Hope you enjoy our latest fun!!  I was kinda lazy because the sun was shining and it was SO nice to be toasty warm!!  But I did my best to pay attention while we were learning!!  I think my "Banana" is pretty darn good!!  Even from a distance!!  Thanks for watching my progress!!  Love Ya!! Stells The Mule!!

I was pretty freaked out at first! Everything that was so familiar the day before was GONE! All I could see was WHITE FLUFFINESS!!  And then it hit me! SNOW IS FUN!!  I got to roll and run and play with my ball!  There was a LOT of snorting and sqealing!  But mostly there was playin'!  Then my footies got kinda cold so Mums put me back in my stall!  Oh and did I mention I also got some Hot McDonalds French Fries!!  Yeee Haw!!

Wishing you and yours a Very Muley Merry Christmas!!  chEARS!!

I am sorry to be complaining...but this was NOT the best day ever!! My TEEFIES are Killing Me!!  I tried chewin' on my hoof pick handle, the handle of my Hair Brush and a random pole.... The only good rollin' dirt is in the very corner of the arena!  So frustrating....I have to lay down on one side, stand up, lay on the other side.  THEN I got stuck in the corner and Mum had to help me get back up!  The horses alll laughed at me...Then I fell down when I was runnin' around.  I didn't even want the Fritos Mum brought for me.  All this extra Winter Fuzzieis makes me look chubby AND my head has gotten SOOOO big that I have grown out of my Favorite Pink Rope Halter!
!  I shouldn't be complaining so much...I'm sorry!  Sometimes it is hard being a 29 month old Muley....Growing pains, awkward days, not wantin' to do stuff Mums askin' me to do....
I'm glad Mum is learning "Mule" cuz she could just see I was having a rough day today.   She let me put my GIANT head on her shoulder and she massaged and massaged my chin and jaw...that felt super gooder!  I didn't want my Fritos but if felt good chewin' on a BIG carrot!
Mum sez tomorrow is another day and that Growin' Up can have its Ups and Downs!  So I will chEAR up and look forward to tomorrow!

Last November, Mum and Dad took me to OHC for the Norhwest Mt Trail Challenge.  I had only known them for a couple of weeks and I was only halter trained.  Thats IT!!   It would have kinda been like taking an infant that can barely walk to an Olympic Gymnastic competition.  I tried SO hard to be a good girl.  And I WAS a good girl..I just didn't know HoW to do the obstacles!  Mum was very nice about it and told me to just relax and have fun.  I got used to a stall and crowds and applause and yes...laughter and lots of other horsies and mules and being in a HUGE show barn!  It was a lot and I was awesome!  Fast forward a year and a lot of hard work with Mum and a lot of rainy practice days and a lot of travel...A year ago I only did a couple of obstacles and got low scores, but I tried my bestest.  Mum sez I have HEART!  She told me that she couldn't train me to have HEART and WILLINGNESS but that she COULD show me how to step over stuff better...This video is from a year later...Not perfect but a HUGE improvement from a year ago.....We even got a "10" on the suspension bridge!  That means we got a perfect 9 and had some WOW factor!  I believe in Mum and she surely believes in me!!  See you in November!!  chEARS!!

So, Yesterday Mum taught be about "BLOCK!"  I found out that when she says "BLOCK" that she wants me to walk up to the big purple pastic steps that are always in the arena!

She has been asking me to do this ridiculous maneuver for MONTHS!  But she never had a good word for it!  Or she would ask me to "Step Up"...which TOTALLY means something different!  So yesterday when she FINALLY started speakin' my language and saw my Lightbulb go off, I thought we had it made in the shade!  All she wants me to do is walk up along side her while she stands above me!  Do it just right and TA DA! A Carrot appears!  So today she got me all dressed up in my boots and saddle and bridle and stuff and said..."BLOCK!"  I walked all the way to where she was and stood right up to her and waited for my treat!  TA DA!!  Then she got on me!  Well, that was OK too! I'm used ta that and it IS easier if I just stand still while she's gettin' on!  Perfect day so far right!!?  So then Mums says.."WALK!"  Wait, what?  Did she say BLOCK or WALK?  Whatever she said, she repeated it.  Hmmmm...A carrot for BLOCK and nothing for a WALK...So I just stood there!  Betting on the carrot!  At first I could tell Mums was confused!  I like walkin' most days!  I'm good at it and I can cover some ground!  Wasn't like me to not move!!  Suddenly she realized what she had done and what I was doing!  She started laughin so hard!  (Can never say Mum doesn't have a sense of humor!)  and then she said...OH CRAP!!  Huh...Guess OH CRAP! Means WALK...so off I went!!  When she rode me back and said BLOCK I marched right over to the Purple Plastic Step thingy again.  But I've never done a BLOCK with Mum on me!  It was always with her standin' on the Purple thing!  Thats how I knows where to stop!  So I walked over the purple thing, kicked it under myself, kicked with my back footies and knocked it over.  Uh....Oh....There goes my CARROT!  Wait...Mum said BLOCK and took me over to the fence!  She climbed off and I got my TREAT!!  I HEART "BLOCK"!!  Now...we just have to work on Mums vocabulary!!
 

We had such a great Weekend at Happ's!  Since I lose my mind trying to manage doing the trail course during a show, Mums offered to judge while I stayed in the round pen and flirted with Turbo the Stallion!  Bella winned the In-Hand class (again!)  It is tough having a perfect cousin, but Mums loves me just for me!  (Thank Ears!)  After the show Mums took me on the course to practice stuff!  I only bolted and left her in the dust once this time!  Maureen sez I need a tag that sez..."If you Find me, please call Search and Rescue and go look for my Mum"  Sometimes my "I don't Wannas take over!"  I don't run cuz I'm scared, I just DON' WANNA DO ANYTHING!!  I waited for Mum by the Barn, she marched right up to me and took me right back out to the pond...I was just checkin' to see if she would!  I showed Mums that she didn't have to worry about the suspension bridge AND I got to see a mini-horse pullin' a cart!  It had a flag waving on it and it was making "rattley Bang" noises that Adena is telling us about!  I wan't scared at all! I tried to chase it but Mums made me behave myself...as usual!  I was a very good girl this weekend and I got loads of extra scritches!  I got to wear my Saddle on Saturday and Mums did alots of climbing on and off of me!  I learned that Scritches are best after a sweaty saddle pad comes off!  We had a safe trip home, even though Mums caught me eating shavings in the trailer on the way home!  But my stummy is fine!  I had to poop ALOT on the way home just to reassure her!  Have a great week!! Until our next adventure...chEARS!!

I had a VERY busy weekend!  First of all, stuff started blowing up around my barn on Wednesday night!  I was pretty cool with it all!  I had the horses there to reassure and protect, so my hooves were full!  Then on Saturday morning, Mums and Dads came to get me in my Mule Mobile and off we went on ANOTHER adventure!  It took us a long time to get where we were goin' cuz Dads said something about Blankety Blank Holiday Traffic! I didn't understand alots of the words he said, but I do know that we came to a very sudden stop at one point and I almost fell over!...But we finally got to our destination!  Bolender Horse Park in Silver Creek Washington!  I've been there before and was so super excited when Mums remembered my favorite stall with my favorite Paddock with my FAVORITE ROLLIN' DIRT!   I trotted right down there and after some dirt snufflin' and tail flickin' down I went....ROLL ROLL ROLL!  Up I came, SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!  And then down I went ROLL ROLL ROLL...Well you probably get the picture!  After some lunch and a nice nap in the sunshine, I took Mums up to the Mule Park!  She's getting pretty good and walking next to me while I walk over stuff!  She has finally learned how to ask me to stop on the teeter totter and back off!  I was pretty proud of her!  I think she is finally gettin' it!  I tried and tried to show her how to balance me so we weren't teeterin' or totterin', but we have to work on that!  Then she took me to a scary pond...I told her and told her I wasn't goin' in...but finally just to get her to leave me alone I quick ran across it!  It was a deep one too!  I did all the bridges, a ditch I remember from last time and a new ditch that I hadn't seen before.  Then I was walking through the ditch when Mums was up above me...Suddenly I saw a pasture and horses and I fogot all about Mums and made a very sudden and unannounced exit!  I was kickin' and playin' and yellin' to my new friends (who all ran away)...Mums came after me.  Her face was RED!  She didn't say nuthin'. She just picked up my rope and marched me right back over to that ditch.  I could tell she was mad.  She didn't even look at me but she put me back in that ditch.  I was there for a long long time and she was standing right there in front of me.  Then I got to take ONE step forward.  Then I had to stand for a long time, then one step back...and well, once again you get the picture.  I put on my Big Mule Panties and pulled it together after that.  Yikes!
The rest of the weekend was fun!  I got my Park time in early cuz it was HOT in the afternoons!  On Sunday I got to run around a 5 acre pasture all by myself!  My dog Brody thought it would be great fun to share this big runnin' space with me!  I chased him and chased him until he left!  I coulda caught him too...don't let him tell you otherwise!
On Monday when we got home there were splosions and lights and all kinds of ruckus goin' on!  Auntie Dena and Erin, my footie friend, Came up to make sure I was doin' OK!  I said!  Sure I am! I even got to talk to Mums on the phone!   Well mainly I listened cuz Aunt Dena held the phone to my ear!  Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!  Maybe I can be in a Parade Next year!  That would be FUN!!  chEARS!!

I understand that in this age of Twitters and Tweets and Facebook and IM and Texts that Blogging is DEAD! Well, guess what?  I don't care! 
Do you remember when you were little and you got your first Diary!!  It was a precious, secret place where you could record your crushes and pimples and cramps and complaints and worries and fun times!!  You religiously latched that little gold lock and hid the tiny gold key.  You probably didn't find out until adulthood that your brothers read your Diary regulary until you graduated High School!  All it took was a wiggle and a tug and your "key" was obsolete!
Relizing that Blogging is completely OLD SCHOOL..I thought maybe I would give it up...but no.  I need my Diary to talk about Stella and the trials and tribulations....as well as the rewards and amazingness of sharing my life with a mule!  That being said, I came across this video that brought tears to my eyes.  In part because I share this mans training philosophy and also because our trainer does to!   Nice to be validated!!   I hope you enjoy Josh Fosters view on training and making a connection with your critter!  ChEARS and Merry Christmas!!