Latest News
Weekend Plans
Want to attend a Dog Hair Cutting Festival with my wife Julia and me this weekend? How about a Mule Ride. You might get a good one. You may not. Fun like Russian roulette!
You can tell Julia and I have a little too much time on our hands this weekend. She wrote an invitation to our neighbor P to join us for any or none… Continue reading
Buck and Smile
Sometimes, life throws a little buck your way. The best reaction is to stay balanced and grin. The photo above is of Brick sneaking in a little heels-up action at last week’s Ty Evan’s clinic at Leatherwood in Ferguson, NC. She did great and we learned a lot. I guess she’s recovered from her 2,300 mile walk from our farm in western North Carolina to Idaho.
Great big… Continue reading
A Year and Change Ago After Riding in to Triumph: The Book is Coming
About a year and a half ago, I finished riding mules Brick and Cracker from North Carolina to Idaho. I’m now about 98% through the first draft of the book about that trek.
A bit over a year and half ago, the snow jammed between my saddle horn and zipper flew free as I… Continue reading
The Hoof Boot Report: 3 Boots Reviewed After 32 Days on the Trail
Queen Valley Mule Ranch Saddle Review
The first one I bought was stolen. The second one I rode 2,200 miles from North Carolina to Idaho. No, I’m not talking about my mule. I’m talking about my Queen Valley Ranch mule saddle.
In this post I’m going to give you an… Continue reading
Adjusting Pie’s Hoof Boots (Part 3 of the 3 Part Series on Transitioning to Hoof Boots)
How do you adjust a pair of new hoof boots?
In today’s post, I’ll show you how I’m adjusting a pair of hoof boots to fit my wife’s pony Pie. To get you up to speed, here are the first two parts in this three part series.
- Off With Her Shoes (Part 1 of 3)
- Measuring Pie for Hoof Boots (Part 2 of 3)
Measuring Pie for Hoof Boots (Part 2 of the 3 Part Series on Transitioning to Hoof Boots)
We clipped her nails and pulled her shoes. In my recent post “Off With Her Shoes” I wrote about how my wife Julia and I are transitioning her pony Pie from steel shoes to bare feet. In this update, I’ll show you how we trimmed and measured Pie’s feet for hoof boots. But first, to recap, a few pics of Pie having her shoes removed.
Off With Her Shoes (Part 1 of the 3 Part Series on Transitioning to Hoof Boots)
This weekend my wife Julia and I pulled the steel horse shoes on her pony Pie’s front feet. From here on out, she’ll go barefoot. For extra protection Pie might need on rocky trails or abrasive surfaces like asphalt, we’ll slap on a pair of hoof boots.
Christmas Greetings
Merry Christmas from the homestead up the holler. “I’ll be Home For Christmas” is playing (the Bing Crosby version), the wood stove is glowing and Snookie is pondering another cookie. “I’ll be Home for Christmas” rings true this year, just not in original way it was meant (it was written from the point of view of a WWII soldier stationed abroad). With Covid numbers spiking, my wife Julia and I are hunkering down… Continue reading
Pickle Raft Crushed, Rebuilt and Refloated
Crunch! Last winter a tree crushed our beloved Pickle Raft. This week, we rebuilt it. Here’s a quick (30-sec) video of how that went followed by some pics.
Introducing the Pickle Raft
A few years ago, my wife Julia and I assembled what looked like a patio on top of a bunch of plastic barrels and pushed it in to our pond.
We christened it the Pickle Raft and life was good.
