Tough bit of driving
I apologise for my dearth of posts, I am very busy at the moment - as usual - on a whole bunch of things about which I wish to tell you all and shall as soon as I afford myself a break.
This weekend has been quite singular, however- we set out with a single goal and went out and achieved it. Specifically the outcome was this:
The process we underwent was to travel to Dartmoor ( approximately 160 miles, as far as I can tell ) yesterday, meet Marty the Mule, train him to load and bring him back with us today.
It was an interesting experience and I've certainly had some time to find out the differences between a mule and a horse, but the little guy is unbelievably cute and very smart and he came through great, although we took a while longer than we would have with a horse.
Also he didn't think much of travelling and decided he needed to make his own bid for freedom by climbing over the breast-bar of the lorry. Luckily he didn't actually achieve freedom, but we had some anxious moments while he stood with his front legs over the bar trying to hop forwards while I performed the full "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" with a stick and string in front of him until he backed off. It was a stomach-droppingly anxious moment. After we tried to create a more visual barrier and he attempted to clamber out again, this time ably averted by herecirm, we turned him to face forwards and he travelled better the rest of the journey home, although he was still pretty anxious.
So now we have a mule, or specifically Sari does, and we have the adventure of teaching him to be a riding mule. It's been a rocky start, but he's a smart little guy and hopefully he'll give us the chance to show him we're friends really.
This weekend has been quite singular, however- we set out with a single goal and went out and achieved it. Specifically the outcome was this:
The process we underwent was to travel to Dartmoor ( approximately 160 miles, as far as I can tell ) yesterday, meet Marty the Mule, train him to load and bring him back with us today.
It was an interesting experience and I've certainly had some time to find out the differences between a mule and a horse, but the little guy is unbelievably cute and very smart and he came through great, although we took a while longer than we would have with a horse.
Also he didn't think much of travelling and decided he needed to make his own bid for freedom by climbing over the breast-bar of the lorry. Luckily he didn't actually achieve freedom, but we had some anxious moments while he stood with his front legs over the bar trying to hop forwards while I performed the full "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" with a stick and string in front of him until he backed off. It was a stomach-droppingly anxious moment. After we tried to create a more visual barrier and he attempted to clamber out again, this time ably averted by herecirm, we turned him to face forwards and he travelled better the rest of the journey home, although he was still pretty anxious.
So now we have a mule, or specifically Sari does, and we have the adventure of teaching him to be a riding mule. It's been a rocky start, but he's a smart little guy and hopefully he'll give us the chance to show him we're friends really.