Once again, Naughty Louie!!!

Well, he really wasn't that bad today. But,  how is it that an animal can make you just want to kill one them minute to making your heart burst with love for them all in the space of just an hour or so. This is part of the joy of owning a mule. A young male mule in particular. And I am really getting tired of providing the barn owner, Bart,  with so much entertainment. It's getting embarrassing. Both of the mule boys really need to get over their infatuation with Marie. 


I had some time to myself for once this morning so I decided I'd work with Louie. After feeding, I put Marie out and then led the boys out to their pasture together. Prize is being SOOO good about not playing with Louie when I'm handling them now. I just have to speak to him if he's thinking about it and he stops right away. He did do the feet locking thing as we were passing Marie's paddock but that was a minor glitch. And I turned Louie out because, though I was planning to work him,  I wanted to go to the feed store before riding and didn't want to leave him in his stall. That would have been a sure why to put him in a stressed out frame of mind.  

When I got back  from the feed store, I went and got Louie. That was a bit of a chore as Prize did NOT want to be left behind. But, it was not too bad either. I did scurry up to the barn pretty quick so I could get the fence turned back on. Louie scurried right on up with me with no resistance at all. I led him into the barn and was almost up to the cross ties by Marie's stall when Marie whinnied and that was the end of all civilized behavior. Here's what I learned today. If your mule looks calm and sweet, don't believe it, put the chain on him. If you even think you might need to pee........do it before handling a young male mule......... Louie spun around and out of the barn he went. I didn't let go of the lead rope and it was a definite case of "dope on a rope". By the time we reached the barn door, I was pretty sure that if I did not let go of Louie I was definitely going to pee my pants. I decided I'd rather pee my pants then let him if Louie. Just so you know, I didn't let go of Louie's lead rope nor, by some miracle, did I pee my pants. Once out to Marie, he stopped, I then put the chain on and we went back into the barn. Of course Bart and Karen had heard the commotion so had hurried over for front row seats.......ok, they really came over to make sure everything was ok and lend a hand if needed. They have both been so good about everything and seem to also have a good understanding and appreciation for mules. 

In hind sight, I really think what I should have done, especially since I had the time, is to have stayed right out there with Marie but worked Louie good and hard right there in front of her pasture. Lunging, bending, backing etc. THEN bring him back in the barn and if he made any attempt again to try to go out, let him go out but work him hard again when he got to Marie. And repeat until he decided that being with Marie is maybe not such a great idea. 

But, I didn't do that as it didn't occur to me at that moment. I just brought him back into the barn and made him stand, Once he was standing quietly I put him on the cross ties. I did close the back door in case he got the notion to break off the cross ties. He's never done that before, but then, he's never dragged me out of a barn before either. But, once he was on the cross ties, his brain seemed to engage once again and he was really very quiet. Sierra, the girl that is riding Marie, and her mom were there cleaning stalls so they opened the back door again empty wheelbarrows, and Marie was out there calling her head off but Louie was fine. I lunged him before riding and he was very quiet so I did ride him and he was just as good as gold. Could not have asked for a better boy. Sigh....... He was a perfect gentleman while I untacked him and stood quietly on the cross ties while I put my tack away. I then led him in and out of the barn a couple of times but once again, no fuss at all. 

Putting him back into the pasture was a little tricky as Prize was so excited his buddy was back.  But it wasn't that difficult either and was managed without incident. 

Naughty Louie!!

Bad Louie! I really hate when they get so attached to another equine that they just lose their brains over it. And it's not an easy thing to cure. Well, I don't think you ever cure it as it's in their nature to be with their herd. Marie used to be very bad about this also. But, with time she has learned to deal with it and not lose her head. So, Maybe by the time Louie is 20 years old, he too will be able to deal with this a bit better......... Never a dull moment with these mule BOYS! 

We arrived around 4 pm at dusk.  I could see Marie was anxious to come in but we chose the boys first.  All was well until I got Louie most of the way into his stall and then Marie started calling out.  Woops, that was the deal breaker for Louie and he barreled out of the stall and just booked it.  I started loosing my grip on the line and Eric grabbed him but he was in freight train mode and wouldn't be stopped.  He ran around the back and cruised between Marie and the manure pile.  Eric ran to get Marie to lure him in and Karen and Bart helped corner him.  My fault for letting him go as I had forgotten your advice to use the chain over his nose so once he was caught the chain went on.  Led him in behind Marie and once her stall door was closed she started called him again.  This time he booked it into the indoor but I was able to hang on and Bart helped get him back to our aisle.  At this point he led in to his stall easily since Marie was quiet.  Phew.  So sorry!  I should have had the chain on at the beginning. Should I have brought Marie in first?  It was her trotting and calling that caused him to get back to her asap.

Anyway, all are fine and were happy to get out of the drizzle. Sorry this report was about mule naughtyness.

Let the Walls Rise...

Since the boys, Prize and Louie, have been so good about being led in together at night, I got the bright idea to lead them out together this morning. And, this might have worked out just fine if the mule handler wasn't such a clutz..... I put Prize's halter on and them got Louie. I led him out of his stall and asked him to whoa and stand in the aisle while I snapped the lead rope on Prize. Well, that was fine and I gave Prize's stall door a shove to open it up, turned and started out of the barn. Well, Prize's door had not slid open all the way and he banged into it coming out. No harm done to either Prize or the door but still I felt bad. Anyway, as soon as I stepped out of the barn, I dropped Louie's lead line. Their pasture is left of the barn and of course Louie walks off to the right. Thankfully he did not really seem to realize he was no longer attached to me but he walked off quite fast so there I was trailing behind him trying not to rush toward him or in any way indicate to him that we were not longer connected to each other. Prize was trailing along with me quietly. Louie hesitated to stare at something and I did at that point manage to get a hold of his lead one. Phew. So, I turn the boys around and head for their pasture. Louie is on my left side and Prize on the right. As we are walking by Marie's pasture, which is on the right side of us, Louie decides that maybe he would rather hang out with her. So, he ducks behind me and Prize and heads Right towards Marie. This spins me and Prize around who to this point has been very quite and well behaved. But he now decides this might all be a big game and time to play. So, he rears up HIGH and jumps on Louie. All this time Mary Joe, another boarder at the barn, has been watching and can't decided if she should jump in to save me or not. I got after Prize to get off Louie and let him know it was NOT play time and he settled right down. I start to lead them off again but Louie had planted his feet and insists that he really would rather stay with Marie. So, I had to get after him to get his feet moving again. The three of us executed a few more circles to get Louie moving but I managed to keep from getting tangled and we then proceeded to head down to the boy's pasture. All went from from this point. Sooooo, I can't blame the boy for being bad since if I had not been bumbling around there most likely would not have been any problems. Oh well, at least I was able to provide some morning entertainment for Mary Jo.

There is a mother and daughter that work at the barn for Nikki several days a week in trade for riding and lessons. The daughter, Sierra, is 12 years old (I think) and I asked her today if she would be interested in riding Marie. She was very happy to take me up on that offer. She rides English so I got out Marie's VERY dirty English saddle. I haven't used it in ages. Then I had to hunt around for her English bride. Then when I went to put the bridle on, I realized the bit was in it backwards. Hummmmmmm. I fixed that and we got Marie all tacked up. Then, we went into the indoor arena just so I could see how Sierra and Marie did together and to show her what Marie knows. The two of them did just fine. So, I told her to go ahead and ride Marie when ever she wanted to.

We made good progress on the barn today. Leigh came over to help. We got one of the 2nd floor wall built and stood up.

Finally got to Ride

I had a very nice day to day. This morning I was in no hurry at the barn so I took my time doing chores at the barn. Once I was done I went out and got Marie. I put a bridle on her, jumped on bareback and bopped around the barn for a bit. She was so happy to be getting the attention. I also ride a little bit in the arena. The boys were a bit worried about Marie not being right in her pasture where they could see her at all times but didn't get too anxious.

This afternoon Fred and I finished putting the decking on the 2nd floor of the barn. Yippee! Tomorrow we can start building the 2nd floor walls.

When I went back to the barn this evening to feed, I once again brought Louie and Prize in together. Prize like to bug Louie when I'm trying to put his halter on but he's now getting the idea that I am not going to let him bother Louie when I'm out there with them. I even put the gate strands back up tonight while holding them both and they were very good. I gave Louie a good grooming while he was eating. Then I decided to work and possibly ride him. Louie was very quiet on the cross ties. I saddled him up and took him into the arena. This was his first time in this arena. He was curious but didn't seem at all worried. I walked him around for a bit to look around. Just as I was getting ready to lunge him, another woman came into the arena with her horse. That horse TOTALLY freaked out when he saw Louie. The horse was a teen aged OTT Thoroughbred. The woman kept him in the arena for a while but he just did not calm down. He danced around and blew and snorted with bugged out eyes. I brought Louie up to him so he could sniff but that did not help at all. The woman eventually gave up and left the arena. The horse was spooking in the barn aisle after leaving the arena. Louie was overall very quiet tonight. I lunged him for a short time and he was very responsive. He was somewhat distracted but still listening to me also. So, I decided to go ahead and ride him. I didn't ride him for long at all but it was good to get on him. I was really very pleased with him tonight. I couldn't find my good lunge line so had to use my cheap thin one with the wimpy snap on the end. While Louie was quite distracted at first, he never tried to pull away from me or drag me around. He was showing a level of maturity that was nice to see.

Barns, Mules and Granddaughters

The "boys" (Prize and Louie) were funny last night when I went to bring them in for the night. Tracy and I have been putting the two boys together in a pasture and Marie in a separate pasture alone. There are horses beside Marie, and she can watch the boys from where she is. She seems to be content with this situation. Without a woman to fight over, the boys are getting along well and seem to enjoy each other's company and having a buddy to play with. I brought Marie in first as usual last night. Then went down for the boys. They were both at the gate very eager to come in neither one liking to be left behind. Of the boys, I've been bringing Prize in first since I already know from experience he can and might come through the fence if left behind. Louie seems to have a deep respect for electric fencing and I trust him more to stay on the right side of the fence. And so far he has. He run, and paws and bellows but he has not yet challenged the fence.

Anyway, when I went down to get them, they were both right there at the gate and when went to put Prize's halter on him, he eagerly shoved his head right in.........and Louie sidled right up and tried to shove his head into Prize's halter at the same time! It was pretty funny. And it was good to see that the boys were showing no irritation with each other at all. Prize seemed perfectly willing to share his halter. Silly boys. The strange thing about all their eagerness to be caught at night, once up in the barn, neither one wants to go in their stall. What's with that......

My granddaughter Madison spent this weekend with us. So, on Saturday, Fred gave me a free pass away from barn building so Madison and I could have a girls day. I took her shopping in the morning. Where did we shop you ask? Well at the tack shop of course! We went up to Adams Horse and Pet Supply to buy her a riding helmet. Madison has not ridden much up to this point. But, she is 7 years old now and showing some interest in riding. The few times she has gotten on a horse or mule here, she's just worn her bike helmet. But, I told Fred if she is going to ride more, she needs a proper equestrian helmet. And would have to have one to ride at Upper Pond stable. When we got to Adam's Supply, I was very pleased to find an old friend, Halla,  I haven't seem in a long time working there. It was so nice to see her and we got the very best of service in finding just the right helmet for Madison. I also bought some "buddy" stirrups. This is a pair of stirrups made for children that hang off the saddle horn of a western saddle when their legs are too short to reach the regular stirrups.

Later that afternoon, I took Madison over to Upper Pond Stable and she had her first riding lesson on Marie. Marie is SUCH a wonderful girl and just perfect for teaching Madison. And what is kind of neat is Madison's mother, Holly, learned to ride on Marie. Though Marie was young then and not such a good girl as she is now. Madison did wonderful. She listened to everything I told her. I did keep her on a lunge line but she was steering and controlling Marie pretty much on her own. Madison noticed the dressage letters on the arena wall and I would call a letter and have her ride to it. Madison learned to stop and back Marie. We even did a little trotting. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait until our next lesson!!

Sunday was back to barn building. Not so much fun for Madison (or me) but she was a very good girl all day hanging out with us as we worked. She entertained herself well with the help of Zephyr, Shiloh and the guinea hens. Fred and I got all of the floor joists for the 2nd floor and up ready to be nailed. Today we got about half of them nailed in place. The weather, after the stupid snow storm, has been great. Today was very warm and most of the snow is melted now.

Floor joists in place!!!! Yippee!

Snowy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I so much enjoy the family time. We have been having such good weather for November so I should not complain that we had a whopper of a snow storm yesterday. I do believe we got 8 inches or so. So, I spend this morning shoveling out the barn so we could continue with the construction work tomorrow. Fred put the snow blower on the lawn tractor and tried to clean up the driveways with that. The snow blower was not being cooperative at all and Fred didn't get much snow removed for so much work put in. Thankfully my brother let us borrow his plow truck and Fred was able to plow later in the afternoon. 

I had the evening shift at the barn today. Louie was actually very quiet tonight. He led in very nicely and he went into his stall with no fuss and stood pretty well for me to get the halter off without any attempts to exit the stall. Then I went to get Prize........ when I got out to his turnout I see his halter is not hanging on the hook. So I assume it must be in the barn and I go back in to get it. No halter in the barn...... hummmmm. So I then guess that it fell off the hook and I just didn't see it in the snow. Back out I go but I still don't see his halter. At least not anywhere near the post. So, I start looking further afield. Well, I finally found it out in his turnout well tramped into the snow. I pull it out of the snow, shake it off and it falls apart...... ACK!  I look it over and see that it's not actually broken but it looks like he chewed on the end of the nose piece strap. So, it is not swollen with water and ragged from being chewed so it was a bit of a challenge feeding the end through the buckle. I eventually managed and got his halter on. He was a good boy leading in but when we got to his stall, he locked all 4 feet and said, "no thanks, I'd rather not go in tonight".  Apparently he's been talking with Louie. We had a small discussion about this and he finally agreed to go into the stall. And once in he was just fine. 

I took the opportunity to ride Marie tonight. I wanted to make sure I hadn't forgotten how to ride. She was quite full of it! She was not behaving badly she was just wanting to zoom around the arena at about 100 mph. And Marie of course Marie leaving her stall ended Louie being quiet as he had a minor panic attack about it. Poor Louie. I did go into his stall after I was done with Marie and groom him. He totally sucked up the attention and was giving a big dose of "poor me". 

Yep, boys will be boys......

Yesterday, my friend Barbara asked if she could borrow Marie to go riding with Susie. Of course that was fine and they planned to pick her up at 1:00 pm. So, I decided to put the boys out together in the big turnout and Marie alone in Prize's turnout. I knew Marie wouldn't care one way or another as long as there was hay involved. And I thought the boys might get along without their woman to fight over. Sure enough this was so. I was around the barn for a while this morning and the boys spent quite a bit of time standing side by side at the fence line gazing longingly at Marie. Silly boys! And the interactions they were having with each other were low key and playful. Marie's shoes have been pulled for the winter so I dug out her Easyboots and put them on so Barbara wouldn't have to fuss with them. When I left, all was quite. I emailed Tracy to let her know what I had done and told her I was not sure what would be the best plan for bringing them in. Marie is not an issue herself as you can bring her in first, last or middle and she would be fine. Though bringing her in first would get the boys riled up. Anyway, I left it up to Tracy to decided how to handle this as she is an experienced handler and would figure it out. Below is the email I got from Tracy later that night.......All I can say is where is the video camera when you need it! BOYS!!!!

Well, I guess my plan of attack as far as bringing in our two goober heads needs to be refined, LOL. I had quite the time. I know that Prize can be a gate-bully and always, always always wants to be first at anything. I was worried Louie would panic at being left alone in the field and since it was dark I didn't want him getting too riled-up so...... I led them both in at the same time. Repeat after me, "I will not lead in two young john mules at the same time". Repeat this sentence 500 times until it is fully ingrained in the gray matter.

We lead into the barn. Then we quickly exited the barn. Back in. Now out. In. Out. In. Out.

I didn't know my arms could possibly stretch that far, ha ha! You would not believe how FAST all of this was happening.

Finally, help arrives in the form of a 13 year old girl who could not possibly weigh more than 80 pounds soaking wet. However, she is bold and brave and quickly zooms in on Louie whom she has a sweet spot for. "I'll take Louie for you!" she yells. I was dubious but in no position to negotiate as I had dropped Prize' lead shank earlier ( when I almost had him 3/4 of the way into his stall) and was gripping him by the halter only. I didn't think she could handle him without a shank. Happily though, she leads Louie back into the barn. I tell her to just hang on, I'll get him into the stall (while I was quickly pushing Prize into his stall). But she is quite confident and says oh no, she'll put him in. I step out of Prize' stall very fast now, knowing that Louie just might......... yup, drag her out and down the hall. Almost out of the barn. So I made a dive for him, got him turned around and back into his stall, closing the door very, very quickly. He was simply having a panic attack about Marie. I ran out and got her and let her stop and nuzzle him at his stall for a bit. This helped his attitude immensely. After graining them all, I went in and had special Louie-time so he wouldn't think ill of me. Brought him some dehydrated apple slices which were well received. This was the first time since being over at the barn that Louie has relaxed for me and seemed to enjoy having his ears rubbed. So, I think we are on friendly terms!

So, tomorrow night I will first lead in Prize and put him into his stall. Then I will get Louie and walk over to Marie's paddock and get her so they can walk in together (I've lead them in together a few times now with little problem). I will let you know how this goes, it seems like a much better plan than tonights!

I checked Louie over for bite marks. I found the broken skin/dried blood from the other day when he was in with the two of them. Happily, there was no blood anywhere else. So they appear to be getting along and hopefully will start playing and burning off excess energy