Today was my first "trailer out" day with Nell. This ride was another one of my, "I can't decide what I want to do" rides. There was a TROT ride today at Frye Mt. that Amy had told me about. Then Tracy asked if I wanted to ride with her and Nancy. I told her about the TROT ride and she was interested. But, it would have meant I would have had to get up very early to get there in time for the ride. And, I was not sure how Nell would do trailering alone. Would she load? Would she behave in the trailer? And so on my thoughts went. Finally, the getting up early part decided it for me. Normally I don't mind that but I had not had much sleep the past few days. So, I suggested to Tracy that we ride at Mt. Pisgah and she was all for it. By the time Tracy arrived at my house today, I changed my mind and suggested riding at the Androscoggin Riverlands State Park. Tracy, being the easygoing and spontaneous person she is, said lead the way and she would follow. I had them meet me at my house as it was on their way anyway and they could help me if I had any trouble loading Nell.
I fed, hitched up the trailer, quickly cleaned the barn and was in the house when Tracy arrived. I went out and Nell came into her stall and was happy to have me put on her halter and didn't care at all about being led away from the barn and her stable mates. When I got to the trailer, she went straight in without a moments hesitation and stood in there quietly as I closed the gates. I was so proud of her! I quickly gave her a scratch and a treat for being such a good girl and then we were on our way. When we got to the parks parking area, there weren't too many people there and we had plenty of room to park. Nell was still quiet in the trailer. My problem came when I went to unload her. I don't think she's been backed off a trailer before and she remembered there was a drop (I have a step-up trailer) She wanted to turn around but bless her heart, though she indicated this desire, she did not get strong with me at all. She wanted to do what I was asking her to do but was really worried. She hunched up, squatted down and got on her back toes and inched back a little bit, then came forward, froze then tried again. It took a few minutes of this before she finally got up the courage to just do it. Again, I was very pleased with how she handled this situation that she was not comfortable with. I tied her to the trailer and groomed her. She stood quietly munching hay.
It took a few tries before she stood quietly at the mounting block but she stood very nicely once she settled. Tracy was riding her big mule Prize. Nancy was riding Tracy's mule, Ellie Mae. We headed out on the trail and Nell took the lead right away. The first part of this trail has a bunch of metal grate pieces across the trail to shed water... They aren't all that wide. maybe 12" or so. But they are some major scary mule eating monster looking things! Just ask any of our mules. I finally got Nell to go over the first one. After that, she was pretty good about the rest of them. Prize did a pretty impressive leap over one of them. We had a man walking his dog come by us. I was in the lead and the dog kind of lunged and barked. The man had him under control and it didn't really bother Nell. She kept an eye on them but wasn't too worried. Not too far up the main trail, we took a side trail. The bugs were bad at first but once we got on the side trail, it was fine. A little way down this trail we came to a stream with a bridge that was not safe for the mules to cross. But, there was plenty of room to the left of the bridge to safely cross. It was a little rocky but not bad. Nell said no. Tracy tried to lead with Prize and he said no. I got off Nell and led Nell across and she followed me with no hesitation. Prize still said no so Tracy led Ellie Mae across and then went back for Prize. He still said no. So, Nancy and I rode off down the trail and Prize then decided he might give it a try and made it just fine. The trail was very nice and we came out on the main trail not far from the start of the Bradford Loop trail. We did the loop. We had one more section where we got swarmed with bugs but again, once in the shaded woods, it was fine. We had 3 ATV's come up behind us. I was in the lead with Nell. Tracy and Nancy rode off the trail. I was not sure how Nell would be about the ATV's but decided to turn around and ride her right towards them. They pulled over and turn off their engines. Nell was worried and froze up on me once. But a bit of encouraging and she went by them all with Tracy and Nancy following. Then I turned her back around and had her follow right after them when they started back down the trail. She was good about that. We met a runner coming towards us. Again, we were in the lead and Nell kept an eye on him but wasn't really to concerned. Once around the loop, we took the main trail part way back and took two different side trails down to the Androscoggin River. At the second one, there is a nice easy entry into the water and it is shallow. I asked Nell to go in and she did NOT want to do it. After working to get her in for a while, I finally got off and led her in. Like at the stream, once I was leading her, she never hesitated for a second. And, I got to get my brand new riding boots soaked... awesome! Oh well, you do what you have to do. I mounted her while in the water and got her to walk around in it a little. She wasn't thrilled about it but she did it. I walked her out and asked her to go in again. She still didn't want to do it but I was able to get her to step in while still in the saddle. So, all in all I was pleased with her efforts. Coming out of this trail, we met another ATV coming from in front of us. He too pulled over and shut off his engine. Nell was cautious but went right up this time. We stopped and chatted with the man for a moment. He was excited about just having an eagle fly up the trail close to the ground right in front of him. When we got to the old farmstead at the intersection, we played around on the rocks a bit. Nell was very brave and climbed right up one big one. Her Shawnee rock climbing lessons coming in handy here. We took another side trail that leads to the picnic area down by the river. Tracy and I got off here. I got off to check a bridge to make sure it was safe and Tracy got off to go down near the river for the view. We led along the river just a little further to the first picnic table. Mounting opportunity! I led Nell up to it and she was a little suspicious about the look of it and didn't really want to stand next to it. I had to line her up a few times but she finally stood like a good girl. Tracy went to lead Prize up and he would have no part of it. The table was too close to the water for his comfort. This lead to a discussion between Prize and Tracy. I got back off Nell to see if I could help get Prize to step up to the table and it was just about this time Prize spun around and Tracy lost her grip on the reins and Prize rammed right between Nell and me ripping Nell's reins out of my hands. The both trotted over near Ellie Mae and I though we would be fine but just as we got up to them, Prize took off down the trail and Nell followed him. DANG! Tracy and I headed after them. We were thinking that maybe they would not want to cross the bridge......clomp, clomp, clomp....across one bridge. DANG! Then clomp, clomp, clomp, over bridge number 2... and then bridge number 3. They were out of sight and headed away from the parking area. Thought's of the mule recently lost in the Shawnee National Forest and not found for 3 weeks is flashing though my and Tracy's head. A bit further down the trail, we spied them standing in a little ravine. Nell is now standing in front of Prize and they are standing still. Nancy on Ellie Mae had followed us and I think that is what kept Prize from going any further and they both let us walk right up to them. There happened to be a handy bolder right there for our mounting convenience and we were up and on our way no worse for the little unplanned adventure. Nell again took the lead for the rest of the ride and we got back safe and sound. It really was a very nice ride and I was super pleased with how Nell handled everything. When I got home, Nell was still worried about backing off my trailer but did it right way this time.... in her squatty, tip-toe style. And then she did as all real mules do and rolled as soon as she could.
No comments:
Post a Comment