Training and Being Trained by Louie

So, last week it was in the 80's, this morning my little part of the world is covered in snow. Mother Nature is obviously having some fun with us.

I had an interesting training session with Louie today. We both learned today but I was more the student then Louie. Louie's a pretty good teacher as he's quite patient with me and thankfully doesn't hold a grudge. I have been working on teaching him to pick me up along the corral fence. This is being done in small steps starting with teaching him to move away from the "pressure" of me tapping him with the whip. He's doing well but each day I've only worked on one side at a time and the next day he wants to move in the direction we worked on the previous day rather then connecting the tapping with what direction he should go. Today, he started out a bit too eager. I was reaching over him and tapping him on the right hip to get him to move his hindquarters to the left. He moved into the whip, I taped a bit harder and faster, he flexed around and touched the whip and wiggled all around and finally moved in the correct direction. He got a "good boy" and a treat. I repeated this on each side and the results were somewhat erratic and not quite right. He kept flexing around and touching the whip. I THOUGHT that HE thought I was asking him to target the whip. About the 4th time when he once again moved the wrong way, and I tapped faster he finally let me know that his problem was that he found being tapped with the whip VERY irritating. He did a super slow motion round house type kick on the side I was tapping on, which was the opposite side that I was standing on. He got a swat for that and he ran off to the other side of the paddock. But, I got it ..... finally..... He hadn't been flexing and touching the whip to target it, he was TRYING to tell me he didn't like what I was doing. And I didn't get it (who is the slow learner here......) So, he upped the pressure on ME a bit trying to get his point across.  I was going too fast, I was asking too much at once and not giving him enough time to process. I was not listening to him. I don't feel the technique was wrong. Not even for a mule. But, Louie didn't like it. And that is ok as there is more then on way to get any task accomplished.

He watched me from across the paddock. And I watched him from the fence line. I told him that kicking in any way for any reason was not acceptable but that I now understood what he was telling me. I told him I was sorry for being so dense and I promised I would try a new approach and do a better job of listening to him. I SWEAR mules understand spoken language. Louie said he was sorry and understood why I corrected him but that he just didn't know how else to tell me. He came back to me, looked me right in the eye as if to say,  "lets try this again." He willingly came back and exposed himself to me and the whip in trust.  So, I very softly just tickled him with the whip on the hip and asked him to move "over". Louie stood, twitched his back muscles and gave me a very irritated look. I listened to him and I stopped touching him with the whip and just pointed the whip at the hip I wanted him to move away, gave the verbal cue, "over" and he moved perfectly! I never touched him. I then pointed at his other hip with the whip and said "over". Again, he moved over perfectly. I repeated this about 4 time on each side and each time I got an instant and perfect response and never touched him with the whip once. I think we were both pretty proud of each other. Well, I actually felt kind of stupid I didn't understand what he was telling me a lot sooner  but.....I did get it eventually.

Teaching Louie to "Parkit" and Naughty Mule

Today was the 3rd day I worked with Louie on  "Parkit". Yesterday, I just worked on getting him to move away from the tap of the whip. But, I did this from the ground beside him and a little bit from a mounting block. Then I laid over his back and asked him to stand still. He wasn't too sure about moving away from the whip. What he didn't quite get was moving away from the side I was tapping on. Just when I thought he had it and was moving away well, I started tapping him on the other side and he moved in the same direction, now into the whip. With just a little more work, he finally got the idea and was moving away from the tap on both sides.

Today, he was eagerly waiting to play. He is so funny when he feels he understands something new he's learned because he becomes an over achiever. This is when I have to slow things down to control his enthusiasm. I could not quite get him into position to pick me up along the fence today. He was moving over parallel to the fence with just a tiny touch of the whip but he was not walking up beside me but rather keeping me at the level of his head. So, I started working on a signal to get him to walk forward. For a few minutes he went into shut down mode as he absolutely could not understand what I was asking of him. So, again, slow down, break the request down, get his interest again and a little try at doing anything and.......wha-la, he walks forward a step. Praise and a treat and I could see the light bulb turn on in his mule brain. After a few more repeats of the request, he was starting to understand and was once again all excited. I didn't get him quit into a position I could mount from. And I really had to resist the urge to put a halter and lead rope on him. But, that was just my impatience and in the end would not teach him faster because as soon as he is restrained, he will not engage as eagerly and willingly. I was very pleased with our progress for today.

On another note, prior to our training session, he was a naughty mule. He and my mare Marie are together during the day. Today when we were out working on the barn, Marie laid down in the paddock. As soon as she went down, Louie got all excited and went right over and mounted her! While she was laying down! This surprised me as Marie is not in heat and I don't know why her laying down got him excited. Marie was having no part of this and jumped up and trotted off. I was standing along the fence and Louie turned, saw me and came at me with ears flat back with an aggressive posture. When he got to me he reached out at me with his face....... and his face was met with the palm of my hand good and hard on the side of his nose. That sure took him by surprise and cooled his jets. He has never done this before. And I'd better never see it again!

Teaching Louie to "Parkit" and Marie Colics Again

Fun work with Louie tonight. I went out and climbed up on the pen with whip in hand. I had just fed him and Marie and he was munching hay in his stall do he didn't come out right away. I just sat and waited. It took about 10 minutes but eventually his curiosity got the best of him and out he came. He walked up facing me head on. That was OK as today's lesson was teaching him to move over into mounting position. So, I started tapping him on the back on the off side to get him to move his hindquarters towards me. He ignored this for a while, tap, tap, tap, then he swished his tail a few times, tap, tap, tap, he then pawed a bit, tap, tap, tap, he then flexed and targeted the whip (we have been working on flexing) I kept ignoring him, tap, tap, tap.... he got a bit annoyed and bit the whip, I ignored, tap, tap, tap and he backed up. Well, I had to stop tapping as he was now out of my reach. 

He watched me for a minute his mulie brain working hard trying to figure out what this new game was. He came back in head first. Tap, tap, tap,  he backed again, walked forward, flexed, pawed all in fast succession and then........ tap, tap, tap, he finally moved his hindquarters over just a tiny step! Stop tapping, lots of good boys and a treat. The next try brought much quicker results and even quicker the next and soon just a few taps had him moving over. Good first session I think. 

The not fun part of the evening is that Marie coliced again. The first strange thing I noticed was her eating manure. Louie's manure. I've never seen Marie do this before. But, she seemed OK so I fed her as usual. All she's getting right now are some hay stretcher pellets and hay. She ate the hay stretcher but then was just standing around not eating hay. When Marie isn't eating, something is wrong. Soon she was showing other signs of being uncomfortable. And as before, it was gas colic. Of course I could not find my tube of anti-gas medication. I did give her a dose of banamine but that didn't really help. I spend a long time out with her just grooming her quietly. Later in the evening I did another thorough search for the anti-gas medication and finally found them. I gave her a dose and hung out with her for about 20 minutes. That definitely seemed to help and before I came in she was looking much better and munching hay. 

Paddocks Set Up

I got paddocks all set up this past weekend. This is a relief as I did not have a way to separate Louie and Marie for 1/2 the day. They need to be separated 1/2 the day because Marie eats hay so much faster then Louie. She is a regular hay vacuum and Louie likes to just pick at his hay all day. And, I needed to get them off the larger pasture to let the grass grow or I'll have a major erosion problem. I bought corral panels to set up the paddocks. It's just sooooooo had to put in fence posts here with all the ledge. And I have loved my existing paddock made up of corral panels. 

I despaired of being able to do this though. Upon looking around, I found the price on panels had gone up quite a bit since the last time I bought them. And, they were not nearly as well made as my older ones. But, after calling around, I was lucky enough to find someone that had panels that matched the ones I already had. They were used but in good condition and I got a very good price on them. I had to make two trips to get them all picked up but well worth it. They were only a 45 min. drive from me. 

 I don't have use of the old front paddock yet as it's still part of the "construction zone". When we are done, that will become Louie's paddock. For now, he has to live with having the smallest paddock part of the day. He doesn't seem to mind though. The day I put the panels up, Louie went around and pushed on every one of them with his nose. Trying to test just how sturdy they were I guess. Or, plotting his escape.

 You can see in the picture below that we still have a lot to do on the west side of the barn. We do have the walls all framed up now but have to purchase more building materials.

There be a Mule (and Horse) in my Barn!

Louie and Marie are home at last! I brought them home Friday morning. It was sad leaving Upper Pond Stable though. The owner, Karen and Bart are just then best and I really enjoyed having my animals there. And I also made some new friends such as MaryJo who was also just leasing stalls and was in our end of the barn. I will definitely be keeping in touch with her. Tracy, MaryJo and I all worked thing out together to share chores and it worked out wonderfully. 

Anyway, I got Louie and Marie home and led them into the barn and turned them loose. Right now all the stalls are open with just gate I can swing shut in the middle to split the space into two stalls. Eventually, I plan to put up a solid stall wall. But, as I don't have use of the middle aisle, as it's still a construction zone. Nor do I have all my fencing up as it will be when all is done to access the different outside access doors. So,  I need to be able to move the animals between stalls with a gate for now. Though I may come to like it this way and keep it. Who knows. 

Marie and Louie were very interested in their new house. They checked it out thoroughly, then went out and checked every corner of their pasture to see if there were any more new changes, then came back in to look over their new stalls again. I put some hay in the stalls and left them happily munching away. I went back out a  bit later that morning and noticed Marie was not eating her hay. ????? NOT normal, Marie never stops eating if any food is available. I watched her for a few minutes and it became obvious that she was colicing. She looked very listless, kicked at her belly a few time, thought about rolling but then just "parked out" in a big stretch. PANIC! I ran to my trailer and got a tube of banamine and my stethoscope. I gave her the banamine and checked her vitals. her pulse was normal, gums were pink and moist, her respiration was normal though she was taking very deep breaths. And she was pooping. When I listened to her gut sounds, she had a lot of sound. As a matter of fact, almost TOO much. So, I was now quite sure this was gas colic. I did not feel I needed to call the vet at this point and stayed with her for about an hour. The banamine did help and after about 45 minutes she started to look more comfortable. in 1 1/2 hrs she started eating hay again. I keep an eye on her the rest of the day and she didn't look bad but still not quite herself. At about 8:00 pm, I checked her vitals again. All was normal except she still have hyperactive gut sounds. So, I dug around in my equine first aid kid and found some gas-x paste. I gave her this and that did the trick. Within 20 or 30 minutes, she was back to normal and mugging me for treats and wanting to scarf down every scrap of food in sight. And even trotted out of the barn and around the paddock with Louie when he went to investigate an possible mule monster he thought might be out in the woods. PHEW!!!! I checked on her a few more times before going to bed and she was fine.

Marie very interested in what Fred and Leigh are doing. 

The first tools hung on the wall of the center aisle!

The west wall of the barn........oh wait, there IS no west wall yet! Guess we still have a lot of work to do!

Ready to Bring them Home

I'm ready to bring Marie and Louie home! Tomorrow morning is the day! Woooohooooo! Today we got the gates all in, the fencing in place, water buckets hung and shavings down. The barn is a LONG way from finished but the 'kids" can come home! 

This gate is temporary. Eventually, a stall wall will go in but until I have use of the barn's center aisle, I need the gate to move equines between the stalls. 

They are NOT going to chew my barn down!!! 

The reason I don't have use of the barn's center aisle. 

Mule and Mustang

Some pictures I took today of Louie and my friends 4 yr. old Mustang Arthur playing together. 

Louie realizing he's standing on ice. 

Louie and Arthur

Louie doing the "Moose trot"

Louie and Arthur playing "bit the leg" game

Arthur trying to ignore Louie

Nothing like a good roll after play!