Missing Mule!

My farrier, Hillbilly, had contacted me last night to tell me he would stop by today at 11:00 am to put Lily's shoe back on. Yeah! So, what do I do but fall asleep in my recliner just before he comes and I wake up when he pulled in. ACK, I'd meant to have Lily caught, cleaned up and ready when he arrived. I hustled out and of course Lily was out in the pasture. And no amount of rattle grain in a pan interested her. So, I grabbed her halter and headed out. When I got to the culvert, she decided to come to me. She could have done better however, it could have been worse too. At least I didn't have to chase her.

She just loves Hillbilly and seemed disappointed that he was only putting on one shoe. Hillbilly said he was at Sally's house before me and that she and Josh's mother were going riding and I was invited. I was all over that offer. Hillbilly headed back to Sally's to tell her I was going. I left Lily tied to the post of the overhang and ran into the house to change my shoes and grab a snack to throw in my saddle bag. When I went back outside, Lily was gone! She was not tied to the post any longer. Rope was gone too so she'd untied herself. And the gate was open!!!! But, I didn't see Lily anywhere. I didn't hear her clomping down the road. She wasn't running around the yard.... ????? Well, Hillbilly had dumped the grain we were shaking to get her to come to us into her feed dish and she was in the barn eating. PHEW!!! I've never known a mule to be able to resist an open gate but I guess she is like me, her belly is first priority! LOL.

I saddled Lily up as quickly and rode up to meet Sally and Josie. Josie is Josh's mother and this was the first time I've met her. Sally's dog's Tippy, Lolly and Snip went with us and Snip was and endless source of amusement. His legs are so short but that doesn't slow him down and watching him run is just the funniest thing. We rode to Initial and took a short break there. We took trail 150 around to the Memorial. There are a lot of trees down on that trail. You can get around them all but it's a pain in a few spots. Too bad it hasn't been cleaned up as it's a pretty trail. Then we rode around to NoNo Rock and back by way of No Name tie up. Lily humored me by stepping up on several rock on request. We then followed the creek through Thacker Hollow home. We rode a little over 13 miles. It was a cool day and perfect for riding.