Well, the day had arrived, time to saddle up the white steed and ride off into the sunset. Ok, not quite like that. First, while Lily is supposed to be white, she is at best some sort of cream color even after grooming. 10 months of ground in dirt doesn't come out in one grooming. And we really hoped to be back to the farm long before sunset. I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive about getting on Lily. She has not been ridden in 10 months. And she is still fairly young and green. But, with Amy's moral support.... or badgering.... I knew I had to get on her. Lily's never given me any reason to not trust her yet. Amy was riding my neighbor's mule, Marie .Neither of us had ever seen Marie ridden but felt confident she was a nice mule.
We went over to the barn and Lily promptly caught me. She's definitely an "in your pocket" kind of mule. Marie let Amy catch her and we put Zuri in her stall. That is Delbert's mare. It was a fairly warm day but crazy windy. So, not only has my mule not been ridden in 10 months, and has been well fed during that time.... we pick a crazy windy day for our first ride. We groomed and saddled and then mounted up. Lily stood very nicely for me to mount.
We headed out on the trail right behind the barn. It is a steep drop down to a stream crossing. I took the lead and Lily kind of bounced her way down the hill. Marie planted her feet and said, "Nope". Lily was dancing around in excitement while we were waiting for Amy to convince Marie that she really should go down the hill. It was not a good spot for a mule to be dancing around so I hopped off and led her to a better spot to wait. Amy did finally convince Marie to go down the hill. I led Lily a little way down the path and mounted up again. Lily was still excited but was behaving well. When we got up to Black's Cabin, Lily was all snorty about something by the cabin and froze up. Marie was not concerned and walked by so Lily followed. We crossed Black Ridge Road and took the trails over to Double M Campground. Then we rode south to Pounds Hollow Lake. The wind was fierce causing little whirlwinds of leaves and the branches and vines were swaying and creaking. Neither mule seems to be bothered by any of this much to our relief. A few times a wall of leaves would blow up and sweep by us and they would be alert but they never really reacted. Amy on Marie were up front when we got to the trail that goes along Pounds Hollow. Marie did not want to take the trail as it starts very close to the water and with the wind, it was making waves. I asked Lily to take the lead. I had to ask a couple times as she wasn't thrilled about it either but she did go.
We managed to lose the trail along the lake and ended up doing a bit of bushwhacking to get back to the trail at one point. Marie was not thrilled about a few steep down hill spots. Lily bombed on down where ever I pointed her. Marie eventually followed. We didn't come out quite where we thought we would but did eventually make our way around. We took turns leading but Amy led the most. Lily was just excited and feeling playful enough that it was easier to park her behind Marie as it settled her down. We had a wonderful ride. I was very happy with how Lily was on her first ride after her 10 month vacation. And Marie is a lovely mule and Amy enjoyed riding her very much.
I called Bishop's and told them to go ahead and fix the truck. They said they would order the axle first thing Monday morning. We still could not decide on what vehicle to bring home or when would be the best time to head home. I contacted my boss at work and explained the situation to see if I could get the extra time off work if we decided to wait for the truck to be fixed. He gave me the time off so that part was all set. And Amy said she was ok with staying.
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