When to keep, sell, or send your mule to training!

By Brandy Von Holten

Have you ever heard, “I don’t want to sell him, I don’t want him to go to a bad home”, or “I have too many in the pasture”, or “I haven’t ridden any of these in years.”  This is a sign that it is time to either make a decision to keep your mule, sell your mule, or send your mule to training!  Or in other words, “You’ve got to know when hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away, and know when to run.”

When to KEEP your mule:

Hands down, you keep old mules.  If they have spent their entire life being there for you, it is time for you to step up and be there for them.  Many people get rid of old mules because it is hard to watch them go down.  Suck it up, buttercup.  Getting old is not for the weak.

If a mule has an injury that is debilitating, you need to keep them.  You have to deal with whatever the outcome is going to be and not pass the buck.  If you had a child get in an accident that debilitated them, you would keep them.  Do the same with your mule.  They are part of your family.  The severity of the injury and your personal beliefs will dictate the need to put the mule down or to turn them out to pasture.

When to SELL your mule:

Mules have personalities just as people do.  If your personality does not click with the personality of the mule, sell it.  If you have too many mules or other equine in the pasture and you are not riding them at all, sell it.  If you bought a Ferrari but you need a station wagon, sell it.  There is no shame in downsizing.  The family I bought my mule from downsized.  We have a wonderful relationship and they are filled with joy about the journey JoJo and I are on.  They are happy that he has a useful life and I am happy to have him in my life.

If you are in over your head, sell it.  I have seen people buy a mule and then not have the money to keep their hooves trimmed.  If you purchased a mule and had no idea the amount of time and money involved in keeping up with their welfare, put out a “For Sale” ad now!  Do not wait another month.  Loving them enough to let them go to a better home is a hard thing to admit, but you will feel so much better once it is done.

When to send your mule to TRAINING:

If your mule has sat for a while, there is no reason for you to climb back into that saddle if you are unsure.  Maybe your mule just needs a handful of lessons, maybe it needs a month or longer.  There is no shame in having someone that trains mules for a living be the one that rides them when the mule has had a chunk of time off.

If you are not able to ride for an extended amount of time and want your mule to maintain its training, this would be a great time to send them to a trainer.  This could be due to a deployment, pregnancy, personal injury, or a variety of other reasons.

If you are thinking about buying a mule, before you sign that check, take them to a trainer for an evaluation.  If the seller will not agree to this, then do not buy the mule.  Some trainers will go with you to look at a prospect.  Make sure you pay them for their time.  This will help lessen the probability of purchasing a mule that is not suited for you.  The trainer also has a higher chance of catching flaws such as lameness.

Buying a mule is easy, but buying the right mule can be hard.  Do not purchase a mule until you are fully prepared to deal with the commitment.  Ultimately, the welfare of your mule is your responsibility.  They are wonderful creatures that make our lives better, but it is like a marriage.  Some days are good and some days are bad.  No matter which day it is, your love still has to be there, and love can look differently in certain situations:  keep, sell, or send them to a trainer.

Finding Motivation Between 18 and AARP

By Brandy Von Holten

Finding courage and motivation is a difficult task and gets harder and harder to find as we add candles to our birthday cake each year.  I, too, find myself doubting and fearing being made fun of or just utterly failing and looking like I have never been on a horse in my life.  I found an ounce of courage and entered into the Benton County Rodeo Queen competition!  Typically, a rodeo queen competition requires the participants to be no older than their mid-twenties and not married, but this competition did not have those stipulations.  I found myself with an inner voice saying, “Why not?”.  It was settled, I was going to compete in my first ever rodeo queen competition at the age of 37.

Now, this journey could have been a lot easier on one of my horses that I use daily to teach lessons, but I did not choose the easy path.  The Benton County Rodeo Queen competition had never had a royalty competitor even step foot in the arena with a mule.  I knew right then that not only did I want to compete as a nontraditional entry but I wanted to do it on my mule, JoJo.  Only one problem; JoJo was not anywhere near ready.  Here’s the behind the scene look at our journey from trail riding mule to making history in Benton County Missouri.

I knew I wanted to enter the rodeo queen competition after watching the previous year’s competition.  It was an entire year ago that I made a plan.  I knew I wanted to ride JoJo bridleless by next year.  There was only one problem.  JoJo was like driving an old truck with no power steering.  Plus, he had primarily been used for trail riding and had had some time off.  I knew that if I tried to do this on my own, I would end up letting too much time pass and then I would chicken out because I would not be prepared.  I needed a team of horsemen.  I thought long and hard about what this should look like.  It came to me in an instant; I should form a drill team.  With my husband and I owning a trail riding facility, my weekends are swamped, which means that I needed to practice during the week.  I posted on Facebook that I wanted to start a drill team and PEOPLE SHOWED UP!  To make things even better, the women that showed up were almost all former rodeo queens!  I couldn’t believe the line up!  We formed the Country Tough Drill Team!  Our first practice was absolutely wonderful except for JoJo.  We couldn’t trot in a straight line, couldn’t trot all the way around the arena, couldn’t canter around the arena, and our stop took around 15’ to accomplish.  Plus, the horses did not know what he was and why he was beside them!

If you are looking for a step by step answer for how to find motivation, there’s not a “catch all” answer.  I am a people person and enjoy being on a team.  In addition to improving my basic horse/mulemanship skills with the use of the drill team, I also took private lessons, competed in a few obstacle challenges, and even went cattle sorting.  The way to feel more confident is to believe in your training.  In order to persuade myself to train, I set a goal.  It is sometimes easy to set a goal, but not easy to keep yourself from backing out later on.  By having the team, I felt like I would be letting them down if I did not show up.  Whatever you have to do to keep yourself from backing out; do it.  You could prepay for a bundle of lessons, write your training time down in ink on your calendar, and make a promise to yourself to not cancel.

I am now the 2017 Benton County Rodeo Queen.  Did I compete on him bridleless?  Heck no!  But I did ride him bridleless for two laps in the arena the night of the rodeo with one of my drill team teammates by my side and another one guarding the gate.

I Wish I Would Have Thought About That!

By Brandy Von Holten

As a facility owner and event host, I have seen the same situations time after time.  Here are some tips to assure you have an even more enjoyable time while venturing out to trail riding and event facilities.

Negative Coggins Test and Health Certificates

When you pull into a facility for check-in, you could save yourself and the person checking you in some valuable relaxation time by having your current paperwork ready.   Here are a few examples of when things went wrong that I have experienced:

1. Friends traveled together and someone left their paperwork in their truck back home.
2. A spouse cleaned the truck and took the equine papers out.
3. Forgot to check the date, and paperwork was expired
4. Left Coggins test at home because person did not know they would be checked.
5. Switched to a different equine last minute and brought the wrong set of paperwork.

 

It is not a comfortable situation to have to send someone home as a facility owner, but for the safety of other’s equine, it is imperative to the equine industry that documents are checked.  Here are some tips to help avoid an awkward and painful situation.

1. Get rid of your expired paperwork. This will help you be able to quickly locate what you need.
2. Have your veterinary email you a copy in addition to sending a hard copy. This way you retrieve proof easily.
3. Take a photo and keep it on your phone. I have seen this tip come in handy for several trail guests.
4. Send a photo in a private message of your Coggins test to your spouse or to the person you are traveling with to ensure you can easily access the paperwork when needed.

 

Navigation and Parking

 

In this day and age, people rely heavily upon their Smart Phones for directions.  I would highly recommend checking a facility’s website for directions prior to heading out.  There are typically tips or better routes available from the owner that technology might not know.

 

If you do not have the ability to back a trailer, you are in the majority and not the minority.  If this is a concern of yours, just call the facility and ask to be in a site that does not require backing.  If our pull-through sites are full, we always ask if the guest can back a trailer, or offer to back them into their site.  It is important to know if your trailer will fit into the electric site, and what the dimensions are of your total area.  Ask what accommodations are available at your site:  amperage per site, water, and sewer availability.

 

Stalling Your Equine

 

Asking questions and doing some research before you arrive to a new destination can save you unneeded stress and worry.   There are so many different variations to stalls and what each facility requires that there is no way to guess.  Here is a set of questions to help avoid not being prepared:

 

1. How large is the stall and is it covered? *Have the facility describe their gates, if possible.
2. Does the facility provide shavings? If the facility does require shavings, can you bring your own and does the facility have shaving available to purchase?
3. What is the protocol for the cleaning of the stall, and are there manure forks and wheel barrows available?
4. Is water easily accessible at the stall barns? Are there water hoses available?  *Do not use community water tanks or community buckets due to the spread of equine diseases.  *Do not let the end of the water hose touch your equine’s bucket or be submerged into the water.
5. Will bucket straps work with the design of the stall? Is there a set location to hang water bucket, salt, and hay?
6. Find out the rules concerning picket lines, trailer tying, and portable pens.

 

It is fun and exciting to try new facilities.  Fun and excitement is awaiting you!  I hope this helps you be better prepared and have less bumps in the road.

Tips for making your obstacle course run smooth and efficient!

By Brandy Von Holten

There are ways to design your course for your competition to run smoothly and time efficiently.  Understanding the two major types of obstacles will help you begin designing a course that people will rave about and look forward to returning to in the future.  There are typically two types of obstacles:  a flow obstacle and a foot placement obstacle.

A flow obstacle is when the obstacle should be completed without changing the speed of the equine through the obstacle.  Flow obstacles are much faster than foot placement obstacles.  A cowboy curtain/vine simulator is an example of a flow obstacle.  If the obstacle involved picking up an item like a bucket and placing it at a second location, this would be a flow obstacle.  If the rider was able to maintain a constant speed and have good horsemanship skills and the equine stayed straight and appeared to be confident, then this would receive a high score.  Sometimes a flow obstacle can be turned into a foot placement obstacle.  To make the same obstacle have a different set of criteria, the host could design this same obstacle to require a stop, side pass over to the obstacle, back up to the second location, set the item down, and then side pass away from the object.  There would be a whole new set of judging criteria for the foot placement obstacle compared to the flow obstacle.

You must find the right combination of flow and foot placement obstacles.  If you have too many flow obstacles, your competition could turn into a judging nightmare because it takes a seasoned judge to keep up with the fast pace and make split decisions.  I have seen some divisions be completed in less than two and a half minutes and consist of thirteen obstacles.  That is less than 12 seconds per obstacle.  That is not only hard on judges but it is also really hard on scribes trying to keep up with judges.

On the flip side of this problem, if you have too many foot placement obstacles, you could greatly increase the length of your event.  The saying “slower than paint drying” comes to mind.

Other things to consider are time consuming obstacles such as mounting and dismounting, roping, and backing.  These obstacles get much faster as to horsemanship skills of the rider increases.  If you want to see a novice rider handle a lariat rope, have them make the loop and limit the number of times they can throw their rope.  If you want to incorporate a backing obstacle, make it a straight shoot, and then make the same obstacle a backing L for the more advanced divisions.

Predetermining a set amount of tries an equine can have per obstacle before the competition and having a “move along” signal will help keep the course moving.  This could be done verbally, with a whistle, or an air horn.  Making sure the riders know their run order and having a gate worker that has the next rider waiting will expedite getting through all the divisions.

You, as a host, must be the cleaver creator with this perfect combination between the types of obstacles.  Not too fast or too slow, not too difficult but not too easy; not too much flash and flare but not too basic.  By adding variety to the combinations of the different types of obstacles, could completely change your course.  For example, by having a free ride (canter a lap around the arena) and then asking the equine for a slow foot placement obstacle is going to be a lot more difficult than starting with a foot placement obstacle without the free ride.

The last element to consider is the overall flow of the course.  For less advanced divisions, the angle of entry needs to be less severe than the angle of entry for advanced divisions.  What this means in less complicated words is the order of obstacles needs to be straighter and more in line for lower levels.  Lesser experienced riders can get lost on the course.

Do not feel that you must reinvent the wheel for every obstacle competition you host.  Changing the color, adding a barrel next to it, or changing the order can really diversify an obstacle with minimal effort on your part.   You will get better at designing obstacle courses as you host more events.  I like to keep a map of my old courses and make notes on the back about ways to change the course for next time.  Remember, obstacle competition is supposed to be fun.  Make sure that you have fun designing your course!

How to increase your quantity of obstacles

By Brandy Von Holten

If you are a host of any obstacle competition, after a few events you start drawing a blank on how to change things up and keep people raving about your events and coming back!  Here’s the deal, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.  The key to having new obstacles is to strategically change the old ones.

With my husband and I owning an event and trail riding facility called Von Holten Ranch that is located in north central Missouri, we host events for numerous organizations.  In the past, we spent countless hours racking our brains trying to think of obstacles.  Follow me through this article to see how we created more obstacles from one obstacle.

Some may call it barrel board pinwheel, some may call it wind the clock, or your organization might have a whole different name.  I will refer to it as wind the clock, because that is what I first learned it to be named.  If you have two barrels and place a timber, board, or PVC pipe that is to be picked up by the rider with the equine traveling around a centrally located barrel with one end in your hand and the other staying stationary on the other barrel, then you have a wind the clock obstacle.

Follow me as we discuss how we have changed this obstacle to create new challenges for competitors:

1. Make three barrels be in-line and only go half way around the circle.
2. Put a bridge in the path that the equine must encounter while you are winding the clock.
3. Staple a tarp, or orange construction webbing on the board.
4. Place the stationary board on a bale of hay instead of a barrel.
5. Place six barrels in-line to create two separate wind the clocks. Have the competitor do a half circle with one hand, and a second half circle with the other hand.
6. Have the competitor back a half circle.
7. Instead of using a timber, board or PVC pipe, use a rope with the handle being a jolly ball. This would require the stationary end to be attached to a pole that is in the barrel.  I would highly recommend not creating an obstacle that cannot come apart especially with a rope.  I would hang clothes on the rope as another option, so it looks like a clothes line.
8. Require the rider to complete the circle in different gaits or add a stop.
9. Require the competitor to dismount and lead their equine while you are doing the obstacle.
10. In our latest obstacle competition, we had one barrel suspended from the rafters of the arena and had the competitors complete a half circle.

There are countless ways to make any obstacle feel new and exciting while not blowing your budget.  I have seen highly ranked equine in different organizations have difficulty when something so minor is changed.   Obstacle training is a tool used to increase the bravery of your equine and your horsemanship skills.  You have way more obstacles present than what you realized, you just need to spend the time to get creative!  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  What ideas have you come up with now?