Before & After Donkey Body Clipping

Here are some photos of Navarre and Chester before and after some body clipping. They both had so much hair that they were too hot with the more than warm weather we are having right now. Navarre was espcially good and let me use the BIG BOY clippers on him! I had to run into the house as soon as I was done and take a shower!

Navarre Before Clipping!

Navarre After Clipping!

Chester Before Clipping!

Chester After Clipping, Shinny and pretty! (tail swishing not cut off!)

Grayson Highlands Ride 09

This trip was wonderful!

Mom and I had a great time with Bev and her visiting grandson on Tuesday. My mules got to stay in one of Bev's luxury pastures with lots of grass while we ran around West Jefferson, shopping and having dinner. I bought a wind chime that was made of tin cups, spoons and forks with a few beads for decoration. This was a big hit in the camp!

Then we moved to Grayson Highland camp ground on Wednesday. We arrived and got the camp set up and the mules in the stable just in time for the rain to hit! Good timing! So others in the camp came over and we visited under the awning!

With no other rain the rest of the weekend, we had some good days to ride. Thursday we rode out and promptly rode into a cloud! Most everyone was wearing jackets and it was damp till we rode down to a lower level. Friday's ride was nine hours. We rode to The Saddle and towards Elk Garden. We came out and rode through a nice section of a country area with some houses and a church. The started climbing the longest hill ever. I think it went on for 45 minutes. We climbed through some Christmas tree farms and up to a beautiful view!

Saturday's Ride was 10 hours! Boy were we tired but happy! We rode down to Bald Eagle Rock for lunch and on the way their we got a great look at a bear!! He came across the trail right in front of the leaders of the ride and went into the woods about 40 feet, then stood to watch us go by. Everyone in the group got to see him but no one got a photo! He was really black and woolly with a big brown nose. The whole time we wore jackets and sweat shirts and the trails where full of Blue Berry and Black Berry Bushed. You could just ride by and grab a few Blue Berry's as you went.

On Sunday Mom rode Sadie Mae and we saw a bunch of wild ponies. We went to the Scales (a camp ground) and then to the ice cream shop. Mom did great and said she was finally able to relax and have a good time. (5 hours) Sadie was an angel!

An older mule on the trip got cold after the ride on Thursday. She was shivering all over. So we walker her to get her warm and put a blanket on her. Then gave her some electrolytes and a warm grain mash! That fixed her up!

Seven some how got a tiny cut on his front leg just above the fetlock. I think he got it rolling on a rock or something, of course it promptly swelled up! I put DMSO on it Wednesday night but that did not help it. So I got some bute and mixed some furison and DMSO with a Wal-Mart shopping bag and a leg wrap over night and that finally broke it open and let the swelling come out. I was so worried that is was going to get infected. He was never lame and only got one day off.

Also my friend Karen had a very scary reaction to we think Ibuprofen! Brenda woke me up at 2AM needing Benydril (Which me the girl scout had lots of) then we sent her down the hill to the hospital. She got worse on the way down (hard time breathing, itching and then shaking) and so they called 911 and was directed to an EMT station where they gave her a shot and some pills. She was back my 6AM and feeling better. Scary when you are that far from everything!

I think I need to take a Vet Med and EMT course!!!

Mom and I got home about 9PM on Sunday night! It was so hot we discussed wanting to go back up on the mountain!! The forecast for Monday was 101 degrees with the heat index of 105!

Robbins Farmer's Day Fair

Went the the Robbins Farm's Day Fair this Saturday. It was HOT! I met up with a lady, Anne and her mule Sister who just moved from CA. This was the molly's first parade. Sister got all crazy over some donkeys that where in the parade in front of us and did not even care about what was in the parade. So funny!
The mule was prancing and dancing and braying! I told her that she may not like how her mule was acting but that the Judges and crowd would. Guess what! Sister won the trophy for BEST MULE in the Parade!! We where so excited!

Along with several other CMA Members, Kenny Tyndall was there with all four of his mules hooked up! They looked good and did great for being a new four up team!
http://lasthillmulefarm.blogspot.com/

After Lunch we waited for the Army to do a 4 man parachute jump before we could begin the mule show. They land in the same field that we have the show in!
Seven got 2nd out of three in halter. (Can't beat Mable she is too prefect!)
Then we rode in Western Pleasure. Seven rode very well with no warm up and won the class, but there was only one other mule in the class. I was still pleased with how Seven rode and had several people tell me they where impressed with how broke he was.
(Oh yea, there was a Lumber Jack Competition going on 30 feet from the ring!)
When no one signed up for Coon Jumping Class Robbie asked me to go in since he knew Seven would at least jump a little. (I have not worked on Coon Jumping only Direct and Drive over some barrels and a few downed trees)
We got 4 others to enter and guess what? Seven WON! We jumped about 3 feet in four seconds and the only other mule to jump that high did it in a longer time. We got a 24" tall trophy.
Who would have ever guessed a Belgian Mule would win the Coon Jump?

For those of you who don't know what Coon Jumping is:
It is a high jump competition where the mule is led into a 10x10 box and then must stop and stand. Then the timer is started to see who jumps the fence the quickest. You get to knock the bar down at each height one time and then your out if you miss again. Usually smaller lighter mules do well at this event and can jump 72" or higher from a stand still! It is Jaw Dropping to see them do it! This started after people where using mules to coon hunt with.

Teaching a mule to want to jump over a little wood bar, sometimes high enough for them to walk under and easy for them to knock down, is like trying to teach a cat to shake hands on command!