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........