I was all ready to get into trail riding mode when yet another winter storm dumped nearly a foot of snow on us Tuesday! I was NOT happy about this. Susie and I knew we wanted to do something for a ride today but couldn't decide just what to do. I worked at Upper Pond this morning and I called Susie as I was heading home. The forecast was for a cloudy day and possible snow flurries. And it was cold this morning. Susie was on the fence about riding at all but the sky was getting brighter and it was warming up so I talked her into riding by offering to pick her up. We considered just staying near home and going to either Brown's Point in Bowdoinham or riding over in Richmond on the dirt roads by the dump. Then Susie mentioned that low tide for the beach was at 2:40 PM. It told her that I would be happy to trailer us to the beach. Then the decision of Popham or Old Orchard Beach. After more discussion we decided on Old Orchard Beach. I figured since I'd paid to get a permit to ride there, I wanted to make some use of it. And that beach is always the same with much of it reliably having good solid packed sand below the tide line. And it's a 7 mile stretch of beach so makes for some decent mileage. Popham changes often and you never know quite what the beach will be like.
When I got home, I fed the mules and Marie, cleaned the barn and then grabbed a quick bite to eat. We have not plowed our driveway from the storm but I was quite sure I'd get the trailer out as it's downhill to the road. I hooked up and pulled the trailer down to the end of the driveway. I wanted to make sure I could get down safely before loading Luke. When I went up to get Luke, he seemed eager to go and off we went to pick up Susie. We got to the beach by 1:00 PM and it was turning out to be a lovely day. The sun had come out and there was no wind and it was very comfortable. We quickly saddled up and were on our way. There was another trailer there and it was a harness racer. There were some people at that trailer and one woman recognized Luke as we had met last time I came to Old Orchard Beach.
I thought Luke would be a bit silly as I haven't done much with him for the past week. And he was forward but quite relaxed and really seemed happy to be out. Much to our surprise, the beach was not nearly as good as it always is. There must have been a really strong storm surge. The beach near the parking lot was very pebbly and the footing was quite soft. It did firm up after a bit and we got in a nice long trot and canter. Neither Bayzen or Luke made any fuss about going under the pier. But once on that side of the beach, the sad got soft again and we had to slow down. Neither one of us want to risk any pulled tendons or such with our first competition coming up in May. Even though Luke was very relaxed today, he still viewed the seagulls with suspicion. I think it's so funny that a mule that lives with guinea hens can find seagulls worrisome. Both boys crossed the river with no fuss also. There were a few more spots where the sand was firm enough for more trotting but overall, it was soft and we kept it to a walk in the soft areas. Luke had to warn off multiple dogs today. There are a few dog owners that should be thankful that Luke is such a good boy with dogs as he had to lift a foot at several that came right up behind him. Many mules would not put up with that. Something boogered Bayzen on the way back and he was a bit wired for a while. And he did a few quick spooks but Susie handled it all just fine as usual. After crossing under the pier again, we asked them to walk through the waves which were very small here and for once Luke did not make a fuss about it. He wasn't excited about going into the waves and I had to keep pressure on him to keep him in but only light pressure and he stayed soft and responsive. It was fun! Well, for me anyway, Luke only did it to amuse me.
Even though we rode slower overall than we usually do, the boys still got a good workout walking through the softer than usual sand. Once back the the trailer, we untacked them, and as a treat, we led them back down to the beach to let them roll. Luke was a happy boy about that. He rolled, rolled again, then rolled a third and even a fourth time. Even Bayzen took a good roll. As usual, it was a wonderful ride!
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