First Trail Ride With Buckshot

Mary-Jo left me her Easyboot gloves to try on Buckshot. Much to my delight, they were a perfect fit for his front feet. I decided to take Luke and Shots with me to work on Thursday morning so we could ride after work. I haltered both boys and led them out together. That was ok though I had to keep getting Shots attention as he's keep trying to walk off to do his own thing or check out stuff. He needed some reminders to mind his manners. And for the first time, he decided he would not load into my trailer. Again, his refusal was mild and it didn't take long to convince him to load. Luke was looking at him like he thought he was a dork. At Upper Pond, we put both boys in the jumping pasture as there is grass in there for them to munch. I haven't had the boys together yet but it was a non issue and all was quiet until the horses in the next pasture started running around. That set off Luke and Shots and they ran and bucked like idiots. I figured with our luck, Shots would lame himself up before we got the chance to ride. But, he was ok.

After work, we saddled up and put the boots on him. Brooke was wounded in the process of booting him when she bent a fingernail back. And then she bled all over my mule!!!  Anyway, I was even happier when I found that my Old Mac boots fit Shots hind feet. So, I was able to boot him all the way around. Meagan went riding with us on her lovely mare Scarlett. Shots did great with the boots on. He adapted to them right away and after a few tentative steps expecting his feet to hurt on the rocks, he realized they didn't and he put on a big fast walk and headed right down the trail as happy as can be. What a difference the boots made for him. We only rode for about 1/2 hour to 45 min and kept it to a walk as we didn't want to flare up the ringbone. But, Shots did great. And when we came by the pond the 2nd time, I told Brooke and Meagan I wanted to walk them into the pond and I'd lead in with Luke. HA! Shots saw the water and forged right ahead of me and went straight in with no hesitation. And if Brooke had not stopped him, they would have gone swimming. It was the funniest thing. Shots was a very good boy the whole ride. He didn't spook at anything. He was alert, spotted an ATV but was not bothered. Mary-Jo's dog Maggie had followed us out and Shots didn't like her behind him and gave her a few warning shots. But, he was not spooked by her at all, just didn't want her behind him. He did walk faster going towards the barn but he listened to Brooke and never broke from a walk. We were both very pleased with how he behaved and how well he did with the boots on! Now, we'll just continue riding him more adding more time and working in a little trotting and see what he's capable of doing and what we need to do to manage the ringbone.

He loaded good onto the trailer to go home but when I got home, he blew out of the trailer, not fast, just didn't wait for me and I could not stop him. So, I loaded him right back up and asked him to stand for a minute. He did load right back up and stood perfect. Bad boy....good boy........He is quickly learning what I expect of him and he has the training to know what he should do. Ah, there is just something about this mule that is impossible not to like. My head is still telling me to find another home for him just as quickly as I can but my heart wants to hold onto him and see what I can do with him.

Buckshot (aka Big Spot)

A new mule has arrived at my barn. His name was Big Spot. Yuck! I just can't do "Spot". The people I got him from called him Mr. Big. While that's certainly better than Spot I just can't do that either. For some reason Buckshot got in my head and wouldn't leave. I'm not even sure I like that so much but it stuck with me and sounds a bit like big spot so that is what he will be called now. Shots for short. 

Shots came up for sale here in Maine. I do not need another mule at this point in time BUT, the last time I didn't look at a mule that came up for sale here in Maine it was Luke............. and we know how that worked out........ sigh........So, I decided I was going to go look so I wouldn't kick my self later. There were actually 2 Appy mule for sale down in Cape Neddick. I talked Fred into taking a ride down with me to look at them. It was our weekend with our granddaughter Madison so we made a day of it. The owners of the mules are very nice and it was wonderful to meet them after only knowing them via an internet list. Both mules are lovely looking mules. The leopard spot molly is eye popping pretty but she is only barely 15 H and has a very light build. Just too small me. Shots is a big built 15.3H mule and a nice size for me. I could see right off his feet had some problems as his heels are underslung and contracted. He has windpuffs too but that's not normally a serious problem. We saddled him up, for which he was a very good boy and I hopped on him. Again, he was a perfect gentleman but it was quickly apparent that he was lame so I only rode him a few minutes and got off. 

I went home and tried to forget about him........I could not.........I just had to go look at him again. The next week my friend Susie and I went back down to look at him again. This time I decided I'd try out both mules just to be sure and so I could give an honest opinion about both mules to help the owners sell them. It was kind of a rotten day when we went down but when we got there, the sun was actually starting to peek out so we saddled up both mules. I hopped on the leopard spot molly and one of the owners got on Shots. The molly was a good girl. She tried to test me by not wanting to go through puddles but after a few discussions at the first few puddles, she quit her fussing and walked through them. She didn't do anything wrong at all though I did feel her training was pretty basic. On the way back, the owner and I switched mules. As soon as I was on Shots, I could tell he was still lame and he was very ouchie over the rocks. I could also tell that his training was very, very good. And about this time the sun was gone, it started to pour and we got soaked on the way home. All 4 of Shots legs were stocked up and warm to the touch that day also. 

Susie and I talked it over on the way home. She liked Shots but could see he had some potential problems. I just couldn't get him out of my mind. In the end I decided I had to get him and see what I could do with him. I tracked down his trainer and had a few conversations with him that confirmed my feeling that Shots was a very well trained mule. I also now had more concerns because those conversations with the trainer revealed that Shot's was trained as a 2 yr. old and sold to a heavy weight rider and put to work. In my opinion, riding 2 year olds is just setting them up for problems later in life. Just the kind of problems I was seeing with Shots. Why can't people let their equines grow up first before riding them.......

Anyway, a week later, I found myself heading back to Cape Neddick for the 3rd time but this time with my trailer in tow to pick up Shots. My friend Brooke went with me and I became the owner of one very sweet handsome 11 yr. old blanket Appy john mule. My head kept telling me I needed to walk away from this one but my heart wouldn't let me. Something about this mule just gets under your skin. I was happy to see that his legs weren't stocked up when I picked him up. He loaded right up in my trailer with no fuss and never made a peep even when we stopped for a quick bite to eat at the Kennebunk rest area. He did nicker to us when we came back to the trailer...... 

Shots settled into my place very easily making himself right at home. Luke's nose was quite out of joint. Luke is used to being the center of attention and was not happy about sharing the spotlight. My mare Marie was picked up the same day to go stay with a friend for a while. Luke was heartbroken by Marie leaving and even Shots missed her though he'd only known her a few hours. They both bellowed all night for her. Silly boys. I picked Shots up on a Friday. The vet came to check him out on Monday. I took him over to Upper Pond Stable for the vet as she was coming there for several other people. Again he loaded right into my trailer with no fuss at all. Though when I unloaded him and was standing in back of my trailer talking with Mary-Jo, something did startle him and he spun around deciding to vacate the area. When he spun, Mary-Jo was right there and in his effort to avoid her he managed to mow me down instead. No harm done to either of us though my glasses ended up getting broken and Mary-Jo's got bent. While waiting for the vet, we turned Shots loose in the indoor arena and he had a ball in there trotting around and bucking. The vet quickly found that Shots was lame on the right front with a flexion test. She x-rayed that hoof and pastern which revealed that Shots has ringbone in his right front pastern. This was very disappointing to find out. I had really hoped that his lameness had been due to his feet having some problems. I now knew I was dealing with more of a problem. But, it is what it is and I was glad we were able to find out what was wrong so I'd know how to deal with it. Shots left eye is also cloudy from a previous flare up of Uveitis. And he has mild bog spavins in his hock. The farrier also came later that afternoon. Shots was an absolutely angel for him. We got the long toes off him and gave him as good a breakover on his feet as we could so there would be less stress on Shot's pasterns. That should help his pastern with the ringbone. The farrier also found a spot on his left front hoof where an abscess had blown out and he had bruising on all 4 feet. He also has white line separation on all 4 feet in the heel area. So, there would be no putting shoes on him as the hoof wall is too weak where the nails would go. No wonder he was ouchie when we tried to ride him. Poor boy and bless his sweet mulie heart he'd made no fuss and tried to do everything we asked of him. Ringbone is such an unknown. While there is no cure for it, with the proper foot care, Shots may stabilize and do well for many things. And he may do well for a long time, or he may not. There is just no way to know. He certainly would not be appropriate for endurance riding. But, his heavy build didn't make him ideal for that anyway. 

Wednesday I took Shots over to Upper Pond Stable for Brooke to ride. I'd hurt my back so I wasn't up for riding but now that his feet were trimmed, I wanted to see how he went in the nice soft footing of the arena. He again loaded up into my trailer like a pro. Brooke saddled him up but decided to lunge him first. He knew how to do that. He walked and trotted nicely. He had a hard time cantering. He's out of shape and a little sore so we didn't push it. Brooke hopped on and rode him for a little while. Shot's was a very, very good boy. Brooke said he definitely has good training. He tried to test her a couple times but his testing is very mild and he gives in right away. And I was also pleased to see he was not bothered by anything about or in the arena. He found the viewing room window to be fascinating. When my dog ran up into the hay loft, he just stopped and looked for a second. When we were in the barn aisle, Deb passed him in her wheelchair and he never gave that so much as a glance. And when a cart was rolled out of the storage closet into the arena, he didn't care at all. It didn't take long though for him to start favoring his right front leg that has the ringbone and we stopped riding then. All in all I was very pleased with how he had done. 

Hollis Benefit Ride

Today we went to a ride at the Hollis Equestrian Park. The ride was a benefit ride for the Maine Mounted Search and Rescue and the Ever After Mustang Rescue. It was a cool morning and we had to make an early start. I wasn't sure if I was even going the night before the ride as my mom went into the hospital. But, she was doing fine and at the last minute I decided to go. I picked up Cierra and Tinkerbell at around 7:00 am and we headed out. I trusted my GPS to get there and for once it didn't let me down. Well, there was one moment in Portland that it mislead me but that was quickly and easily corrected. Joanie and Nancy were also coming to the ride. Nancy is leasing my mare Marie for a little while. Marie had left my farm just the previous night and Luke is quite heart broken about it. I figured he's be a nut when Nancy arrived with her this morning. We arrived before Joanie and Nancy. We unloaded Luke and Tink, who had emptied a bag of hay on the ride down! We refilled Tinks bag and tied them to the trailer to keep munching hay while we registered. There were donuts, pastries and coffee in the office for us. Once registered, we went back to the trailer to groom Luke and Tink. The woman parked beside me had not brought any extra hay with her and her horse was a bit restless. I put a flake of my hay in a spare hay bag and let her have it for her horse. 

Joanie and Nancy pulled in and parked behind my trailer. Luke had no idea that Marie had arrived. It was quite a while before he did realize it. And much to my surprise, though he was happy to see her, it was Tinkerbell that got all excited about Marie being there. I didn't know Tink liked Marie that much. There was a 12 mile and a 14 mile distance offered. We chose the 12 mile ride as Joanie is still getting her leased horse Goodie in shape. It was a absolutely lovely ride! The trails were very well marked and easy to follow. Luke took the lead right off and for a short time at the start of the ride, Cierra and I got ahead of Joanie and Nancy. We did a nice long canter on a dirt road. Once again, Luke lost the race against Tinkerbell...... When Joanie and Nancy caught up to us, we stayed together the rest of the ride. In a few places, Joanie took the lead with Goodie and she was very good about that. At one point when some horses passed us, Tinkerbell took the lead as she really wanted to keep up with those horses. 

The ride was very easy terrain wise so we could have done the longer ride. But, it was only 4 miles difference so we didn't mind. When we rode back into the field at the Equestrian park, there are some jumps set up and I headed Luke over a low one which he happily hopped over with Cierra and Tink right behind me. We tied Luke and Tink to the trailer and filled Tink's hay bag yet again! She was chowing down on hay like she'd never been fed before! The ride provided us with a wonderful meal. Well, there were too many types of baked beans and chili for my liking but there was plenty of other delicious things to make up for it. And many types of home made deserts also! The sun had finally come out but the wind had picked up. We were sitting at a picnic table, relaxing, letting the food settle and enjoying each other's company when suddenly a gust of wind picked up Joanie's place, all soaked with bean juice, and blew it straight up into Cierra's face! By some stroke of luck, the plate flipped over at the last second so the clean back side is what hit Cierra! Tinkerbell had run out of hay again and I didn't want to give her any more as I wanted to save the last flakes for the ride home. After a few unhappy minutes of pawing, she decided to accept her fate and was quiet. It was a great day, a great ride, with great food and great friends and there were even door prizes too boot. I won some gift certificates for a couple restaurants in Lewiston/Auburn. Cierra got a horse calendar. 

We got back to Upper Pond Stable around 3:30 pm. Cierra's mom couldn't pick her up until after Turn in time at 5:00 pm. So, I took Cierra over to my house so she could meet the new mule, Buckshot (aka, Big Spot) Cierra wanted to see how Luke felt bareback so she stood on a rock and tried to jump up on him. The first leap startled Luke a little but then he totally ignored all the following attempts by Cierra to mount him. It was so funny watching it as she hurled herself at him and he just quietly munched grass like nothing was going on. I finally gave her a leg up. 

Skyline Benefit Ride

Today was the Skyline Farm benefit ride. After a week of horrible weather, hot, humid, sever thunder storms and rain, Today dawned a lovely, clear, cool day. The ride was offering a 6 mile distance and a 12 mile distance. I was going to ride with Mary-Jo and since it would be her horse, Arthur's first public trail ride, we decided to do the 6 mile ride. Cierra came with me. She rode with Bonnie and Missy, who was riding my horse Marie. They did the 12 mile ride. Bonnie picked up Missy and met me over at Upper Pond stable where we picked up Cierra and Tinkerbell. Bonnie hauled Tinkerbell and Cierra rode in my truck with me. The ride was held at Snowfields in Pownal. We arrived around 10:30-10:45 am. Bonnie, Missy and Cierra's ride time was 11:20 am. I had put Marie's boots on at home so Missy just had to groom her and get saddled up. I hoped Luke would not get upset when Marie left without him. He was very good about it. Marie didn't make a fuss about leaving him behind either. I just let Luke graze as they rode off and he was distracted enough by the lush grass to not care. Mary-Jo and I had saddled up with the others, so, once they were out of sight, we put their bridles on and got ready to go out. We were going to be the last of the 6 mile riders. We headed out about 11:45 am. The first part of our ride took us though the large cross country jump field. Luke was eager to go but behaving well. And though Mary-Jo was quite apprehensive, she did fine and her horse Arthur was very good. When we entered the woods, Arthur was startled by a riding coming towards us but he just froze and stared for a minute. Not too far into the ride we came to a bridge that crossed a river swollen and rushing with rain water. It was a long, high, narrow bridge. It was built for horses so a sturdy safe bridge, but scary looking for any equine that has never seen something like that before. Luke only hesitated a moment and then carefully crossed. He was a little concerned but did fine. Mary-Jo got off Arthur and led him across and he did great. Mary-Jo wanted to cross it again so I had Luke lead the way back over the bridge. We then had to cross it a 3rd time to continue on our ride. By the 3rd time Luke was not in the least concerned about the bridge but was a little concerned about my sanity. 

The trail consisted of a very nice mix of fields, single track woods trail, dirt roads and just one very short section of tar road. The woods trail had some muddy spots but nothing bad at all. Especially considering the torrential rain fall the previous day. Out on the dirt road, we did a nice long section at a steady trot. Arthur seemed to really enjoy it and went nice and steady. Mary-Jo was very pleased with him. When we were nearly back to Snowfields, I realized we would be passing close to the bridge and asked Mary-Jo if she would mind going back over it again so I could take some pictures. She didn't mind so we rode the short distance back to the bridge. After taking some photos, Susie and David came by us. They were doing the 12 mile ride. Now this got Luke wound up. He wanted to follow Susie and her horses. He fussed and danced and fussed then fussed some more. But, I was able to hold him. Mary-Jo got Arthur to lead the way across the bridge leading him and I followed her over. I then talked her into mounting back and and riding him over it for the return trip back to our trail. She did and Arthur did just fine. We were both very proud of him. Once we got back up in the field, Luke had a bit of a melt down. He was still upset about not being able to follow Susie and he saw some horse in the distance and I think he thought one of them might be Marie. He got very prancy and did a bit of a sideways dance going up the hill through the field. Arthur at first got a little excited but then settled down and was fine. Luke did too eventually but it took him longer. But, once he was over it, he was over it. 

At the end of the trail, we ran into Joanie and Pam and chatted with them for a little bit. Then we rode down to our trailers. I was just getting Luke untacked when Bonnie, Missy and Cierra rode in. They said they had a good ride but said the first 6 miles of there ride, up to Bradbury Mountain, was kind of rough with a lot of mud and roots. Missy and I sponged Marie and Luke and I filled their hay bags. We got our lunches and sat behind Bonnie's trailer and had our lunch. Susie and David joined us. When we finished lunch, I cleaned the trailer and picked up the poop around my trailer. Susie left while I was doing this. I loaded up Luke and Marie. Bonnie and Missy left before I did as I was waiting for Mary-Jo. Arthur was being a little balky about loading into her trailer. It didn't take her long though to convince him to load up. I pulled out of my spot and pulled into the grass to drive into the arena to turn around and promptly sunk enough to get stuck. AGH! And once stuck, I could not get my 4 wheel drive to engage. We unloaded Luke and Marie to see if that helped but it didn't. So, I had to go tell the ride manager who found someone to bring a tractor down to the arena to pull me out. I called Bonnie to let her know we would be a while. We told her she could just turn Tinkerbell out into her paddock when they got to Upper Pond so they wouldn't have to wait for us. While we were waiting for the tractor to come, Cierra jumped on Marie bareback. Marie could have cared less as her head was buried in the grass. Once my truck and trailer were out, we loaded Luke and Marie back up and had an uneventful trip back to Upper Pond. Cierra even managed to get back in time to do her job of bringing the horses in for the night. It was a good ride and a lovely day.

Lovely Day for a Ride in Pittston

It was an absolutely lovely day today. Mary-Jo and I went to Pittston to ride. We met Bonnie, Kathie and her husband, Tom, there. It was the first time Tom has ridden in 30 years. Not much of a ride story to tell as we all just had a wonderful time and all the horses, and mule, were very good. I took Marie as I'm giving Luke some time off with his pulled groin muscle. It is strange to ride Marie after riding Luke. But it was nice too. 

Lesson with Kyle

There is going to be a fun show at Upper Pond Stables on Sept. 22nd. I contacted Kyle about getting a crash course in Western Pleasure and Showmanship. Brooke is also a good resource for this but since Kyle owns and trained Luke for these things, I figured I'd check with him first to see if he wanted to help me out. Kyle was happy to do so and we made plans to meet at Upper Pond today at 1:00 pm. I didn't arrive any too early so Kyle and Katie were already at Upper Pond when I arrived. I quickly groomed and tacked Luke up. We decided to use the indoor arena as the footing was a bit better there than in the outdoor arena. I warmed Luke up and he seemed fine. Kyle gave me a lot of good pointers on how to get Luke in the frame I needed him in and how to sit properly. One thing I couldn't do was get Luke to take his left lead. This seemed strange as I'd never had trouble getting him to take it before. I tried and tried and finally Kyle got on him and tried. He did get Luke to take his left lead once but he also had a hard time getting him to do it. We then moved on to working on Showmanship. Luke was a little lazy on the trotting a few times but overall did fine. I leaned a lot....I hope....

After Kyle left, I went down to the jumping ring and popped Luke over some of the jumps. I did it the other day with Cierra and found myself freezing up BAD at anything but the smallest jumps. Luke is the most patient of equines on earth!!! Today I had a long shanked western bit on him so didn't want to touch his mouth at all. He was fine with that and I was not freezing up. Luke was eager and very willing to go over all the jumps I pointed him at. Even the Liverpool. Mary-Jo was getting ready to ride while I was jumping and when she came out of the barn, we both went into the outdoor arena to ride. I worked again on trying to get Luke to take his left lead with no success. Brooke drove in and came down to watch and tried to help me with getting the left lead. Still no luck. He would start to take it, then at the last second, throw his weight to the outside and counter canter. No matter how small a circle I was doing, he would still counter canter. Brooke was amazed he could do this in such small circles. I even put on Brooke's spurs to see if I could get him to give his hindquarters more and he did but still insisted on counter cantering. I was going to have Brooke get on him to see if she had any better luck but I'd worked him pretty hard at this point and though he was being a good boy, I knew he'd had enough. I got off and walked him up to the barn and Mary-Jo, Brooke and I were talking as Mary-Jo untacked Arthur. Eventually, Brooke noticed that Luke was not putting weight on his left rear leg. DUH!! That was the leg he had the pulled groin muscle on!!! THAT was why he was not taking his left lead!!! I felt like such an idiot and felt so bad that I had drilled him so hard trying to get him to take that left lead!! I apologized to Luke a million times. Brooke got some liniment and we put that on his groin muscle. It was very tight and stiff. We massaged the muscle which Luke did not like at first as it was sore. Poor Luke. The next time I hear someone say that mule don't forgive people, I'm going to kick them! Mules are the most forgiving animals I've ever worked with!!! I'm such an idiot..............Luke is amazing...........