zilvy
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posted on September 4, 2001 01:48:58 PM new
Bunnicula, please, yesterday you stated that you had an accident and fell from Sweet Fanny Adams...now you have told us about the Emus, and why she didn't go where you wanted.
What happened this time and are you OK? When you mentioned sleeping yesterday I was concerned because you mentioned hitting your head.
Judging by your joke in another thread you sound OK to me....but I don't have a license to practice medicine!!
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bunnicula
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posted on September 4, 2001 06:19:38 PM new
Zilvy: well, it was all my fault, to begin with. 
I've started riding lessons with a new instructor who is not too far from where I board Sweet Fanny Adams--it's great, 'cause I can ride *her* & not a lesson horse. This was my second lesson there.
Unfortunately, the people who own the property next to my riding instructor have a humungous garden filled, seemingly from top to bottom, with shimmery silver streamers meant to frighten away birds & other garden-eating critters. And Sweet Fanny Adams HATES those streamers! Getting her to go down the side of the riding arena next to the garden is a major fight.
Yesterday while trying to get SFA to pass by the garden she keep trying too take control and swerve in the other direction. I turned her head back where I want her to go & urged her forward. She kept trying to go the other way, only faster.
And there's where I made my mistake. The trainer called to me not to turn Sweet Fanny's head too far--just as I pulled it further around. SFA, trying to move in the direction *she* wanted to go, with her head turned too far to the left, tripped & fell. 
She's alright! Fortunately, she fell forward, while I fell backward. She got up right away, no worse for wear. I took a moment to gather my senses & make sure I had nothing broken. Got up, remounted, and finished the lesson.
I had a headache yesterday & was sore. Today I have a stiff neck, sore shoulder & back, and my left hip is a bit swollen & bruised. All in all, not bad.
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zilvy
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posted on September 4, 2001 06:46:05 PM new
You are a gutsy gal, Bunnicula! Quite the learning experience...and by the way I think the folks with the garden should be a little more considerate, after all if they planted extra the outer rows could be for the birds!
Here's to harvest time!
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bunnicula
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posted on September 4, 2001 07:30:48 PM new
I don't think of it as being gutsy.  Just doing something I like to do.
Actually, I don't want the trainer's neighbors to change their garden at all. Sweet Fanny Adams has to learn to deal with things like that. And to trust that I will not make her go anywhere that is dangerous.
That's why I wanted to take lessons on her rather than a lesson horse as I had been. Shee needs to learn that I am in charge & to trust my judgement.
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zilvy
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posted on September 4, 2001 08:18:50 PM new
Glad that the proximity is such that you are able to do it. She'll learn with your guidance. But, I still think you are gutsy...I know if you fall off you are supposed to get right back on, but!! Oh Pain!!
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mybiddness
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posted on September 4, 2001 08:53:44 PM new
Bunnicula I thought you said mules weren't stubborn? LOL Sounds very stubborn to me. I'm afraid you've turned into one of those mothers who says (as little Johnny throws a fit on the floor) "Oh no, my little Johnny doesn't have a temper... He just acts like this when he doesn't get his way." 
Not paranoid anywhere else but here!
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bunnicula
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posted on September 4, 2001 09:11:32 PM new
Actually, what we see as "stubborn" mules see as self-preservation. That's one reason they're used in the Grand Canyon instead of horses. Mules *think* about what they're doing.
As yet, Sweet Fanny Adams doesn't know or trust me enough to believe that I won't ask her to do something that's dangerous.
Lots of horses have the same problem with that area of the riding arena, too, not just my Sweet FA. We humans are predators and all too often fail to see things as our equines do. As prey animals, caution is part of their very being. Horses, like sheep, have been bred to be less cautious & more people dependent. The mule gets its independent spirit from the donkey parent.
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mybiddness
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posted on September 4, 2001 09:19:19 PM new
My son gets his "independent spirit" from his father. I'm just kidding around with you... I think it's great. Mules always get a bad rap.
Not paranoid anywhere else but here!
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mybiddness
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posted on September 4, 2001 09:20:20 PM new
BTW, are you still diving? Got any diving trips coming up?
Not paranoid anywhere else but here!
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zilvy
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posted on September 4, 2001 09:21:08 PM new
"So does your son's father", Mybiddness!!
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bunnicula
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posted on September 4, 2001 09:54:58 PM new
Mybiddness: I have a dive trip scheduled for this Sunday, and another on September 30. I am on tenterhooks, though--my dive computer had to be sent back to the manufacturer for an overhaul and it's not back yet. Hopefully, if it doesn't get back on time, the dive shop will have a loaner for me!
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gravid
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posted on September 4, 2001 09:55:53 PM new
Bunnicula - My first wife liked to ride and kept a horse so I can ride but it was never a great love. I have however enjoyed some pack trips that would have not been so enjoyable if I had been struggling to deal with the horse.
Anyway when we were at a fellows place and had just come in from riding the neighbor called to tell this fellow he had seen two men with rifles go on his land. He jumped back on his horse and mine already had the saddle off so he said - take the paint and come with me - so I jumped on this paint and tore off after him. We went through woods faster than I had ever done before and when he came to a fallen tree he sailed over like a bird and I ran the paint right up and gave him my heels with a will. He was in the air as long as I have ever been on a horse - he jumped with loads of room to spare - really stretched out and sailed. When we had told the gentlemen to leave and were coming back the owner looked over at me funny and said there's something I should tell you about that paint. What's that I said? He doesn't jump he assured me with a serious look.
I am damn lucky he didn't throw me over the tree like a human canonball. I figure the only thing saved me was the horse's instinct to follow the other horse's butt no matter what.
Sorry long....
[ edited by gravid on Sep 5, 2001 05:19 AM ]
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mybiddness
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posted on September 5, 2001 06:20:16 AM new
Bunnicula I'm glad to see you're still diving. It's another one of those things on my "one of these days" list.
Not paranoid anywhere else but here!
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bunnicula
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posted on September 5, 2001 07:07:56 AM new
Mybiddness: There's no time like the present. Why not start now? Lessons aren't all that expensive, and you don't have to buy your own equipment to start off--the dive shop will have gear you can use while finding out if scuba is for you. Go for it!! You won't regret it.
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gravid
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posted on September 5, 2001 08:23:43 AM new
bun - Does anybody use those blinders on pack animals anymore? Does anybody use them for riding animals? What do you think of those - for the lazy?
[ edited by gravid on Sep 5, 2001 08:26 AM ]
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toke
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posted on September 5, 2001 08:54:14 AM new
bunnicula...
All this sounds so familiar...lol. I started riding in my forties...English...and all my instructors required riding helmets. Good thing too, because I tended to land on my head... Do you wear any such protection? The only real damage I ever did to myself though, was to fracture my tailbone. Oh my, how that hurt.
Anyway, I'm curious to know SFAs reaction to the streamers, now, after her fall. Is she more afraid...or is she resigned to the fact that she must indeed go by there...no matter what? I had an Arab-Quarterhorse cross (Kahlua)...I would guess was every bit as "stubborn" as mules are accused of being. (She was a former school horse, which may account for it... ) She would have been convinced she was right all along, and that Satan himself lived in that garden. Memory of an elephant, I swear. I'm wondering if mules react differently to this sort of thing?
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bunnicula
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posted on September 5, 2001 12:20:49 PM new
Gravid: Outside of racing horses & mules, blinders aren't used much on riding animals. They are used for driving or packing. No, I don't think they're for the lazy. But they're not something I want to use.
Toke: No, I don't wear a helmet. I probably should think about getting one. But I prefer a wide-brimmed hat as my eyes are very sensitive to the sun--and the western hat version of the safety helmet is just plain idiotic-looking!
After the fall, when I remounted and took her around the arena again, Sweet Fanny Adams actually did much better at passing the dreaded streamer-filled garden. It was almost like she was embarrassed about what had happened. I am interested in seeing how she does next Monday morning at my next lesson.
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toke
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posted on September 5, 2001 12:28:23 PM new
I can't picture the western version, the english looks plenty stupid enough...lol Believe it or not, I actually dented mine.
Maybe you convinced her of the inevitability of it all. I don't know western riding...do you concentrate on leg aids pretty much? Keeping them on the bit, and all that?
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bunnicula
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posted on September 5, 2001 12:41:39 PM new
Believe me, the western version makes the "tradional" safety helmet look like high fashion!
Leg cues are very important and used a lot. I'm getting SFA so that a light squeeze gets her going, instead of using my heels. And she's pretty good about following directions given via a leg movement.
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toke
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posted on September 5, 2001 12:51:28 PM new
She sounds wonderful. I must have missed all the details somewhere...how old is she? Do they have the same lifespan as horses? I've only seen them in the movies...but I remember I loved their looks. Do you have pics??
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bunnicula
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posted on September 5, 2001 01:01:36 PM new
Sweet Fanny is 8 years old. Mules live longer than horses, generally. Usually to 40-50 years old. There is one that has a monument built to him in Fairplay, Colorado, that died at the age of 63! Wrote an article about him for the September issue of our club newletter.
Here is a picture of SFA:
http://home.earthlink.net/~sumpleby/Sweet20Fanny20Adams.jpg
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toke
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posted on September 5, 2001 01:19:43 PM new
She's beautiful! Exactly the color of my Kahlua. How many hands? Looking at her butt...does she have any Appy in her, or is it just her color changing?
A friend of mine had kind of a roaned out chestnut Appy mare named Babe...I was crazy about her, and she certainly had a thing for me. I mean literally.  She foundered at 4 and broke my heart.
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bunnicula
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posted on September 5, 2001 03:19:31 PM new
Thank you! I, of course, think she's gorgeous.
SFA is 15 hands. And no, no Appy in her. The markings on her rear are all that's left of the dappling she had as a youngster. Dapple grays often do that, fade over the years until they're a pale gray. Sweet Fanny Adams has light speckling over the rest of her, though.
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toke
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posted on September 5, 2001 04:07:45 PM new
Yeah, Kahlua had lost almost all her dappling by 12...very little grey left. She was only 14 hands, and I'm so short I still couldn't get quite enough leg on her. Course, she had a goodly barrel...
I hope you'll post more pics and tell us how you're progressing as you go along. Can you tell I'm interested? This is a lot of posting for me...
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gravid
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posted on September 5, 2001 04:54:45 PM new
Very pretty and bigger than I pictured. That dappling is nice it must have been spectacular before fading. Who is on other end of the rope?
With genetic engineering wouldn't it be a rip if they could make mules that are fertile?
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bunnicula
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posted on September 6, 2001 12:56:48 AM new
Gravid: That's me holding the rope.
As for fertility, there *have* been rare cases of fertile mules (2 or 3 IIRC in the past century & all female). But it is extremely rare. Horses & donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes. MUles have all the right equipment, but the chromosome difference is what causes the infertility. That is why john mules (males) are *always* gelded, otherwise they'll behave just like other stallions. Molly mules (females) have also been known to develop milk & nurse orphan colts.
Interesting note: there are mules & there are hinnies. Mules are the offspring of a mare & a jack (male donkey). Hinnies are pretty rare, and are the offspring of a jennet (female donkey) and a horse stallion. There are two reasons that hinnies are rare: one is that they tend to be smaller & aren't bred for; the other is that jennets' reproductive tracts are angled differently than that of mares, & such matings have a lower chance of conception.
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