First Grandmother, Granddaughter Trail Ride

Today we did our first official grandmother, granddaughter trail ride! Wooohoooo! Madison, who is 8 years old, has been doing very will with riding Marie in the paddock. She has pretty good control of Marie and understands all the basic cues. So, I figured it was finally time to try ponying her out on a trail ride. I've been nervous about it because............ well, because I'm a worry wart I guess. But, Madison is a still small and my horse, while extremely gentle, is 15H so quite big for Madison. I've used Marie a lot to pony other equines but I've never ponied her. And I did not know how Luke would handle it though I do know that he has been used at least a few times to pony other horses.

Madison and I groomed and saddled Marie first (so nice to have the new barn with center aisle to cross tie in!!!) Then we both groomed Luke. I put Madison on Marie in the paddock and let her ride under the watch of her grandfather while I saddled Luke. I first led Madison on Marie with Luke right in the paddock to see how it went. Luke tucked his butt the first couple times the lead rope went around his butt but then seemed to know what was up and ignored it. Phew! After going around paddock in each direction a few time with no problem, I had my husband open the gate and off we went. The trail from my house is single track so I had to give out enough lead so that Marie could follow behind Luke. And right at first Luke wanted to walk out fast as usual. But, he soon realized I really wanted him to slow down and seemed to realize it was important and he geared right down and went nice and easy on a loose rein. We only went about 2 miles but we did do one long down hill and crossed a stream which Madison thought was quite exciting. When we turned for home Luke didn't speed up at all and carefully led Marie and Madison home. Luke could not have been a better boy and I was soooo proud of him. I feel fortunate to have two such fine equines in my barn as Luke and Marie. And such a wonderful granddaughter of course! It was so exciting to do a trail ride together. 

Day Trip to Acadia

I had a wonderful crazy day today. Susie, Mary Ann and I decided to make a day trip to Acadia National Park to ride. We had originally thought to make an overnight trip but that didn't work out. But, we were not going to let that stop us from going. Mary Ann has never ridden there before and we knew she would just love it there.

I was up early to feed Marie and Luke. I had packed up what I needed the previous night so just had to make a lunch to take with me. I loaded Luke up at 7:30 am. I met Susie and Mary Ann at Exit 43 Quick Stop in Richmond. We transferred Luke and my stuff to Susie's trailer, I ran in a got a cup of coffee and we were on our way. Susie has a 3 horse trailer so we decided to go up together and that way we could split the gas money 3 ways. It was really foggy out when we left. We went via Rt. 3 out of Augusta. It's a 3 hr. drive to Acadia and by the time we got there the fog had lifted and it was a clear sunny day. It was also unseasonably warm but not uncomfortably so. We parked along Rt. 3 near Seal Harbor. We quickly tacked up and were on the trail around 11:30 am. It was really nice to ride the trails at this time of the year. It was very quiet as tourist season is over. We did see some bikers and hikers and at one point spotted 3 others out on horses. While many leaves are now off the trees there were still enough left to be very pretty. And the carriage roads looked so different all covered in the fallen leaves. We rode to the Jordan Stream Trail, then out by the landslide and out to Bubble pond and around that loop and then around and up Day mountain and went back by way of Long Pond and through Seal Harbor. Out on the trail we took turns leading and worked with getting Susie's horse Bayzen used to having horses pass him. It is a good place to do this as the roads are wide enough to do this safely. Luke is such a good boy about taking any position in a group. And he makes no fuss when a horse canters by him. And he has such a steady even rhythm to his trot that is so nice to ride and helped steady the other equines. We did some nice long trots and we trotted the mile road up to the top of Day Mountain. Luke did this easily. It is so neat to see the change in Luke's fitness and stamina from when I got him in May to now.  At the top of Day Mountain there were a couple hikers that we chatted with for a while and who took some pictures for us.

We got back to the trailer at 4:00 pm and figured we did around 20 miles. We fed Luke and the horses at the trailer before loading them back on. Surprise, surprise but don't you know as we were waiting for the equines to eat, someone pulls over on the other side of the road because they knew Susie. We ALWAYS meet people who know Susie no matter where we go! It's the funniest thing. Luke took a good drink of water we offered him. Mary Ann's horse had drank a lot on trail out of puddles and streams. All the of them happily hopped right on the trailer and we headed out. We decided to go home via Bangor and stopped at Dysarts for supper. When we stopped, we offered the equines water again and they all drank and then went to quietly munching hay. We had a wonderful supper. When we went back out, we gave Luke and the horses more hay and left Dysarts at 7:15 pm. We got back to Exit 43 Quick Stop in Richmond at 8:45 pm. We transferred my thing to my trailer, then unloaded Luke and loaded him onto my trailer. I wondered what he would think of all the loading and unloading from one trailer to the other but he didn't seem to care at all. He hopped right on my trailer with no protest at all. Good boy! I got home just a little after 9:00 pm. Luke was so happy to be home where he could finally get in a good roll!

To West Bowdoin

Today Linda and her cousin Nancy came over and we rode from my house. Nancy rode my horse and we headed out around 10:00 am. It was a lovely day, sunny and cool. We went down Dead River Rd. to the Starbird Corner Rd. Luke was on a mission and was walking out fast enough so the others had to trot to keep up with him. At the end of the dirt section of this road we took a left and rode some trails in there. They are very pretty trails and make a nice little lollipop. We did explore some side trails hoping something might connect though further down Starbird Corner Rd. but all were dead ends. So, we continued down Starbird Corner Rd. to the end and crossed over the Litchfield Rd. and took the trail that comes out at the Wheeler Farm on the West Rd. We took a right on the West Rd. and rode up to the Allen Farm and went back into the trails there. We came back out on the West Rd. by the Jim Rideout Rd. and took that trail back to the Litchfield Rd. Then went left up the Litchfield Rd. and home on the Dead River Rd. It's so nice having equines that can be trusted to ride anywhere either on road or on trail. Marie, Gus and Luke were all very good today.

This evening I picked up a round bale of hay for Luke. I rolled it into a corner of his stall so it would be under cover and I won't have to worry about it going bad out in the weather. Luke thought he had hit the jackpot when he saw that big bale in there. My friend Tracy gave me a Big Bale Buddy hay bag so Fred, Madison and I went to her house to pick it up. When I got home I went out and put the bale into the bad. Luke didn't think there was any need of this as he thought the bale was fine just the way it was. He was a bit worried about the big green wrapper it was in. He didn't mind being in the stall with it as it's a big stall but he wasn't sure he wanted to actually eat from it. I'm pretty sure he'll sort it out pretty quickly. Poor Marie thinks that life is so unfair. She gets 3 lousy flakes and Luke gets 700 lbs all wrapped up in a pretty wrapper.......

Good Ride, Good Food, Good Friend...

I'm hijacking this blog for this story as it has nothing to do with Luke. But, I don't think he will mind. This vacation adventure was two days of riding with my good friend Margaret. She lives in East Waterboro and I have not ridden with her in several years. For this adventure, I would take Marie. Luke was due a few days rest after riding at home and then two days in Dixfield with Mindy. And, Margaret and I have ridden many CTR and endurance ride together on Marie and Promise so it just seemed right to take Marie for this adventure.

The weather forecast was for absolutely perfect weather. It was going to be cold at night but in the 60's during the day.  I left my house around 8:30 am on Tuesday. When I got to the end of Dead River Rd. (The road I live on) I turned the wrong way. DUH! I turned around and headed in the right direction. I got off I-95 in Gray onto Rt. 202 and turned the wrong way off the exit. WHAT THE HECK! I realized right away and again turned around. Then after a while, when I passed Sebago Lake, I realized I was no longer on Rt. 202. Oh, for crying out loud!!! I was on Rt. 35. I stopped and looked at the map and realized that this was fine as Rt. 35 when right where I wanted to go anyway. It actually turned out to be a better route as I didn't have to go through Windam and Gorham and the 4 stupid rotaries. It was less then a mile longer and a pretty drive. Then I drove past Margaret's road but I wasn't surprised at that as I have not been to her house in a few years and was not sure I remembered the way. I didn't go far past before calling her and was soon at her house. I even managed to arrive on time!

When I got to Margaret's house, she loaded up her Morgan gelding, Promise, and we headed off to ride at the old Hollis Armory. I've never ridden here before and was looking forward to it.  Margaret's Promise is 31 years old and still going strong. He is awesome and is a real testament to the good care he gets. Margaret has had him since birth. We saddled up and were soon on the trail. We took a few wrong turns, seemed to be the theme of the day, but soon were on the right trail. I had decided not to bring my camera because I didn't have my saddle bags on my saddle. I was soon to regret this as the landscape here was absolutely lovely. I did take a few pictures with my phone. We've always joked that Promise loves the look of Marie's butt as he has always liked to follow her. And he not a horse that normally likes to follow. And apparently Promise remembered how much he admired Marie's derriere as he was quite determined to keep his eye on it. We had a great ride.

Once back to Margaret's house, we settled Marie into a paddock and Margaret turned Promise out in a separate pasture. Marie was very happy to find some hay in a stall she had access to. Promise stayed near the fence line of the paddock she was in. Marie would come out of the stall and they would sniff over the fence line then she'd go back in to eat more hay, then come out to see Promise and go in again. It was funny watching them. Margaret had made a nice soup for our lunch.  We relaxed a while then before it got dark, poured a couple glasses of wine and took a walk through Margaret's apple orchards. I was pretty with the fall colors. A lot of leaves are already off the trees but there are still enough to look nice. We then brought Promise and Marie into the barn and fed them.

For dinner Margaret made an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms as well as veggies and dip and crackers and cheese. The main course was chicken pumpkin stew. It was absolutely delicious! Much of the ingredients came right from Margaret's garden. And this was followed up with some dark chocolate candy. I was in heaven! We watched a bit of TV (and munched chocolate) and then we checked on the horses one last time. I brought in my air mattress from the trailer and set up my bed in Margaret's living room. Margaret's cat, Curio was sure it was a new bed just for him and immediately made himself comfortable on it. He was very insulted when I moved him when I went to bed and stalked off to Margaret's room. Sorry Curio.

I woke up around 8:00 am I think. Margaret was already up. I had slept like a log! We went out and fed the horses. Then Margaret made a lovely breakfast starting with cantaloupe grown in her garden, scrambled eggs with sauteed peppers, onions, and mushrooms, bacon and hash browns and herbal tea. This was already starting out to be a great day! We went out to get the horses ready to ride. While Margaret tacked up Promise, I cleaned out Marie's stall. She had done her usual job of blending the entire stall like a big mixing bowl so it was a bit of work to get the stall clean. PIG! When Margaret was ready, we took both horses out to my trailer, I tacked up Marie and soon we were on our way. We had a second great ride from Margaret's house. She has some really nice trails around her house. And again Promise was quite determined to keep his eye on Marie's backside. When we got back from our ride, we turned Marie and Promise out together. They both got down and rolled several times. It's amazing to watch Promise. You would never know he was 31 watching how he moves. He gets up and down as well as any horse 1/4 his age.  We watched the two of them for a while to make sure they'd be ok with each other. Marie was in heat and this got Promise a little excited. Again, I was pretty impressed considering Promise's age. They were both fine though after a little bit of squealing and settled down to munch on hay. We went in the house and had lunch from the previous day's leftovers. And I confess I huffed down two bowls of the chicken pumpkin stew. Promise was not happy when I took Marie away from him. We felt bad for him. I had an uneventful drive home managing to not make a single wrong turn. Luke was VERY happy to see Marie when I got home. This has been such a nice vacation being able to ride with such good friends in so many wonderful places here in Maine.

Riding in the Foothills of Maine

This weekend I went up to Dixfield, ME to ride with my friend Mindy. I had originally planned to leave my house Saturday at 8:00 am so that I would be there before 10:00 am. But, the forecast was not good for Saturday morning. It was raining when I got up. I watched the news and they said the weather was going to clear up in the afternoon. So, I talked with Mindy on the phone and I decided I would leave my house at 10:30 am. I got Luke, who was COMPLETELY covered from head to toe in wet mud, and asked him to load up into my trailer. He willingly obliged but as he was going in he draped his head over the divider. He kept going in and I pulled up the butt bar and suddenly he was leaning hard back against it. It was then I noticed his head was over the divider bending his head around. Me, "Luke, put your head over the divider and stand in straight." Luke, "I don't think I can." Me, "Luke, please put your head over the divider and stop messing around." Luke, "I CAN'T." Me, "Luke do you think you can't manage to put your head over the divider?" Luke, "DUH, that's what I've been saying!!" So, I dropped the butt bar, he backed out then immediately walked back in straight. Silly mule.... (Luke says, stupid human) .........

I arrived at Mindy's house at 12:00 and it was still drizzly and overcast. We settled Luke into a stall. He was curious and thoroughly checked out the stall. The ceiling in the barn is fairly low so in short order he had removed all the cobwebs the stall with his ears. Mindy brought in her mare, Movette. We were hoping to get them both dried off so we could brush the mud off them before riding. The weather did indeed clear and it turned off quite hot and muggy. Luke did dry off pretty well in the stall so I was able to get him reasonably clean. We headed out for a wonderful afternoon ride. Mindy's dog Britches joined us. Luke was extremely good about Britches. He was running all over into and out of the woods, behind us, in front of us and between us. For a little while on the steeper hills, he would trot along right behind Luke panting hard. Luke was not sure what to think of this at first but soon was paying no attention to it. The area around Mindys' house is very hilly so we did a lot of climbing and descending. Not something Luke does a lot of around my house. He handled the hills like a champ and led much of the way. We did between 7 and 8 miles and had went to one overlook that had a fabulous view. I didn't have my camera of course! We led Luke and Movette down the other side of the overlook. It was very steep but the footing was not bad at all so it was safe. Luke was sooooooo good about walking behind me and not pushing into me at all on that steep decline. GOOD mule! Mindy's farm is right on the edge of town so the 1/2 mile was through a housing development. Luke is very good about going through "busy" areas like this. People, dogs, lawn mower, bikers and such don't bother him at all. Movette is a very good girl too.

Due to the unusual heat for this time of year, both Luke and Movette were quite sweaty when we got back so I hosed Luke off. Then we turned them out into the pasture. They were in separate pastures. Luke dropped and rolled before I could even get his halter off. Because Mindy lives on a busy road, I walked Luke around the perimeter so he'd know where the fence line was. As soon as I turned Luke loose, he found a sandy place and joyfully rolled yet again.

Mindy and I went into the house. Her husband was getting ready to head out to a football game in Foxboro, MA. Mindy and I both took showers as we were as hot and sweaty as the equines were. We were relaxing in the living room when I see a big black object flash by the window. Not a bad thing as the window faces the pasture. We both got up to see what was up and Luke was running and bucking like crazy thing having a good old time out there. Guess the ride, hills and all, hadn't been too hard on him. Humph........

We went to Mexico for supper that evening. Before leaving for supper I checked on Luke and he was contentedly munching hay by the fence line near Movette. I put a reflective band on his back leg just in case for some reason he got out. Well, I first put it on his front leg and he was very worried about it so I then put it on his back leg. That took a moment as he was sure it was a manacle of death and he decided to show off his backing skills. When I got one him and he walked off, he was lifting his legs like the band weighed 50 lbs. It was funny though I'm not sure Luke would agree. We went to a Chinese restaurant. It was very good and we both ate too much.  We then had a nice soak in the hot tub in her back yard. It was a fairly clear night so we turned off all the lights and it was so nice sitting in the hot tub watching the stars. We went back inside and chatted a while longer and then headed to bed I think around 10:00 pm. We planned to get up early so we could hit the trails by 8:00 am.

Mindy knocked on my door around 6:30 am. I got out and we went out and fed Luke and Movette. Mindy made us breakfast sandwiches for breakfast. We packed a lunch for on the trail as we planned to do a long ride today. Mindy didn't have a saddle bag so I dug out one of mine to put on her saddle to carry our lunch. My English saddle doesn't have any rings to connect a saddle bag to. We set off a little later then planned at around 9:00 am. It was a lovely day. Cool and a mix of sun and clouds. A much more comfortable day for the equines. Once again Mindy's dog joined us and we had a fantastic ride. We did 21 miles today. We started at 350' and went to 1200'. Lots of climbing and descending. Once again Luke did great with it all. The only disagreement we had on the ride was over a stream crossing. We were going around a snowmobile bridge we didn't like the looks of. Crossing the stream was fine but there was a little drop into the stream. Only of about a foot or so but the soil on the edge of the stream was crumbling and Luke wanted no part of it. Mindy had already crossed with no trouble but Luke was not convinced. And I was not able to keep his head straight as I was trying to keep some low hanging branches from poking my eyes out. So, he turned and marched quietly but very deliberately right back out to the main trail. There was no stopping him. As soon as he got to the trail he stopped and stood still. At this point we had a discussion and I agreed to dismount and lead him across. He was perfectly happy to follow me across. I think he just wanted to see me walk in the stream. The typical sense of humor. I didn't tell him my shoes were waterproof, I didn't want to spoil his fun.

We stopped and had lunch at Half Moon Pond. It was a beautiful spot and Britches had a great time swimming in the pond. There was a section of trail we came to that was running with water like a river. It was kind of neat riding up this. At the top of the trail we found that it was a beaver dam that had broken that caused the flooded trail. At one point when we as we were riding along relaxed and chatting, a cannon suddenly went off VERY close to us! Ok, it was a rifle but it sounded like a cannon! It scared the poo out of me and I nearly lept out of the saddle. Luke never flinched. And Movette was good too. She only popped her head up in surprise. I was amazed and pleased that Luke had no reaction to this. We rounded a corner on the trail and came across the people that were target shooting. Luke led the way for most of the first half of the ride. But, once Movette decided we were headed home, she took the lead. When we got back, I turned Luke out so we could have a good roll. And he had several. Mindy an I went into the house and had some coffee as well as some home made salsa and chips. Yummmmm! I then went out and got Luke had he loaded right up like a good boy. I thought he might want to stay with his new friend, Movette ..... or possibly the cow........

Riding in Circles

Bonnie and I had a great ride today. She picked me up and we went over to West Bowdoin. It was nice to have two mules out together. Bonnie's mule Dolly is such a wonderful mule. I got us a little lost on one of the loop and we did a few circles but we found a fun new loop and I eventually found the right trail. Both mules were the best!

Androscoggin Riverlands State Park

Today Amy and I decided to meet and ride at Androscoggin Riverlands State Park to ride. I haven't ridden with Amy all years and was so happy to finally get out to ride with her. Amy has never ridden at this state park before. It was a cold morning with a heavy frost but quickly warmed up into the 60's and was a lovely day. Amy was riding her Morgan gelding Washburn today. She also brought a friend of along.  Betsy was wonderful to ride with and she has a lovely 22 year old Standardbred mare named Jean that she was riding. The three equines all got alone very nicely. We rode down into the Androscoggin River. Luke went in but was not overly impressed with this activity. He did it though. We met a few hikers today. And one couple on an ATV. We had a wonderful ride.

2nd Day of Vacation

Yesterday I did a local ride with Susie and her friend Mary Ann. I'd never met Mary Ann before. She and her lovely Morgan mare Surry were a lot of fun to ride with and I hope we ride together a lot more in the future. We met at Triple J Farm right here in Bowdoin at 11:00 am. It was a lovely day. Cool but sunny. Because Luke lost a shoe yesterday, I took Marie today. And imagine my surprise when I opened up my tack room door and discovered that I did not have Marie's saddle in my trailer. ACK! Thankfully, Nancy's saddle was in the trailer. Nancy is my friend that has been riding Marie. Well, I'd been wanting to try out the saddle anyway so where was my opportunity. It is a Sensation treeless saddle and has been working very well on Marie. The saddle was fine for me. We rode the Cody trails and had a lovely time.

Today it is rainy so I am puttering around in my barn. I LOVE having a barn to putter around in!

Change of Plans

Today was the first day of my two week vacation. My vacation plans are simply to ride as much as I can with friends I haven't had the chance to ride with this year.

So, today Susie and I were planning to meet our friend Mary Batt and her daughter Lorien in Andover, ME. The riding is so nice there. It is about a 2 hr. drive north west of where I live. Susie was going to pick me up and 9:00 am. When I got up this morning, it was raining pretty hard. The weather report called for some morning showers but not hard rain. Then Susie called me and said that Mary was having some electrical problems with her horse trailer. So, we decided to ride from where Mary boards her horse in Farmington. That is a 1 1/2 hr. drive north west from where I live. And Mary said it had already stopped raining there. 

So, Susie picked me and Luke up at 9:00 am. It was quite cold and I really wanted to put something on Luke but the one blanket that came with him is a heavy winter turn out blanket. That was more then I wanted. I decided to get out my nice wool cooler. I figured it would be too small and look kind of silly on him but much to my pleasure and surprise, it fit him very well and he looked so handsome in it. We arrived at the boarding stable about 10:45 am. The stable owner showed us where to park and we had Luke and Bayzen off the trailer and were grooming them when Mary and her daughter arrived. It was still quite chilly and very windy but the rain has stopped so we were happy. The stable owner and one of the riding instructors both brought their horses over to Susie's trailer to meet Luke. They felt it was a great training opportunity. Both horses were very curious about Luke but neither one was scared of him. Mary had a bit of trouble catching her mare as she was running around her turnout like a crazy thing. The stable owner said she had been running all morning.  

We headed out a little after 11:00 am. We had packed lunches but decided to eat when we got back from riding. Luke was ready to go and walking out very fast as was Susie's horse Bayzen. The were both ready to do another 25 mile CTR! Mary rides a Missouri Fox Trotter and her mare Jasmine move along quickly and is in fairly good condition. Lorien's horse I believe is an Arab but he has not been ridden a lot this year and is not as conditioned as the rest so was quite a bit slower. The first part of the trail had some nasty muddy spots. Lorien was falling behind us and then her horse would get anxious. She is a good rider and could handle him fine but it was hard on her if he got fussing through the mud. So, we finally put her in front. Luke wasn't happy with the slower pace but was not a bad boy about it. He was very worried about Mary's mare also. He really did not want to be close to her. The dynamics between the 4 equines was not relaxed. We finally came out on a nice trail that took us up to the top of Bannock Mountain. What a fantastic 360 degree view from there. It was just fabulous.

Susie and I told Mary that we did not want go back the same way and slog through the mud again. She said we could just ride down the mountains access road to the paved main road and back to the stable that way. We were fine with riding along the paved road as it's a fairly quiet road and better then the mud. As we started down the Bannock Mountain rd, Luke had a little temper tantrum. Susie got out in front of us and he just did not want to be with Mary or Lorien's horse and wanted to glue himself to Bayzen. We got into a brief tug of war that I wasn't going to win but I cued him for some lateral work and did a few circles and he settled down....grudgingly..... When we got to the bottom of the mountain road, we found ourselves on a dirt road, not the paved main road and  Mary didn't know where we were or which way to go. We took a right and rode about a 1/2  mile but Lorien felt we should have gone left so we turned around and rode about a mile in the other direction. Now Susie was feeling that we really should have kept going to the right and Susie has a very good sense of direction. So, we turned around and rode back the other way again. At this point Mary called the stable owner to ask where we were and indeed we needed to take a right off the Bannock Mountain rd. We had a few mile to ride down the dirt road and it was really nice. Susie saw that Luke has lost a front shoe. But, Luke was not showing any signs of being at all sore so it was not a problem. Then we came to the main paved road and rode this for a few miles. There wasn't much traffic and we had no problem. We then got back on trail for the rest of the ride and this trail was all very nice too. 

When we got back, we loaded the equines up and drove over to Mary's house and had lunch. Mary just had a new house built and it is lovely. We had a nice time visiting. It has been a long time since I've seen Mary and I have never ridden with her daughter. 

Luke's First CTR

After months of preparation and conditioning, Luke was now ready for his first competitive trail ride. So, I entered the Maine 25 CTR in Waterford, ME. I was so excited about going to this ride as I have not done any competitions this year. I have missed competing and missed seeing all my competition friends. Four of us were going together. Susie, Nancy, Joanie and I. Joanie and Nancy had to work on Friday so we decided that Susie and I would take both of our trailers up and all four equines. Joanie and Nancy would drive up when they got out of work. Joanie and Nancy were worried about leaving all the work of camp set up to Susie and I but we didn't mind at all as all 4 equines are so good and easy to handle. Susie got to my house at around 9:00 am. Susie helped me load up Luke and Marie and we headed out. It was over cast and a little foggy in the morning but warm and was going to be a nice day. We got to the Waterford fairground at around 10:30 am. We parked the trailers nose to tail so our LQ doors were facing each other and set up our camp between the trailers. It was good we went up early as we got the last stalls that were 4 stalls together in one barn. There were stalls in the next barn but those stalls are small and Luke would not have been comfortable in one of those. The stalls we had were nice and big. But, they are actually cattle stalls so the stall walls are so short that Luke looked like he could step right over! I did run a rope around over the top of the walls just to discourage any such thoughts. 2 x 4's were set up for the stall "gates". Luke was very good but he he was in an end stall and could lean over and reach grass and leaned on the 2x4's a bit. I worried he would bust them but he didn't persist and settled down nicely. We groomed all the equines as Luke was absolutely covered in mud! And I gave Marie a quick bath as she had slept in urine soaked bedding the previous night and smelled horrible. Why she lays in her pee I'll never know. Yuck! Amanda and Rhiana Stygles had the other two stalls in our barn. They are both so nice and it was fun sharing a barn with them. It was Rhiana's 10th birthday and her first competitive trail ride. Very exciting! And she had cupcakes she made and shared with us to celebrate her birthday. After we had camp set up and the equines all settled in, we relaxed for a bit with a glass of wine.

At 1:30 pm I went down to the office and picked up all of our riders packets. We put our ride numbers on Luke and Marie's butts with livestock marker. Luke thought that drawing on his butt was a slightly weird thing for me to do but didn't make much protest about it.  I saw that the vet had arrived so we decided to get all 4 vetted in as there were no lines yet. We took Marie and Luke up first. They were vetting 2 equines at a time so we took them both in. The vet judge checks the legs and muscle tone and metabolics. And the lay judge checks the entire body for any injuries, rubs, bumps and such. Luke was a good boy. The vet judge was Larry Buggia and Luke was a good boy for him but was a bit suspicious of having his legs checked. He kept picking up his feet when Larry touched them because he thought that was what Larry wanted. The lay judge was Sondra Day and she is a wonderful. All my mules have liked her, even shy Emma Jane. Luke was no exception, he acted like Sondra's exam as she ran her hands all over him was like a personal massage. Sondra is not very tall and when she came around to the front to examine Luke's head, he dropped his head right into her arms and just closed his eyes with such a happy look on his face. It was really funny. Then both judges watch the trot out. Luke trotted off with me like a pro. I lunged him and he did ok but was he was quite calm and relaxed but very curious about his surroundings. So, after one circle, I asked him to whoa, he kept right on trotting around gazing out across the fairground, then gawking up into the grand stand, then sniffing the ground....Luke whoa.....lalalalalala, look at the other horses, is that a dog over there lalalalala. I ended up just reeling him in. Silly boy! He paid a bit more attention when we did the other direction and he trotted back nicely. The judges both commented what a lovely mover he is. He got B's (Average +) on length of stride, willingness and body carriage and a C (Average) on height of stride. No toe dragging, good coordination, no muscle soreness and good muscle tone. I then traded equines with Susie and I trotted Marie out. I didn't do my best job of trotting her out. I lunged her as usual but she cut in on one side and just didn't look great. I should have walked her around before the trot out because at her age, she needs time to loosen up. So, the vet asked to see her again in the morning.

Susie and I put Luke and Marie back in their stalls and brought up Bayzen and Frannie to be vetted in. All went well with both of them so we settled them back into their stalls. I then walked down to Melby's to get a sandwich. Sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 Nancy and Joanie arrived. We walked and grazed all our equines for a while then put them back in their stalls, fed them and headed down to Melby's for supper. When we got back, we checked the equines, filled water and hay bags then went to our camp to relax. Sondra Day  came over to visit as well as Amy Beem and Rhonda Bachelder. We had a nice evening visiting. Before bed, we checked the equines one last time. Everyone was quiet so we headed for bed.

I woke up around 5:30 am. Nancy and I both got up and fed Marie and Luke. I quickly packed up the tote of things we would need at the hold. We put in our rain gear as rain was in the forecast. We went down to the food shack and had breakfast. They had breakfast sandwiches and a nice selection of pastry. After eating, Nancy and I got Marie and Luke out to walk around to make sure Marie got a chance to stretch her legs before trotting out for the vet this morning. We went into the arena by our campsite and Luke immediately wanted to roll. I didn't let him as it was damp and I didn't want to have to try to groom wet sand off him before putting his saddle on. Luke was not pleased with this. We left the arena and just walked them around and each time we passed the arena gate, Luke tried to go towards it and when I said no, he shook his head at me  giving me a very disgusted look. He really wanted to roll and was NOT going to hide his feelings about it. One of the things I love so much about mules is how expressive they are. Marie went up for her trot out and she looked very good and was passed to do the ride. YEAH!!!! We brought them over to the trailer and tacked up. Luke was picking up on the excited atmosphere and was very curious but he was quiet and well behaved as I tacked him up. Susie and Joanie went down to the riders meeting to get any details or instructions we might need. We mounted up and rode around the fairground to warm the equines up and wait for our turn to start. All four of us were riding out together. As we walked around, Luke picked up even more on the excitement in the air. He knew this was not the average trail ride. He behaved fine though and stayed light and responsive. Then, our numbers were called and we were off. Marie and Frannie are both experienced CTR horses and were well behaved as we started out. Luke and Bayzen are nubies. Bayzen was VERY excited and was quite strong and bouncy and he cantered the first mile. Luke too was excited and he did a bit of prancing at the start for about 1/4 mile but again he stayed light and responsive so was no trouble and soon he settled into a wonderful trot. It was quite warm and humid and all our equines are getting their winter coats so they all got sweaty fairly quick. But, all were eager and very forward and seeming to have a wonderful time. The trail was well marked and everything went very well to the hold. The only naughty thing Luke did was kick out at Bayzen once. I've never had Luke kick at anyone before so it surprised me. He didn't make contact but it was a full out kick. The sky had cleared off and the sun had come out so we didn't have any need of our rain gear.

The hold wasn't too crowded so I asked Margaret Farnum, who was doing P&R's if she could give Luke a courtesy check after only 5 minutes. You are allowed 10 minutes. But, Luke was under the required 60 bpm so I took that as the official P&R. Marie just squeaked in at 60 bpm. We hit it lucky with no line for the vetting. When we were asked to do our trot out, which is just a straight line away from, then back to the vet, Luke spotted something of concern in the direction we had to trot and was reluctant to go and was blowing at "it". So, the lay judge clapped her hands and gave a "ha" from behind him and he did reluctantly go. On the way back though, yeeeehaaaa, he looked plenty lively as he was sure "it" might be chasing him! Marie and Luke passed vetting and we gave them a quick snack of hay stretcher, dengie and some carrots.There is a lot of sand in the hold area and Luke wanted to roll very badly. So, I had to really keep an eye on him to keep him on his feet. We were about 10 minutes late getting out of the hold but we weren't worried abou it. There is no penalty for staying longer in the hold and we felt sure we would still finish on time. I really thought Luke would poop out on the 2nd half of the ride but was I ever wrong. He was still full of energy and I had to check him back occasionally. We did a loop and came back though the hold area. We stopped to offer the equines water but Luke was again eagerly surveying the sand and wanting to roll. He just could not understand why I was being so mean to him and not letting him do what all mules need to do as often as possible. In the last few miles of the ride Luke got right out in the lead and he led our group to the finish. I was amazed at how easily he handled the ride. And what a pleasure he was to ride. For about 60% of the ride it was like sitting on a Cadillac on cruise control. About 40% of the ride I was actually checking back his speed but he was very responsive and easy to rate. He seemed to really enjoy himself.

From the finish line, we went right to my trailer and quickly removed our saddles then took Luke and Marie over in front of our barn where we had water ready for sponging. We sponged them as much as we could, it was starting to cool off but they had worked hard with their fuzzy coats. When their P&R's were done, both Luke and Marie were a bit higher then expected but well within a safe range. Luke was 48 and Marie was 52. Franny and Bayzen were both higher then expected also so I think it was just the warm day with fuzzy coats. After P&R's were taken, we walked Luke and Marie around to keep them limbered up before doing our trot out for the vet. I did a practice trot out by our camp and lucky I did as Luke thought he'd worked enough for the day and didn't see the need to trot for me again. We had to have a bit of a discussion about this but one he decided I was serious about it, he was fine. He did a very nice trot out for the vet. He did not go along with the idea of lunging this time though so I just did the circles in hand with him. I think he was thinking, "if you are going to make me trot, I'm going to make YOU do it to!" Marie's trot out looked very good. Nancy did a very nice job of trotting her out. We had some time between the trot out and hands on part of the final judging so we put Luke and Marie in their stalls with lots of hay and then changed our clothes and packed up camp as much as we could. We then got Marie and Luke back out and were leading them to the trailer so we could brush them off and for one moment I took my eyes off Luke and he dropped and had a good roll! Booger! But, at least we were on grass so I only had to give him a quick brushing before presenting him to the judges. The hands on went fine, Luke was a good boy. We were now done and knew that we at least had a completion. Yippeee! We settled Luke and Marie back in their stalls again and fed them. Then, we went down to the food shack and had supper. It was now starting to cloud over. At 3:30 it started to rain lightly. They had the award ceremony about 4:00 pm Marie and Frannie got completions. Luke placed 6th and Susie placed 4th. Luke had a score of 97 so there was only 3 points separating the top 6 equines. I was thrilled with how well Luke did.

On Luke's score card he had no changes for tack area. I am so pleased that my English saddle is working so well on him. He had no changes on his leg either. He started 100% sound and ended 100% sound! And he had no changes for the mechanical fatigue category. He did get 2 points off for metabolic fatigue and 1 point off for his ending pulse being over 44. We all had such a great ride and after a saying goodbyes to everyone, we headed home. When I turned Luke out in his paddock at home, he did some serious rolling!