Kennebec Highland Adventure

 Today, Nancy, Tracy and I decided to ride the Kennebec Highland Trails. None of us had been there before but we had a map. Tracy picked up Nancy and we all met at Exit 43 truck stop. It was a cool day only in the 60's and overcast. Tracy led the way with Nancy as our navigator. We planned to park at the Round Top Trail parking area on the Watson Pond Rd. We were happy to find there was room for both of our rigs to park there. We tacked up and headed out on the Round Top Trail. Very quickly it became clear that this trail might not be a good idea. It was very rocky with large slabs of rock to go over. It was slick for the mules and horse and we didn't feel comfortable with this. At first we hoped it was just a short piece of the trail but we came to on particularly nasty spot and decided to turn around. Lily was a little excited which made going over all the rocks even more nerve wracking There was only one other trail we saw but it didn't go in the direction we wanted to go. We rode back to the parking lot. After a bit of deliberation and a call to Amy Beem for ideas on another place to park, we decided to drive up to the Roxy Rand Rd and park there. We loaded up our saddled equines and off we went. We found the Roxy Rand Rd. with no problem. There was a good spot to park at the end of the road by a farm. It was starting to sprinkle at this time but nothing bad so we didn't care. We were soon on our way again. This time we stated out on a nice easy tote road. Our plan was to ride to Kidder Pond, ride down the east side and then make a loop that would bring us back to the north side of the pond.

We got to one spot on the trail where there was a stretch of water and rocks that Lily was very worried about walking into. She froze up on me so Nancy came up on Goodie. Goodie didn't really want to walk though either but started in and got just a little ahead of Lily then she stopped. But, Goodie getting just a little ahead was just enough to get Lily to unfreeze. It still took a lot of encouragement but I finally convinced her to go through. And on one spot on alone a tote road, just ahead of me on the left side of the trail I see a sapling tree bent over with the top nearly to the ground and the tree is bobbing up and down! The brush was very thick on the sides of the trail so we could not see into it so didn't know what was pushing that tree down but it had to be something fairly large. Lily was watching the tree but did not seem concerned. I, on the other hand, was very concerned. Nancy and I started to talk loudly and making a lot of noise. The tree popped up and was still. We never heard anything move off or saw anything but Lily was still not worried so we rode on without incident. 

We knew we had to keep taking left turns to make our loop. We got to Kidder Pond without problem. We made our first left. It took longer than we expected to come to our second left turn. We took this and after going a a 1/2 mile or so and going down a long hill, the trail ended. We went back to the intersection and figured it must be the next left turn we were looking for. We rode for quite a while and as I was watching my GPS, I see we we are traveling south, southwest. We know this is the wrong direction. We come to another intersection. There is an open gate on the south trail and a trail leading east. There were some snowmobile signs here saying that Flying Pond Variety store is on the south trail in 4 miles. We decided to take the east trail. We rode for quite a way down this trail and it started heading south also and we know this would not get us where we needed to go. We eventually turned around and headed back to the gate. Lily did not what to turn and go back and gave me a little attitude here. Just pinned ears and a head shake and I had to give her a boot to get her moving back the way we came. Once back to the gate, we discussed again what we should do. We had no idea at all where we were. Should we try to find a road? The weather had cleared by now and the sun was out. We didn't want to back track all the way but knew we had plenty of daylight hours to make it back the same way and decided that was our best option. I had my GPS to keep us on course to track back. So, back we went. We took it easy on the way back as neither Lily or Goodie have had a lot of conditioning. We got back to our trailers with no trouble.  We had a great ride though there was the brief moment where we thought we might be spending the night in the woods and were deciding how we were going to dole out or 4 granola bars, 1 P&B sandwich and 2 bottles of water.

Lily Pads and Deer Fly

 My friend Joanie came over to ride today. I haven't ridden with her for far too long! Cierra also came to ride with us. We rode from my house. It was hot and very humid today. Not as bad as yesterday but still bad enough. I free lunged Lily and Marie before we rode as she tends to be a little excited when we first start out. I took Lily out and tied her to my trailer to tack up. Cierra was in the barn. When Joanie arrived she was parked in the front yard. Lily was quite on the trailer even though she was alone and there were horses around the yard. Lily was pretty good about standing at the mounting block today. I did have to line her up a few times but it didn't take long at all. Maybe the lunging helped. We did the Adams Rd. loop. It was a very nice ride but the deer fly were pretty bad. We did quite a bit of trotting and a little cantering. Lily was great. She was a little playful a few times and doesn't know all the rules yet so she hopped and launched into a few canters but nothing serious and listened to me when I told her to behave and I was easily able to ride her though her antics. Ahhhh, the joys of riding a very green equine. I had Joanie take a picture of Lily and I by a little pond that was full of blooming lily pads. They were so pretty. Unfortunately, you can't really see them in the pictures.

Our First Canter

Cierra and I got out for a nice ride today. It was warm but there was a breeze. We planned to ride by 10:00 am but got a slow start thanks to me. I think we did get out around 10:30 am. Cierra tacked Tinkerbell up in the barn. I took Lily out to the trailer as that is where my saddle was. I was happy that she didn't care about being led away from the others and stood quietly tied to the trailer away from the others.  Lily had to circle the mounting block a few times before I could mount but then stood nicely. I took the lead to start and for the first time today, Lily tested me a few times about leaving. She stopped a few times and when I told her to go, shook her head and swished her tail a few times. But, she went and quit after the second attempt.

I led with Lily until we got to the spot were the beaver had made a water channel across the trail. Lily didn't want to walk across. She started to go at one point then changed her mind and hopped up into the air, all 4 feet, and backwards at the same time. I've never had an equine leap backward in quite such a way before. Cierra said it looked quite impressive. She then lead the way across with Tinkerbell. We rode out to where they did all the logging last year to see if anyone has cleared a way though. If they have, we could not find it. It's a real mess out there so we turned back and decided to do the loop that goes out by the overpass.

It was on this trail that Lily and I did our first canter. Cierra got up ahead of me trotting so I gave Lily the cue. Of course she has never cantered under saddle so had no clue what I was asking. She just sped up her trot at first, and then finally about 4 strides of canter! Yippee! The 2nd time I got her to keep cantering. We got in the lead at one point and I asked her to canter and she wouldn't do it until Cierra got up front. We did several more canters along the trail. Each time Lily picked it up with a softer cue and kept going when asked. I was very happy with how she did. We rode 8 miles today and had a great time.

Louise Townsend's Ride

Today was Lily's (formally Nell) first "organized" ride. We were heading up to Louise Townsend's home in Clinton to ride. I've done this ride a number of times and it's always a fun time. My friend, Kathie from NH, came and spent the night at my house Saturday night so she could go to the ride. She rode one of Amy's mules, Misfire. Cierra also went with me. Ride time is usually 9:30 am. But, it was going to be a hot day so Amy and I talked Saturday and decided to try to get there in time to head out on the trail at 8:30 am. Kathie had I have not seen each other in a while so we were up until about 2 am talking. But, we still managed to get up at 5:30 am to take care of the animals and get ready in time. We met Linda Temple at Exit 43 truck stop and followed her up to the ride. Cierra jumped in the truck with her so she would have company on the way up. It is about an hour drive to Louise's place. Bonnie had originally planned to come with Linda but decided it was going to be too hot to ride and changed her mind about going.

We got to Louise's in good time and parked in the big field in front of her house. Cierra and I unloaded Tink and Lily and tied them to the trailer with their hay bags. They were both quiet and happy to stand and munch their hay. We went up to the house and registered for the ride. Jim and Mary Ellen were there helping Louise put on the ride. I was so happy to see them, it has been about three years since the last time I've seen them! Lily was quiet while I groomed her and tacked her up. It took a minute to get Lily to stand at the mounting block. By then, the group was already heading out so we started out near the back. We had to ride around the edge of a large field. This turned out to be a bit of a mental overload for Lily. She started to dance around and was like sitting on a ticking time bomb. I hopped off her and led her the rest of the way around the field to where the trail went into the woods. The whole group was kind enough to stop and wait for me to get on. Lilly was dancing around a bit and it took a few minutes. Once I was on, I put Lily right near the front. She was wonderful the rest of the ride.

The group split up into smaller groups as we went along. Some of the horses were getting a bit exited when we were moving faster in a large group. Kathie on Misfire ended up behind me. Lily was walking out pretty fast. The trail was a mix of dirt roads, single track trail, paved road and fields. Lily was fine with the traffic. Our group ended up me, Cierra, Linda and Judy. When we came to the Wright's farm and to where we had to ride by the cow barns, all four equines just froze and none wanted to go by. Cierra was able to get Tinkerbell to lead and the rest reluctantly followed. Lily was a bit boogered going by but didn't do anything bad at all. I was very pleased with how she handled it.

Once we got back to the farm, we tied Lily and Tink to the trailer with plenty of hay. Despite the heat, there was a nice breeze making it comfortable. Louise provided a meal and we sat and enjoyed that and each other's company under her huge maple trees in her front yard. It was a wonderful day.

Just a Jaunt Out Back

I haven't really had time to do much with Lily all week. Cierra jumped on her bareback one day to see how Lily would react to someone on her bareback. Lily didn't care at all. Even when Cierra didn't make it all the way on and had to wiggle and squirm a bit. Lily stood quietly. Lily only had a halter and lead rope on and Cierra only rode her a few circuits around the front paddock. At first Lily tried to follow me but it didn't take much to get her going without me. At one point Cierra was rubbing Lily's withers and Lily was LOVING it and tried to groom me in return but a bit too vigorously so we had to discourage that.

Today I wanted to get Lily out because we are going to an organized ride tomorrow. I wanted to make sure Lily wasn't feeling too fresh when we got there. Cierra decided to ride Marie as Marie was not going to the ride tomorrow. Cierra just jumped on her bareback. It took the usual minute or so to get Lily to stand quietly at the mounting block but she did. Today she started out nice and quiet. We did a 4.5 mile loop out behind my house. It was a warm day but the bugs were not  bad at all. We were pleasantly surprised by that. Nell was a doll and we had a great ride. When we got back we hosed them both off and Lily had fun rolling in the dirt after!

Work Day

Today was a work day in the barn. I had to clean out the 2nd floor to get ready for this years hay. That meant moving what is left of last years hay to the front. I only have 35 bales left so that part wasn't much of a chore but the dust from the sweeping was a bit overwhelming. Marie thought she'd hit the jackpot as food was falling from the sky right into her paddock. There was quite a lot of loose hay I swept out the door so I ended up forking it all into Marie's stall so she could eat it without it getting ruined by being outside.

I also had to do some stall shuffling. Always such a dilemma. Each of my stalls has access to it's own paddock. But, who should go where, I want Lily to have 24/7 access to a round bale, so I want the bale inside.  But she needs to have pasture also so is in the river pasture. But, that stall is only 10x10 so I can't put a round bale in there. I would swap her with Marie as she has a 20' stall but Marie can't have grass. To keep Lily on the river pasture but give her a big stall, I would have to swing a stall panel across the aisle at the back of the barn. I set the barn up so I could do this. That would give Lily a big 10x20 stall with room for the round bale. But that stall door leads into Tinkerbell's paddock. So I now have to set up some panels to change that and make it so she still only has access to the river pasture. But, can I set it up securely with the gates and panels I have. As the house is for sale, I don't want to do any major work. And now the barn aisle will be a little shorter and make it so we can't cross tie two in the aisle at the same time. And so on and so on, you see it's never just a simple thing.

In the end I decided to set up the back stall again. Fred helped me hang a gate, I got a panel and with the use of a second gate already mounted on the back of the barn, I was able to set up the short run I needed to give Lily access to the river pasture from the stall door. She was a bit put off by a change to her living arrangements solely on the basis that it was a change. Mules hate change. But, after thoroughly investigating her new stall, she started to think it might be ok. She went in and out and in and out many times. I left to pick up a couple round bales. When I put one in her stall, that was the deciding factor for her and she decided she liked the new living arrangements after all. And unlike the mules before her that were quite worried about the large green bag the hay was in, she never gave it a single thought and dove right in to the hay.

When I went out to feed tonight. She was happily hanging out in her new luxury suite. After I did chores, I groomed Marie, then I groomed Lily. She just LOVES to be groomed. She does not move a muscle when you are brushing her as if she thinks if she does move, you might stop. And she gets such a soft happy look. She is really a sweet mule.