Happy Valentines Day!

Levi (St. Clair's Blu Hayden) at 8 months old!
Wishes everyone a Happy Valentines Day!

New Halters!

Got my halters in the mail last week from Cat's Tack & Horsey Services. They are Beautiful! Had to clip and clean my guys up just to show off the new halters! Thanks Cat for re-making the halter that Seven won at the High Cotton Obstacle Challenge; she was kind enough to remake it a bit bigger for him. I then added to the order so Sadie could have a matching one, too! I highly recommend these halters and leads for their quality and price value...

Cat's Tack & Horsey Services (910) 818-1350 www.catstack.com

A visit from my Burgaw Friends!

Reed and Ted, Aimee and Henry, Amy and Fiona, Caroline and Mike,
-Sadie Mae and Tollie, WAY IN BACK!

Aimee and Tollie dropped Henry the Mule and Mike the Horse off at my place, Friday afternoon. They then headed to Chapel Hill and picked up Caroline from college. We then met at my office and headed over to the Draft Horse Pull at the Hunt Horse Complex. It was a great show with a coon jump, wagons and farm equipment, and a mounted shooting demonstration, too!
They had about 20 teams for the Draft Horse Pull. It was neat to look at all the different teams from NC, PA, KY, and TN! I also ran into a lot of mule friends! We did not stay the whole time, but the winning team pulled 11,500 pounds. When we left, some of the teams were pulling 9,500 pounds like it was nothing!

The next morning, we headed over to the training Race Track. Seven was going to work with Gray Boy, and we added a few extra people on the track. Gray did really well and cantered longer and farther than he has before. Poor Seven was exhausted, but we were so pleased with Gray Boy's progress.

Here is a link to the video that Aimee took for me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h6-gLWq_7E&context=C3034547ADOEgsToPDskLyd-Sg0ZY0Ia6tufa1bY7E

When we got home, Reed with her mule Ted and her friend Amy with her horse Fiona were already there. We all tacked up and rode around the obstacles and the pasture.

Tollie and Reed strike a pose with Reed's super cool water box!

Reed and Ted the BIG Mule!

Amy and Princess Fiona

A little later, we headed out for a short trail ride. After a short rest, Seven was raring to go on the trail ride! It was a great group that rode well together, but it started raining after only 45 minutes or so. We headed back and quickly untacked and put everyone in their paddocks.
Aimee had made a beef stew and Reed brought a Jalapeno dip. We dug into that while the stew heated up! It was fun to watch the videos on the camera from that morning. We visited and had a great time till about 5pm. After Reed and Amy headed home, we decided that a nap was in order. I slept till 7pm and could have slept all night but for the mules needing to be fed. The four of us then went out for pizza. Sunday was a total loss for riding. It was still wet from the rain the night before and as the morning went on, the temperature dropped down to 40 degrees. We decided that we were not going to go out and ride in that, so we just rested, and watched Swamp People on TV!

Everyone got packed and loaded and headed out around 2pm. I rested until my friend Bev Cash called and let me know she was on her way! She and her four-year old son Henry arrived around 5pm. He played with Levi and then we let Levi chase the sheep around the pasture. Henry ran all over the pasture, too! We then feed the mules and had some hot chocolate before they headed home!

A Race Horse, Trail Ride Weekend!

Last weekend was a little more exciting than I was originally planning!!!

I went down to The Moss Foundation with race horse trainer Lawson Walston and Maddison. Seven and I chased around two race horses on their workout. We were supposed to be the calming influence and the calm leader for them. Both horses did really well! We sped around The Moss for about an hour and 45 minutes. Seven was exhausted and we all got a good workout......
While on the ride, we came across some people driving around cleaning out the bird boxes on The Moss. The driver jumped out and wanted to pet Seven and give him some cookies. She and her friends were very excited to see a mule.
Sunday, I took Sadie Mae over to Pilot to ride with The Pilot Guys. Last weekend, my friend Reed and I had gone over to ride with them but no one showed up. It was 48 degrees and a little misty, but it was not that bad. Reed and I took the mule home and rode for three hours! Reed renamed the group, The Powder Puff Pilot Boys, after last weekend.

I took great joy in telling my friend Jerry the new name of the group! He found it very entertaining!

We had a good ride with about 15 people. To get to part of the trails, we have to ride over an overpass highway 64. It was very scary the first time I did it, but now it is old hat to my mules.
Sadie earned some more cookies by not even reacting when she got her back leg tangled in a huge vine. She just stopped, tried to go again, but then just stopped again. She stood still while I dismounted and picked up her back foot to get the vine off! Most horses would have flipped out! I then went to remount. It was a very flat area with no stumps, so I got close to a tree to use the roots! As I was pulling up, my right foot brushed the tree, so I started pushing on it to get up!

Later in the ride we came to a big open field. I was riding a few feet away from Will and his Appy Mule. Before I knew it, the mule had stopped and swung its hips around and double-barrel kicked at us twice! Sadie just kind of stood there as if to say "hey, what did you do that for?" I got hit in the ankle by the mule's hock on the first kick and then he got me on the outside of my calf about 3 inches below the knee. Ouch! That hurt! Jerry said I turned white for a few minutes there, I was just praying it was not broken. Soon the pain subsided some and we rode on. Will came over and apologized, and said that mule had never kicked before.

My leg was very sore and swollen for about a week, and I never even got a big ugly bruise to show off... bummer....