So... Halters in pasture?? Haven't we learned our lesson??

Don't leave halters on when your mule/horse/donkey is out in pasture or turned out anywhere without supervision... THEY HANG THEMSELVES!! Beware!!

Just a thought!

So, they say the cage has to be strong enough to hold the lion, right?

Thought I would comment again on these appaloosas. We have grass everywhere which is amazing for Arizona. The monsoon has been kind to us this year and the rain has brought grass and mesquite beans. Of course, we like our mules to enjoy a little freedom and have multiple pastures for them. Most of our mature animals go out in a 50 or 340 acre pasture. They spend the summer out there. Our new or younger animals stay home. I thought it would be nice to let them out individually to enjoy the goodies around. So... I let Pecos and Yoyo out. Well, after a few hours they disappeared! The entire property is fenced and there is no way out?? After some investigating, we found that they had jumped the fence into the 50 acre pasture to visit the other mules! We decided to leave them out for the night and woke to find them home agan! I put them up for a few days to let others out. Well, let them out this am... it didn't take long for Pecos to start yelling for Yoyo... who again left the property and jumped into the other pasture! If you have been to our place, our fences are very tall. 5-6 foot! How they are managing this is beyond me! Still... I know Bob, their owner who passed, is getting quite a laugh out of this!

Life is short, SMELL THE ROSES!!

Today I am thinking about how short life is. Really, the time seems to go slow and things happen. We work, pay bills, cook dinner, all that good stuff. We always wait for something... What does that mean? I mean that we are always waiting for "this" or "that" to happen, then things will be alright. Well, things are alright TODAY. Right now. We cannot waste the beauty of NOW for things to be perfect. Guess what, they never are. And that is what is perfect. Look outside... if it is sunny... it is BEAUTIFUL. If it is raining... it is BEAUTIFUL. Snow? Well, a little cold but BEAUTIFUL too! Remember, things won't be what we anticipate so cherish right now!!

Riding... well, I'm having a blast with my Pecos... my Appaloosa mule who is relearning everything. He is the fairest, most amazing mule I have worked with in a long time. I am relearning everything which I love. He is challenging and yet, completely fair. Creating a relationship with a mule like this is special and only happens once in a great number of mules. I'm blessed!

Fourth of July Parade

This is a shout out to Jean. I'm so proud of you that you rode your mule in the Fourth of July parade in Benson with us. You are an amazing and accomplished rider and I hope to ride with you again someday, my friend!

Update on Pecos...

I am thrilled. Pecos is GREAT! What a beautiful and outstanding ride. I'm hoping he is having as much fun as I am!

Why do we work in circles?

So, my friend was here and has been working a horse. He has his horse going quite well. After a trail ride, I went to work in circls in the arena for just a few minutes. Our goal was a trot in a 60 foot circle without too much difficulty. At this point, my friend asks why? Surprising, he has never tried to work in circles!

Why do we work in circles? What is the point? Well, we work in circles for multiple reasons. First off, our goal is to strengthen the hind quarters. As you bend in a circle while walking, the inside hind leg steps under the body. At a walk, it should be pretty easy to walk in a fairly round circle. It is good to keep an eye on something central and focus on EVERY step as you go around. Try to bend each step as an individual. Strengthening the hindquarters helps lighten your front end which will aid in creating collection.

A second reason we work in circles is to bend and flex our mule. Every step bends them and this stretches the backstrap. Stretching and flexing will assist in reining.

Finally, we work circles to build rapport between you and your mule.

Remember this though.. the most important part of working circles is that we only work about 10 to 15 minutes. It's important that when you are getting bored, so is your mule. Reward yourself and your mule with a fun ride in the hills!!

Happy Trails!

The Fires of Arizona

We are praying for rain! The fires in Arizona are so sad and we are praying for rain.

Pecos... Wow!

Well, I have started Pecos.  He is around 10 years old and 16 hands.  He is an appaloosa with a full blanket.  He is a real looker.  We acquired him from our friend, Bob, whom passed away in May.  Well...  We started him by driving him.  To start him driving, we put harness on him and let him get accustomed to it.  Then we hooked him up to a wagon with an experienced mule and his brother, Yoyo.  They drove great.  We did train them in 2002 and we expected good results from our drive, however, we know they were not driven since then.  Fortunately, they drove beautiful. 

After driving him a handful of times, it was time to saddle him up.  We saddled him up and put him behind the wagon.  He did just fine.  Finally, I climbed up there.  We start all our mules in a 60 foot round pen, regardless of their experience.  We want it to be fair to the animal.  He didn't mind me up there, however, he would stop.  Serious stopping.  This is usually due to confusion.  He would also throw his head up.  This could be a dental issue.  I went ahead and demanded movement, simply walking in a circle both directions.  We had a successful ride and have had major improvements since then. 

To date, we have had his dental issue addressed.  We are now exploring the trail as well as working in the arena.  We are still battling the stopping issue, however, it is almost extinguished.  He has personality that is awesome.  He even shows desire to go on trails and up in the hills... I love it!!

To our Friend, Bob...

Bob... you are gone!  We saw you a week ago and now you have ridden off into that great trailride in the sky.  You loved your animals.  You understood your animals.... and they were your life.  We know you wanted to take them all with you.  Still, we are blessed with Pecos and Yoyo and will take care of them. 

To all who read this... Bob was a friend of ours who visited on Thursday a week ago and was feeling fine.  He unexpectedly passed Thursday night.  Remember, tell everyone you love that you love them while you have the time.  We never know when we will be riding our last ride. 

Ride like the Wind, Bob

There is many roads to Rome!

Ok, so what does that mean??  Well, of course I'm going to tell you!  haha.  I've been busy training mules and catching up from Winterhaven work in December so I just didn't have anything to talk about.  Now, however, I have a topic of concern, and let's face it, that is actually what inspires our most passionate blogging! 

There are many roads to Rome, meaning, there are many ways to accomplish success.  One method isn't necessarily the "only" correct way to a finished product.  Now, relating this to mules...   Mules are smart and sensitive creatures (horses too ie: Khuster!).  When we have them come here, they take some time to transition into our environment and our demands.  They take some time to get used to us as handlers.  When we finish with them, there is a period of transition for the owner to take over the continued training.  This means that when you take your mule from us, you can expect about 3 weeks of them not quite trusting your judgement.  After this transition period, providing you make trustworthy choices that warrent your mules trust, your mule will start to show a change in their personality towards you.  For example, you may notice they won't stand easily to mount for a week or two, and then it will mysteriously resolve.  Or, they may not leave your property easily under saddle and it too will suddenly change.  This is due to their transition to YOUR choices.  Now, if your choices don't appear trustworthy to your mule, this may take a little longer.  Every little success you have with them builds their trust in you. 

Now, when you take your mule/horse home after training from ANY trainer, ask the trainer what you should be doing?  We suggest a regimen of riding in 60foot circles every day working on bending, flexing, and rapport with your mule.  If you go home with your animal and follow this suggestion, you will find your animal will respond quicker to your requests.  After this transition period, you can begin to apply your own personal techniques.  However, if you skip this transition period, you are only asking for trouble.  Maybe you may not want to do things quite the way your trainer may suggest, however, you must transition your animal to another method over time... thus, many roads lead to Rome.  It doesn't mean your methods are not good, it just means you should follow the methods taught to your mule until you have the time to add your own techniques in their routine so that the mule can understand them!

That said, it is in your best interest to put your invested training to work for you. Continue the work when you get your animal from any trainer as it ultimately is a relationship between you and your mule that will make them do whatever you want! 

Ride with the wind my friends, as it is Spring!!
Julie

Ceasar update! Hold on and shut your eyes!

Guess what?  Ceasar can pull a wagon!!  If you don't know Ceasar yet, scroll down to my first entry and you surely won't forget him!  We have been driving him SUCCESSFULLY providing a POSITIVE EXPERIENCE over the course of the last 10 days!!!  We are especially pleased with Ceasar's help in this matter.  I attribute his entire attitude adjustment to jealousy...  Jake (our 10 year old son) has been driving his donkey single and the donkey is Ceasars' best buddy.  Ceasar has been watching, green with envy,  for 3 weeks or so and has been quite disturbed about not being invited.  Well, we hooked him up again with a 3 abreast hitch after leading him behind the wagon with his harness on and he did fabulous.  He trotted off straight as an arrow and pulled like a freightrain!  I'm so proud of him.  Have faith, sometimes patience is the best training technique of all! 

Julie!!

Discipline... what is the right thing to do?

So, discipline... what do you do to discipline?  This is a HUGE question.  I have been asked many times as to what is the proper time to discipline and what do you do?  Well... discipline should start the moment you go out to catch your mule, donkey, or horse...  So, we all know that discipline builds rapport and instills confidence in your mule's opinion of you.  Now the question is, what do we do?  Well, when we go out to catch a mule, the moment we approach them, we expect good manners.  When we put the halter on them,we expect them to be respectful of our space, be respectful of our demands, and trust in our judgement enough to follow us out to work.  We achieve this through repitition.  Still, what do we do?  It's a hard question to answer.  Well, I'll tell you exactly what we do.  First... when we put the halter on and they try to rub on us, we do not let them.  We start everything with a verbal command... a growl (yes a growl, it works with dogs, cats, kids and even husbands!), then we push their head away, and then rub them on our terms.  Why?  Rubbing shows they love me, right?  Well....   we want to show them that the choices as to when things occur are ours.  This will transfer later in your training to every other thing you try to do with your mule.  The point isn't to deny your mule love, it is to make them do what you want... when you want to... then rub them.  Same goes with eating... when you lead them out and they want to stop and eat, it isn't "love" to let them stop and have a snack. We disrupt their plan before it is in motion.  We are aware before they even drop their head and verbally warn them with a growl, then bump the leadrope in time with their footing to give them incentive not to stop or eat.  (This is timing and we'll get to that another day).  We want them to look to us to choose when they are allowed to do things to show them that we are in charge, thus building rapport and trust between you and your mule.  Being in charge starts as soon as you lay hands on them and follows through everything you do until you turn them back into their pen. 

When we have them at the hitchrail,we expect they stand perpindicular.  To achieve this takes lots of time and repitition... again... what do we do?  We make them stand correctly in order to make our saddling, grooming, etc. easier.  When they move to look at something and get out of position, we stop everything and growl at them, then physically put them back into position.  We make it no big deal, then move on with the saddling. 

We discipline riding too.  How do you do this?  First off, we always ride with spurs.  If you are not educated with spurs, then you should not use them until you have lots of practice because they can cause lots of troubles for the uneducated rider.  Spurs are for both discipline and bending and flexing your mule.  Ok, discipline while riding... Well, it is the exact same thing as when you are on the ground.  If you are riding your mule and they start to look at something or spook at something on the left, you need to warn them to keep their attention on YOU.  How?  First we verbally warn them with a growl.  If they don't heed our verbal warning, then we must do something to back up what we say.  This is followed with snatching of their mouth to redirect their attention back to us.  If that doesn't work and they are pointing with their ears and focused on something on the left, we then spur them on the OPPOSITE side as they are looking at.  In this case, you would spur on the right side, right in the cinch area.  You also want to join this spurring with a growl.   This will let them know that you are in charge of looking out for danger.  As Red would say... "you are the biggest, baddest thing in the forest and you will protect them".  This entire disciplining should last about 2 seconds and should be a smooth action.

Another example would be when you mule is spooking all around,  such as in a parade.  I have seen people time and time again rub their mule that is spooking all over the place.   Well, a rub should be a reward.  Why reward your mule for bad behavior?  This drives me crazy because it is unfair to send mixed messages to your mule which will lead to more problems and increase anxiety in your mule... and this is the riders fault.  Instead, they should growl and show displeasure at the bad behavior.   This growl should again be followed with snatching of the mouth and spurring if they don't heed our warning.  If we don't show our mules/ horses/ donkeys the proper behavior, how can they ever look to us for confidence?  How can you ever build a relationship without discipline, respect, or trust?  This goes both ways between you and your mule. 

Finally, disipline should be justified and fair.  This is especially true with mules and donkeys.  Remember, discipline should be used as a building block to improve a relationship.  I know many of us get nervous disciplining under saddle, however, it is one of those things you must work through with your mule to achieve a trusting relationship.  If you don't discipline under saddle, you don't have the right to discipline on the ground as well.  It is a two fold endevour, like it or not.  Therefore, when you discipline, you are doing your mule a favor which will translate into confidence in your mules opinion of your judgement... and that, my friends, is why we ride! 

Discipline for Confidence and Ride like the Wind!  Julie

Discipline? Do mules hold a grudge?

Today I was talking to a friend of mine and we were discussing her donkeys.  She was concerned that if she disciplines them, are they smart enough to hold a grudge?  Well....   Of course I have to add my two cents as I have a lot of opinions on this matter.  I feel that it is like anything else... what are your credentials?  If I were to tell you that you are running your business the wrong way and proceeded to give you advice, your first questions should be "what are your credentials?"  Why should you think anything I say is good advice, unless I am an expert on running businesses.  Well, equines are the same way.  This is even more so with mules and donkeys.  When you discipline, you are essentially giving your mule advice on how to act.  Discipline is absolutely necessary in training and developing a relationship with your mule.  There are many forms of discipline and we can touch on that later, however, discipline is essential to creating a trusting relationship. 

When you are catching your mule and you put your halter on your mule... that is when you need to expect that your mule behave properly and lead to the location of your choice.  This is done through discipline and it the first step in your training day.  When you lead your mule, he should follow you out.   If he chooses to stop and eat, or pull away from you, you need to discipline.  If he wants to eat on the way to work, it is your responsiblity to make him stop eating and continue on your way.   If you allow him to stop and eat on the way to work, you are allowing the mule to be the alpha and in charge of decisions.  This may not seem like a big deal, however, it is the BASIS of everything you choose to do with your mule.  When you allow him to make the choices, your telling him that the advice on how to act is his choice, not yours!  This responsibility on how to act is a big deal to your mule.  This puts a lot of stress on your mule because he realizes he is the one who is in charge of not only when he can choose to graze, but staying safe and alive suddenly becomes his responsibility too.  Remember, we need to instill confidence in our animals so that they don't spook, run off, or become herd bound.  This confidence comes from our discipline in telling our mules that we are in charge... and will protect them.  This needs to be consistent in building a trusting relationship.  They may want to graze right then, but by stopping them and moving on, you are telling your mule that you are in charge of the choices and we are not eating right now, we are going to work.  It is a very simple concept that is the primary most important factor in training and creating trust between you and your mule, donkey or horse. Give your equine good advice and back it up with everything you do with them... and they will thank you for it...

Ride like the wind, my friends!!  Julie

Happy New Years... Time to get back to work!

Happy New Years!  It is 2011!  Well, I suppose it is time to get back to work.  After our Winterhaven Event in Decemer 2010, the mules all look exhausted.  Then, to boot, it rained and even snowed a little... so they are completely covered in mud as well.  They look a little like the rest of us feel after such a big event.  Still, we are so glad it was a safe and fun holiday for all involved... the mules included.  Everyone came through with very little galling and wear and tear... Pretty good for driving 18 head of mules (let's not forget Moosegoose and Roy, the 2 special horses that get to participate) every night for 13 nights!  Time to get them in pasture to relax and get back to trainig.  We have Dusty, Sarah, and the big Jack... DuraMaxx to get back working bright and early Monday morning.  So...  Happy New Year from all of us!

Julie Wycoff