David Borntreger Mulemanship Clinic

Another thing checked off on my list of riding things I've been wanting to do. Go to a mulemanship clinic. David Borntreger was holding one at High Knob campground so it was the perfect opportunity being so close to me. I eagerly signed up. I didn't tell Lily. David is a local trainer that won the Mule Trainers Challenge last year in Texas.


Day 1
The weather forecast for the ride weekend was pretty bad. Rain, rain and thunder, rain and more rain. Oh, and hot too. But maybe it would all work out. The clinic started at 9:30 am. It rained early but stopped. So, I picked Lily up and headed to camp. There were only 3 of us in the clinic. We started the morning with ground work. We did some great exercises for communicating with our mules. David was so patient with us and explained things well. Lily was a bit sticky with the backing exercise and David worked with her a bit as I wasn't getting my timing quite right for the best results. Then, he worked with me and Lily and me together. We stopped and took a break at about 11:30 for lunch. The sun had come out and it was getting pretty hot. We gathered again a bit after 12:30 and worked on the same exercises we'd learned in the morning but did them under saddle. David also rode Lily and worked her though a few exercises. She picked up pretty quick what he wanted her to do.

After finishing with our arena work, we went out for a short trail ride out to Coulter Spring and back. Tony Lusch went with us. We could tell the weather wasn't going to hold. And we were right. We just got back into camp when a storm hit. I was hustling though camp with the wind blowing like crazy and stuff falling off the trees and pinging off all the carport roofs. Lily was a little freaked out because I was rushing her but behaved. We got to the trailer just as the rain hit and thunder and lightning all around. I pulled her saddle off as fast as I could and piled it into my trailer. At this point Lily was really wondering what was wrong and at first refused to go near the trailer. I had to slow down and talk to her a minute and then she loaded up like a good girl. I drove home in pouring rain so hard I could hardly see. And had to unload Lily in the pouring rain. But, we got home safely and that's all that matters.

Day 2
It rained during the night and was raining in the morning. I got a message to not hurry to camp, we were going to wait to see if the rain was going to stop. When the rain slowed down, I picked up Lily and I got to camp around 9:30. The rain did stop and sun came out. The arena was a bit muddy in places but there were some good spots also. It was hot again today. We kept working on our exercises we'd learned yesterday under saddle. Lily did very well today. David help us work though a few sticky spots. We decided to go for a trail ride rather than break for lunch. We knew another storm was heading our way and while Lily was being very good, David could see she understood what was being asked of her and getting annoyed at being drilled on it. So, we rode out to the spring and back again. And like yesterday, the storm hit just as we got back. So, another drive home in the pouring rain. But, it was a good and productive day.


Day 3
We started again at 9:30 and worked through our exercises we'd learned. Mules and horse did great. The arena today was pretty wet and muddy so we decided to head out for another trail ride at lunch time. We planned to ride through Rice Hollow and back by way of Whiskey Cave. But first I collected on David's promise from a year ago when he won the mule trainers challenge to autograph my mule!

 We could see another storm approaching but hoped it would not hit soon. Well, we were just getting to Rice Hollow and it hit. It was our good fortune that we were riding by a big overhanging shelter bluff right at that moment and we all took refuge under it. It poured rain with thunder and lightning but we managed to stay dry. We thought we'd have to just suck it up and ride back in the rain. Ruth happened to have a saddle bag full of emergency rain ponchos and was passing them out. I did have one in my cantle bag. But, the rain passed and we were able to ride back to camp and stay dry. So much rain came down in such a short time that our trails were turned into little rivers.

We decided to abort our mission to ride though Rice Hollow and head straight back to camp. We passed JoJo heading out on a ride with some friends. We should have continued our planned ride as the weather cleared up and was fine until later that night.

It was a good 3 days despite the weather and we got a lot accomplished. I'm very glad I went. Lily and I both learned some useful things to use going forward. I would definitely recommend anyone go to one of his clinics if they get the chance.