasture putting holes in it as he went. Silly mule! Of course the whole putting on of the big green Bale Buddy (aka: mule eating monster) near the gate freaked Louie right out and he and Prize took off to the back of the turnout. Once done with the bale, it was still a bit too early to bring the horse and mules in for the night so I decided to get Louie and work with him in the indoor arena.
He was no trouble to catch, though I did have to go get him as he did not want to come near the gate. The trouble was leading him to, and then through, the gate with the big green scary mule eating monster near by............. the problem being compounded by Prize, who was not in the least bit worried about the big green monster and was more than eager to come out. So then ensued a delicate dance of trying to scare Prize away without causing further anxiety to an already nervous Louie........... Finally, Louie screwed up his courage and shot through the gate taking a hard left towards the little pond. I had been smart enough to put the chain on him so he did not get away.....for once...... But, Now I'm trying to quickly get the gate back up while holding a very bug eyed, snorting Louie on the end of a taut lead line causing me to be just a few inches short of being able to reach the gate hooks.  I did manage it eventually without losing hold of Louie or letting Prize get out. Someone really should mount a video camera out there.  I then spent a few minutes getting Louie to take a look at the big green monster. It didn't take long to get him to walk right up to it and even grab a bite of hay out of it. I didn't end up doing much with Louie. He was on high alert tonight and with the wind blowing and making so much noise in the arena, I just stuck to easy and familiar things. We did some free lunging and then a bit of ground work. I brought Prize in last tonight. He is not used to being last and did not like it. But, though he was not happy about it, he was a perfect gentlemen to lead in. GOOD BOY! I even practiced some stopping, backing and turning and he was wonderful.

Ouch!

A few evenings ago at feeding time, I went over to Upper Pond Stable to take care of the equines and as usual, brought Marie in first. I then headed down to get the boys. I grabbed both of their halters, unhooked the bottom strand of the gate, went into the pasture, and hooked it back up and proceeded to put on Prize's halter. I dropped the halter, bent down to pick it up it was then that apparently someone snuck up behind me and kicked me hard in the darriere..............I jumped up, yelping and flailing both halters, whipped around to see who had kicked me and upon seeing no one there realize that I had forgotten to turn off the electric fence and when I bent over to pick up the halter, I managed to stick my darriere on the wire. I will report that the fence is in full working order as it honestly felt like someone had kicked me HARD!!!!! OWWWWW! Of course, with all my crazy behavior, both mule boys immediately left my vicinity and wanted no part of coming anywhere near me as obviously there was something wrong with me and they just didn't know what it was. After a few minutes, I was finally able to catch Louie but Prize was not convinced it was safe to let me near him so I decided to just bring Louie up to the barn first and come back for Prize. Now the fence was still on but I most stupidly thought I could get Louie out of the pasture anyway. HA! Well, I did get him out....... I led him to the gate, dropped the wires which, of course, started snapping when they hit the ground and that was a deal breaker for an already suspicious, worried mule. Louie shot through the gate and kept right on going......without me..... This upset Prize and he started running the fence line. But he still was not coming near me or the gate so didn't cause any problem. I put the gate back up and headed off after Louie. By some fortune, Louie went down along the side of the barn, then spotted MaryJo's horses out in the back field and trotted right into the outdoor arena. I scurried over and shut the gate and just left him in there to run it off. I then went and caught Prize who, though still not convinced it was safe to be near me, was now willing to take his chances. He led up to the barn just fine though he did keep a wary eye on me. I then went and got Louie who was more then ready at that point to come with me. So, once again, good mules, bad mule handler.

Louie and Easter Goat

Tracy found a coyote den near the boy's turnout. That would be what has kept them so alert and on guard lately.  Ms. Easter goat better watch herself..... speaking of, I had Louie on the cross ties this evening and Easter was hanging out in the barn aisle. She came up in front of Louie, rears up and butts Louie right in the head. (his head was down as he was sniffing at her) Poor Louie didn't know what to do and I had to run interference as she went for a second butt! She is some lucky that Louie is so tolerant of other animals. I was sure he would strike out with his front feet just out of self defence. I hope she never tries that with Prize as he will likely squash her!


Getting the boys out of their turnout today was quite interesting. It was cold today and had been raining. So, it was a solid sheet of ice right there at the gate especially on the gate handle side. I could NOT walk into the turnout there. After some thought, I came up with an idea that I was sure would go awry, and in a big way but wasn't sure what else to do. Soooooo, I went down the fence line and climbed through the fence. The boys followed me thankfully. I put their halters on, tossed lead ropes over their necks and then I climbed back out and went to the gate. The boys followed me back. I got as close as I could to the gate, reached over, got the lines unhooked, tossed them out of the way and just quickly backed up onto better footing praying I'd be able to grab both boys as they came by me. By some stroke of fortune, this actually worked! Though it was so slippery, the boys were not thinking about running off or escaping, they were too busy just trying to stay on their feet.

I had planned to ride but as soon as I got Louie in his stall, he rolled and the shaving all stuck to his wet coat. Now that was not really a problem but then I took him out into the arena and lunged him and he rolled out there and was just covered with arena sand. I tried to brush him off but only seemed to be driving the sand into his coat. So, we just did some fetching (much to Bart's delight), bowing and lunging. We worked on backing and sidepassing. At one point as I was lunging, Louie kept spinning and facing me, bug eyed and blowing. That's when I realized that the cat was chasing the end of my lunge line! Once Louie figured out it was just the cat, he wanted to play so I was dragging the lunge line across the arena, the cat was chasing the lunge line and Louie was following the cat with his nose on it's butt. Where is a video camera when you need it! LOL

Restful Rainy Day

Today was a quiet rainy day. The rain came with mixed blessings. The bad is there was no working on the barn in the rain. The good was that no work on the barn meant I could actually get a reasonable amount of sleep. The 2nd floor rafters are all up. Fred got the siding on the front and the door hung. Our neighbor Mark has come over a couple times to help Fred out and his help is so much appreciated. And another blessing of the rain is that it is December and it was not snow!!! Yeah! It was quite warm today being near 50 degrees.

The other blessing is since I got a normal amount of sleep, I was able to play with Louie in the indoor arena today. when I got to the barn Marie made it very clear she wanted to come into the barn NOW IF NOT SOONER!!!  She's had enough of standing out in the rain. They boys didn't seem to care and were out bopping around in the pasture. I brought Marie in then when I got to their pasture, I had to call them up. They came right away. So far Prize has always been the first up and insists to be the first one haltered. But today Louie came up and held his ground and didn't let Prize butt him out. Prize like to lock up his feet on the way up to the barn for whatever reason. Never for long though but it has caused us to go off course as Louie continues walking along. Today I worked on making Louie pay more attention to me as I know if I stop, he should too. So, when Prize would lock, I'd stop and when Louie continued I'd give him a little snap with the lead rope and pull him back into position beside me. Then I'd get Prize going again. If Louie started to walk off before I got Prize moving, I'd correct him again. Louie did pretty good and only required mild corrections. He did seem a bit out of sorts though today. There have been a couple days now when I've brought him in that he seemed to be in a bad mood. He's not taking it out on me but just not his usual cheerful, loving self. But, he seemed very happy to go work in the arena with me. I just lunged him a bit and he was very good. I had him do some side passing and backing. Then had him fetch my lunge whip for me. Bart thought that was real cute. Marie screamed her head off the while time I was working with Louie. To his credit, he didn't pay any attention to her at all. He seemed to be in a much better mood when I put him back in his stall.

Once again, Naughty Louie!!!

Well, he really wasn't that bad today. But,  how is it that an animal can make you just want to kill one them minute to making your heart burst with love for them all in the space of just an hour or so. This is part of the joy of owning a mule. A young male mule in particular. And I am really getting tired of providing the barn owner, Bart,  with so much entertainment. It's getting embarrassing. Both of the mule boys really need to get over their infatuation with Marie. 


I had some time to myself for once this morning so I decided I'd work with Louie. After feeding, I put Marie out and then led the boys out to their pasture together. Prize is being SOOO good about not playing with Louie when I'm handling them now. I just have to speak to him if he's thinking about it and he stops right away. He did do the feet locking thing as we were passing Marie's paddock but that was a minor glitch. And I turned Louie out because, though I was planning to work him,  I wanted to go to the feed store before riding and didn't want to leave him in his stall. That would have been a sure why to put him in a stressed out frame of mind.  

When I got back  from the feed store, I went and got Louie. That was a bit of a chore as Prize did NOT want to be left behind. But, it was not too bad either. I did scurry up to the barn pretty quick so I could get the fence turned back on. Louie scurried right on up with me with no resistance at all. I led him into the barn and was almost up to the cross ties by Marie's stall when Marie whinnied and that was the end of all civilized behavior. Here's what I learned today. If your mule looks calm and sweet, don't believe it, put the chain on him. If you even think you might need to pee........do it before handling a young male mule......... Louie spun around and out of the barn he went. I didn't let go of the lead rope and it was a definite case of "dope on a rope". By the time we reached the barn door, I was pretty sure that if I did not let go of Louie I was definitely going to pee my pants. I decided I'd rather pee my pants then let him if Louie. Just so you know, I didn't let go of Louie's lead rope nor, by some miracle, did I pee my pants. Once out to Marie, he stopped, I then put the chain on and we went back into the barn. Of course Bart and Karen had heard the commotion so had hurried over for front row seats.......ok, they really came over to make sure everything was ok and lend a hand if needed. They have both been so good about everything and seem to also have a good understanding and appreciation for mules. 

In hind sight, I really think what I should have done, especially since I had the time, is to have stayed right out there with Marie but worked Louie good and hard right there in front of her pasture. Lunging, bending, backing etc. THEN bring him back in the barn and if he made any attempt again to try to go out, let him go out but work him hard again when he got to Marie. And repeat until he decided that being with Marie is maybe not such a great idea. 

But, I didn't do that as it didn't occur to me at that moment. I just brought him back into the barn and made him stand, Once he was standing quietly I put him on the cross ties. I did close the back door in case he got the notion to break off the cross ties. He's never done that before, but then, he's never dragged me out of a barn before either. But, once he was on the cross ties, his brain seemed to engage once again and he was really very quiet. Sierra, the girl that is riding Marie, and her mom were there cleaning stalls so they opened the back door again empty wheelbarrows, and Marie was out there calling her head off but Louie was fine. I lunged him before riding and he was very quiet so I did ride him and he was just as good as gold. Could not have asked for a better boy. Sigh....... He was a perfect gentleman while I untacked him and stood quietly on the cross ties while I put my tack away. I then led him in and out of the barn a couple of times but once again, no fuss at all. 

Putting him back into the pasture was a little tricky as Prize was so excited his buddy was back.  But it wasn't that difficult either and was managed without incident. 

Naughty Louie!!

Bad Louie! I really hate when they get so attached to another equine that they just lose their brains over it. And it's not an easy thing to cure. Well, I don't think you ever cure it as it's in their nature to be with their herd. Marie used to be very bad about this also. But, with time she has learned to deal with it and not lose her head. So, Maybe by the time Louie is 20 years old, he too will be able to deal with this a bit better......... Never a dull moment with these mule BOYS! 

We arrived around 4 pm at dusk.  I could see Marie was anxious to come in but we chose the boys first.  All was well until I got Louie most of the way into his stall and then Marie started calling out.  Woops, that was the deal breaker for Louie and he barreled out of the stall and just booked it.  I started loosing my grip on the line and Eric grabbed him but he was in freight train mode and wouldn't be stopped.  He ran around the back and cruised between Marie and the manure pile.  Eric ran to get Marie to lure him in and Karen and Bart helped corner him.  My fault for letting him go as I had forgotten your advice to use the chain over his nose so once he was caught the chain went on.  Led him in behind Marie and once her stall door was closed she started called him again.  This time he booked it into the indoor but I was able to hang on and Bart helped get him back to our aisle.  At this point he led in to his stall easily since Marie was quiet.  Phew.  So sorry!  I should have had the chain on at the beginning. Should I have brought Marie in first?  It was her trotting and calling that caused him to get back to her asap.

Anyway, all are fine and were happy to get out of the drizzle. Sorry this report was about mule naughtyness.

Let the Walls Rise...

Since the boys, Prize and Louie, have been so good about being led in together at night, I got the bright idea to lead them out together this morning. And, this might have worked out just fine if the mule handler wasn't such a clutz..... I put Prize's halter on and them got Louie. I led him out of his stall and asked him to whoa and stand in the aisle while I snapped the lead rope on Prize. Well, that was fine and I gave Prize's stall door a shove to open it up, turned and started out of the barn. Well, Prize's door had not slid open all the way and he banged into it coming out. No harm done to either Prize or the door but still I felt bad. Anyway, as soon as I stepped out of the barn, I dropped Louie's lead line. Their pasture is left of the barn and of course Louie walks off to the right. Thankfully he did not really seem to realize he was no longer attached to me but he walked off quite fast so there I was trailing behind him trying not to rush toward him or in any way indicate to him that we were not longer connected to each other. Prize was trailing along with me quietly. Louie hesitated to stare at something and I did at that point manage to get a hold of his lead one. Phew. So, I turn the boys around and head for their pasture. Louie is on my left side and Prize on the right. As we are walking by Marie's pasture, which is on the right side of us, Louie decides that maybe he would rather hang out with her. So, he ducks behind me and Prize and heads Right towards Marie. This spins me and Prize around who to this point has been very quite and well behaved. But he now decides this might all be a big game and time to play. So, he rears up HIGH and jumps on Louie. All this time Mary Joe, another boarder at the barn, has been watching and can't decided if she should jump in to save me or not. I got after Prize to get off Louie and let him know it was NOT play time and he settled right down. I start to lead them off again but Louie had planted his feet and insists that he really would rather stay with Marie. So, I had to get after him to get his feet moving again. The three of us executed a few more circles to get Louie moving but I managed to keep from getting tangled and we then proceeded to head down to the boy's pasture. All went from from this point. Sooooo, I can't blame the boy for being bad since if I had not been bumbling around there most likely would not have been any problems. Oh well, at least I was able to provide some morning entertainment for Mary Jo.

There is a mother and daughter that work at the barn for Nikki several days a week in trade for riding and lessons. The daughter, Sierra, is 12 years old (I think) and I asked her today if she would be interested in riding Marie. She was very happy to take me up on that offer. She rides English so I got out Marie's VERY dirty English saddle. I haven't used it in ages. Then I had to hunt around for her English bride. Then when I went to put the bridle on, I realized the bit was in it backwards. Hummmmmmm. I fixed that and we got Marie all tacked up. Then, we went into the indoor arena just so I could see how Sierra and Marie did together and to show her what Marie knows. The two of them did just fine. So, I told her to go ahead and ride Marie when ever she wanted to.

We made good progress on the barn today. Leigh came over to help. We got one of the 2nd floor wall built and stood up.

Finally got to Ride

I had a very nice day to day. This morning I was in no hurry at the barn so I took my time doing chores at the barn. Once I was done I went out and got Marie. I put a bridle on her, jumped on bareback and bopped around the barn for a bit. She was so happy to be getting the attention. I also ride a little bit in the arena. The boys were a bit worried about Marie not being right in her pasture where they could see her at all times but didn't get too anxious.

This afternoon Fred and I finished putting the decking on the 2nd floor of the barn. Yippee! Tomorrow we can start building the 2nd floor walls.

When I went back to the barn this evening to feed, I once again brought Louie and Prize in together. Prize like to bug Louie when I'm trying to put his halter on but he's now getting the idea that I am not going to let him bother Louie when I'm out there with them. I even put the gate strands back up tonight while holding them both and they were very good. I gave Louie a good grooming while he was eating. Then I decided to work and possibly ride him. Louie was very quiet on the cross ties. I saddled him up and took him into the arena. This was his first time in this arena. He was curious but didn't seem at all worried. I walked him around for a bit to look around. Just as I was getting ready to lunge him, another woman came into the arena with her horse. That horse TOTALLY freaked out when he saw Louie. The horse was a teen aged OTT Thoroughbred. The woman kept him in the arena for a while but he just did not calm down. He danced around and blew and snorted with bugged out eyes. I brought Louie up to him so he could sniff but that did not help at all. The woman eventually gave up and left the arena. The horse was spooking in the barn aisle after leaving the arena. Louie was overall very quiet tonight. I lunged him for a short time and he was very responsive. He was somewhat distracted but still listening to me also. So, I decided to go ahead and ride him. I didn't ride him for long at all but it was good to get on him. I was really very pleased with him tonight. I couldn't find my good lunge line so had to use my cheap thin one with the wimpy snap on the end. While Louie was quite distracted at first, he never tried to pull away from me or drag me around. He was showing a level of maturity that was nice to see.