I got home from work this morning at 12:30 am. I quickly fed the equines and grabbed a snack and was in bed by 1:30 am. I set my alarm clock for 6:00 as I had to be at work at Upper Pond Stable by 7:00 am. My alarm went off and I looked at the clock feeling way to tired to get up. I lay there for a bit, looked at my clock again and it said 6:09 am. I was taking Luke to work with me so I had to get going so I'd have time to hitch up the trailer. I crawled out of bed, made some coffee which I felt I was going to desperately need, dressed, fed the dog and was loading the dishwasher when I looked at the kitchen clock. ????? It said 3:15 am! WHAT! I looked at my watch......3:15 am. I went into the bedroom and looked at my alarm clock. 6:20 am. I looked at Fred's alarm clock.....3:15 am! NO WONDER I felt like I hadn't gotten any sleep! And certainly the dog had not mentioned it was not time to feed him when I was filling his bowl. Thanks Zephyr! I quickly reset my alarm clock to the right time and jumped back into bed for a few more hours of much needed sleep.
I was back up at 6:00 am. And it really was 6:00 am this time! I had a quick bite to eat and some of the coffee I made at 3:15 am.... and went out to get Luke. I tossed a little hay to Marie and Dolly to keep them quiet. Luke came right to me when he saw me with his halter, he's such a sweetie. I loaded him up at 6:45 am and he seemed eager to be on an adventure. When I got to Upper Pond I put him out in the outdoor arena with some hay and a snack of hay stretcher pellets. He, of course, thought the sandy arena was mule rolling paradise. He was quiet, relaxed and curious. He thoroughly investigated every inch of the arena and then when the 2 horses were turned out in the cross country field adjacent to the arena Luke had fun visiting over the fence with them. And they quietly and curiously checked him out but there was no concern on any ones part.
After I was done with work, I got Luke, who looked quite content but was very willing to be caught, and groomed him. I think he had 1/2 of the sand footing of the entire arena on his body! I rode him in the outdoor arena. It was too nice a day to ride in the indoor arena. I put down some ground poles and we practiced both English, with contact on the reins and a more head up position for Luke and more forward movement, and western with little rein contact and the slower gaits. Luke has had good training both English and Western. Luke's owner, Kyle, trained him western. Luke will very willingly go right into a very low western headset. Such a low headset feels weird to me but it's what he's been trained to do. So, I neither encourage nor discourage it and just let him carry his head as he has been trained and he is very willing to do it. Luke can really collect himself and move at any speed you ask. His walk, trot and canter transitions are nearly faultless. His lateral work is quite good but could use some work. He did quite well with his half pass when going English. He will sidepass to the left quite well but he is a little sticky to the right. And he had a little trouble with turning on the forehand and haunches. He backs very well but I have a little trouble with direction. He goes back nice and straight. But trying to back... say an "L" I can't get quite right. I don't know for sure if it's me or him. Well, of course it's me... but I mean I don't know if he's had much training backing in any patterns or if I'm just not cuing him correctly for how he's trained. I've already discovered he backs best with leg cues and no rein contact from his western pleasure training. I'm not used to that. Mostly I just have to remember to keep my cues, when he is not sure what I want, as light as possible. Like all the mules I've ridden, when he is confused, he will brace up hard. So I have to soften, soften, soften! When I soften up and break down what I'm asking into smaller steps, then Luke will soften also and try very hard to figure out what I want. I can't wait for my first lesson with Mary O'Rourke next Thursday. Hhaving someone watching me helps me with my response times a lot. Timing is everything! There was a lot going on at the stable this morning and Luke was a little distracted by it but mostly he did fabulous at keeping his mind on his work. He's such a pleasure to ride as he is such a willing boy. And when he understands what you want of him, he is so light and responsive.
After riding in the arena, I went out of the arena and rode Luke around the stable grounds just to let him relax and unwind. I rode over to the paddock where the horse is that is scared of mules. As soon as he spotted me and Luke, his head popped up and he started blowing. But, when I rode over to the paddock gate, he came over to check Luke out. He stood at the gate a moment sniffing hard but not looking too freaked out. So, I let Luke go right up to the gate. The horse stretched out his head over the gate, so I let Luke stretch his head out also........ their noses touched.......... and WOW, apparently Luke's nose is the equivalent of a cattle prod! As soon as their noses touched, the horse completely freaked out! He lept backwards, spun and ran back and forth across his paddock, blowing and snorting. He even fell down once when he tried to make a turn at the fence line. And he would NOT come back near the gate. Luke just stood there quietly looking at him like he was saying, "What a dork..."
And, there has been an unfortunate consequence to me from letting Luke play going in and out of the gate by the manure pile. Luke has always pooped right in front of this gate. This is nice for me as I don't have to pick it up with the wheelbarrow. I just open the gate and pitch the manure right onto the pile. Well, now that Luke has discovered that this is a magic portal into the land of good foot (grass) and play (room to run) he will no longer make his deposits in front of the gate. He has moved his manure pile down the fence line towards the barn where I now have to pick it up with the wheelbarrow. I should have known Luke, being a mule, would think about the whole gate episode.........Silly mule!
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