Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is here. But, it's not a long weekend for me. I had to work Saturday and was just too tired Sunday to do much of anything. But by today, I was ready to ride. I was invited to ride with Loretta and two of her friends that were staying at Double M Camp. It was quite hot and humid today so we were riding out fairly early. We decided to meet at 8:30 am. So, I got to the barn early to feed and tack Lily up. I was going to ride to Double M by way of Thacker Hollow Rd. I messaged Loretta as I was leaving and got a reply just as I got to the end of Cedar Bluff Lane. They were riding my way so we decided to meet at T-lick. Going up the big hill on Black Ridge, 3 or 4 deer crossed the road and that kind of boogered Lily. She didn't do anything crazy but didn't want to walk by where the deer crossed the road. It didn't take long to get her moving though. When I got to T-lick, there were a group of riders there that I passed. I waited for a few minutes then decided to ride down the trail towards Double M. I passed a few more riders going down to the creek. I waited a few minutes there and continued on towards the camp and soon met up with Loretta and here friends.We discussed where we wanted to ride and decided to strike out for Garden of the Gods. It would be a long ride but we had time to do it. We decided the quickest way to get there would be to go straight down Black Ridge Rd. to the Indian Paint wall by Karber's Ridge and ride into Initial Tree heading for High Knob and the R2R trail. It was a hot day and fairly humid so as we were riding, we decided that Garden of the Gods would not be a great idea for today. Less shady trails and very little water along the way. So, we decided to ride out to Rice Hollow instead.

 We had fun riding in the rocks at Cowboy's Hideout. And Rice Hollow is always beautiful. We circled back and rode to High Knob Campground. We stopped there and were happy to catch JoJo in the office so were able to buy ice creams. Actually, frozen fruit bars that were quite delicious. We rode through camp and rode out the back trail heading for the R2R trail. Through this section, it was noticed that Loretta's horse had a lump on his front leg on the inside just below the knee. And, he was slightly lame. Not bad but just a little off. Loretta did not want to ride him all the way back to camp like that so she called a friend of ours that lives along the R2R trail where it crosses Karber's ridge Rd. Our friend could trailer the three of them back to Double M. Campground. When we got out to Black Ridge Rd. (Sparks Hill Rd. on that end of it) I headed the 3 miles back alone. Lily made no fuss at all about leaving the other horses and mule. She was good all the way home. We did 25 miles today.

Note: Loretta took her horse to the vet the next day and he had a hairline fracture. The prognosis is good for a full recovery.

Horses Can Limbo

 I unexpectedly got the day off today. So, I took advantage of this to do a bit of riding of course. I put a post out on facebook to see if anyone was riding out of Double M Campground or would like to come ride from my place. Then fell asleep in my recliner. So, I didn't see any replies until I woke up at 3:00 AM. Steve Kalahar had replied that he had been planning to ride out of High Knob but Double M would be fine also. I was up fairly early so saw the post in plenty of time. Steve's daughter was going to ride also and and had a work meeting in the morning so the plan was to meet at Double M at noon time.

I headed over to the barn around 10:00 AM. I knew Lily would be out in the big pasture and I didn't know how long it would take to catch her. She is not a hard to catch mule but you never know. Lily and Marie were way down by the road and I had to walk most of the way down. But, Lily did come part of the way to me even though I was holding her halter in plain sight. Good girl! Though she did have some second thoughts as we walked up close to the barn and planted her feet once. She didn't make a fuss of it, she just had to make her feelings known. I groomed her and made sure to give her lots of butt scratches for standing quietly. She didn't even fuss when I put SWAT on her udders. She normally isn't fond of being touched there but the flies have been biting her there and she knew what I was doing and that it would help. She was very good about being saddled and stood nicely for me to mount. Ruth had come out to the barn to gather up the dogs and put them in the house so they wouldn't follow me. I rode the path to Cedar Bluff Ln. and down to Thacker Hollow Rd. and headed to Double M by the road as that's the quickest way to get there. The man that owns the big field at the end of my road was just coming through the field gate and I talked to him for a moment. He lives in KY but comes over and checks on things and puts water for riders in Black's Cabin.

Lily was good about going down the road but as usual was a bit snorty about it. We had two cars pass us and she didn't pay attention to them. I had something in my shoe, so I hopped off to get it out a little before the house with the Alpaca. While I was on the ground, a large truck came down the road coming towards us. It was a semi sized truck but with a rack type of body on it. It was empty so other than being big and a diesel, it was not making any really strange noises. Well....... Miss Lily had a melt down as it passed us. She spun around and bolted towards home. No, how stupid is that! That was the same direction the scary mule eating monster was going. Now why would go run in the same direction as the thing you are so scared of. Dork! Thankfully, when she came to the end of the reins, she spun back my way, then tried to bolt again but came my way again at the end of the reins, while I stumbled around in the ditch holding the reins for dear life. The LAST thing I want her to learn is that she can get away from me. At that point, she decided to scramble up the bank on the other side of the ditch. My feet couldn't keep up with that move and I did a face plant but still held the reins and she again stopped when she came to the end of them. She came back down to the road and finally stood still. I walked her the rest of the way to Double M. I got there at 11:45 AM. I tied Lily up to a tree in the shade by the picnic table. She was restless and wouldn't stand still. She wasn't horrible but wiggled around and pawed a bit. I got a message from Steve that he was going to be a bit late. So, I untied Lily and walked her around to graze. She was MUCH happier about that. While I was grazing her, who do I see coming across the field but Sandy and Jake, Ruth's dogs. Sandy came over to say hello and then spend some time trying to catch a mole. Jake got tired of waiting for her and headed east. Eventually, Sandy followed him. I sent a message to Ruth and she came down looking for them.

 Steve arrived around 1:00 PM. His daughter and her friend were with him, Brooke and Tabatha. Lily was the only mule in the group today. I thought I had my map with me but didn't. No one really cared where we went so we just headed out and wandered around with no particular plan at all. We got onto 184, crossed Black Ridge Rd. and at a corner on 184, took a trail I have seen but never taken. It turned out to be a short cut to 185 going south. We stayed on 185 for a while then took 180 over to 146 to one of the Tee Pees. We headed north on 146 and rode by Lost Lake and through Dead Horse Canyon. We looped around along the top of Dead Horse Canyon and Back onto 146 to the Tee Pee again. From there we headed south on 146 towards High Knob. We went down the the R2R trail. The girls picked up a canter on the R2R trail. I trotted for a bit then asked Lily to pick up a canter to follow them. She had to throw in a couple crow hops. Naughty mule! We picked up 185 north and rode back to 184 not taking the most direct route back towards Double M at all. That was the plan...... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.....  185 has multiple blow downs along the trail that are kind of a scramble to get around. Steve and I had gone around one that required a short but steep scramble up a bank go get around it. Brooke's horse was not too keen about trying to scramble up the bank, he thought he just might be able to get under the tree. Brooke kept trying to convince him to go up the bank. Tabatha went around her and went up the bank with her horse hoping Brooke's horse would follow. But he wouldn't as he was just sure he could get under the tree and he made a dive for it. He squatted down and started to scramble under and as we could all see was going to happen, the saddle horn caught on the tree. The horse panicked for a moment and made all efforts to get through. All I can say is whatever brand of saddle that is, that horn is FIRMLY attached. None of us could believe the horse did not break off. When the horse stopped struggling for a moment and was in a sitting position, the girls were able to push him over just enough to get the horn clear and the horse did make it though. Horse and saddle were fine. Lily had to do an impressive but naughty move when crossing a ditch. She decided to hop over it. The first naughty move. Then, in mid leap, she decided to throw in a double barrel kick at Brooke's horse! The move was very reminiscent of a capriole. Impressive... very naughty. It's very unusual for her to kick at another horse or mule.  We varied our pace throughout the ride. Many places are too rough to go past a walk. We did a fair bit of trotting on the less rocky trails and a bit of a canter on the R2R trail. When we got up to Black Ridge Rd, we parted ways with me heading for home and the others riding on to Double M. Lily walked home quietly. It was a great ride

Graveyards and Buzzards

 I didn't have a lot of time today but it was such a beautiful day that I just had to get out for a ride, even if only a short one. So, since it was an unplanned event, Lily and I were heading out solo. When I got to the barn, Lily was out in the big pasture. Good girl that she is, she came to me when I called her. I saddled up and she was overall pretty quite about it. I mounted up and headed over to towards my house. This is the first time I've mounted up at the barn and ridden off alone. I've always led her away from the barn for a distance before mounting. Lily did not even hesitate for a second.

She did however, booger a bit at the decorative horse head in the horse shoe figure at the end of Sally's fence. But, she did go by it without too much fuss. We rode down Cedar Bluff Lane and went right on Thacker Hollow and then right again up Black Ridge Rd. At the top of the big hill, Josh Cross has some shadow figures on his lawn near the road. Well, that was a big mule booger too but after a bit of snorting, Lily did go by. Just as we got by that a motorcycle came roaring up the hill. Lily tensed up a bit at that but made no fuss. At the trail head, there were several groups of riders. Lily didn't pay any attention to the groups and cruised on by then without so much as a glance. I was very pleased about that. We took the Black's cabin trail to the cut off for Thacker Hollow Cemetery. Lily has always been snorty about the stone bench there. Today I asked her to approach it. It didn't take long to get her to go up and investigate it.

We went down the hill to the creek and headed south on 185. There are multiple trees down on 185 that are obnoxious to get around. When we got to 184, we took that back towards home. We were on a switchback watching some riders below us. They were staring up at the sky as there were multiple turkey buzzards flying low near us. Just as we got by a little cave in some rocks, a turkey vulture exploded out of the little cave right behind us VERY close. It startled me and spooked Lily. She bolted forward down the hill. Thank goodness she stopped just as soon as I picked up on the reins.

All was well until we got on the trail from Black's Cabin to home. Just as we were approaching the last corner of the trail around the big pasture, we could hear what sounded like loud dirt bikes down in the hollow to our left. Lily was definitely a bit concerned about this but kept going. The, she stopped dead got really worried. It took me a minute to figure out what the trouble was but realized that she has spotted a fire on the edge of the woods. It was Delbert burning leaves. Lily didn't like the looks of that at all. But, we still got back to the barn all in one piece. It was a good ride.

Copper

Yet more of my Maine friends have arrived to visit me! What a blessed week! Pam, Cierra and Brooke arrived Friday night. I arranged with Anthony to borrow 3 mules for Cierra, Brooke and me to ride today. There is something wrong with my truck so I was not able to trailer her back to camp to ride today. I decided to ride Reverend Ike, the mule Donna consigned with Anthony to sell for her.
Brooke was to ride Iris and Cierra was going to ride Harvey but when we arrived at camp, Ross was getting shoes on his two horses. Cierra spotted Copper and it was love at first sight. We sweet talked Ross into letting Cierra ride Copper. Ross was going to ride his gelding. Neither horse had been ridden in quite some time.

Brooke and I got Iris and Ike groomed and saddled up. Just before we headed out, Anthony asked if Brooke would ride Evie instead as he had someone that wanted to ride with us that was interested in trying Iris out to buy. Brooke didn't mind at all so we got Evie and got her saddled up. Ross's gelding acted up a  bit heading out of camp. And Cierra on Copper put on a bit of a rodeo in the camp driveway. But, Cierra handled things quickly and quickly had Copper moving down the trail quietly.

Brooke on Evie going into Rice Hollow

Cierra on Copper at Rice Hollow

Brooke on Evie

We rode out through Rice Hollow and then over to Knight's of the Golden Circle. At Knight's of the Golden Circle, I was talking to David and he had kind of decided Iris was not quite what he was looking for in a mule. He said she was real nice but a bit too quite for his taste. I was having a great time riding Ike. He was forward and smooth to ride but behaving wonderfully. Knowing he was for sale too, I suggested to David we switch mules. He was happy to do that. He was right about Iris, a very nice mule but very laid back and quiet. But, I enjoyed riding her also. David would have liked to try out Evie also but Brooke was not giving up her ride! We rode to Buzzard's Roost, the Teepee, and Whiskey Cave. With the rain we'd had overnight, there were a couple small waterfalls at Whiskey Cave that were so pretty. We had a great ride and a great day.

Brooke on Evie at Knight's of the Golden Circle

Brooke, on Evie, Ross and Cierra on Copper at Buzzard's Roost

Cindy on Reverend Ike at the Teepee

Cindy on Iris at Whiskey Cave

Lunch at Double M Campground

Another absolutely day. Amy and I went out with a larger group today being led by Anthony. We were riding over to Double M. Campground for lunch. Sam Shelter was riding with the group today. He is an Amish trainer that is making quite a name for himself. Just recently a mule he trained for the Carmack's sold for $40,000. Today Sam was riding one of Anthony's mules. Right out of camp is the first rock to be found to play on. Katie led the way onto the rock with her personal mule, Moonshine.

 At Initial Tree, an eve more impressive rock was found to play on. I was not even tempted to try this one though it was fun to watch how easy the mule make rock climbing look.

We had a nice lunch at Double M. Campground. There was an Amish couple riding with us today. I've never seen an Amish woman riding before. From Double M we rode by Pounds Hollow sluice way and rode over the dam and along the lake. That is a rough but fun ride with a hard pull up a steep hill to a tie line area above the lake. We stopped there to let all the mules catch their breaths. And it gave us all time to chat and enjoy each others company. From there Amy and I got out ahead of the group so stopped on the ledges at Black Ridge Rd. From there we rode the Indian Paint Wall back to Initial Tree. Along the Indian Paint Wall trail there is a small cave. Anthony took his mule in there and he and Sam did a demo on how to lay a mule down and gave some good pointers for training a mule to do that. We stopped for a break at Initial Tree. Amy climbed up the bluff wall to get a good picture of the group.