day 5

I'm doing fine. Butch... more about that in a minute.

I'm at the library in a small Texas town I'd love to name but will not for the moment until I get a bit farther on and have the daisy chain going of local folks keeping an eye out for me.

Day one, mule friends and trail angels extraordinaire Lois and John drove us over 4 hours to our starting point. From there we got off to a late start, still working out glitches (after having spent the entire day before completely re-weighing and repacking everything, this time including food and water).

Butch and I set out at 2:34 pm Saturday March 31, 2012. Lois rode along with us for 4 1/2 miles to our first rendezvous with John and the LQ trailer, at a roadside picnic area. I pitched my tent, and after groom, water, roll & feed tied Butch to the fencepost by his lead. After a hot meal (thank you J&L) had sudden bad feeling about Butch being secure so close to the highway, and clipped a second, stronger yellow poly rope to his halter as insurance.

The next morning, there was my mule, looking innocent next to his chewed-off lead rope dangling from the fence. The poly rope was knawed halfway through.

Next day, while we rode John went to the hardware store next town up and bought a chain for Butch. More weight... crap... but he has to be safe. That day Butch did great, striding happily along, ears flopping in relaxation, til the last half hour or so, when he began kicking at his cinch. (We rode maybe 8-9 miles). I loosened the tie strap and exchanged the lovely mohair (thank you Edie!) for his old wool pad cinch, hoping that would help next day. Also the riding became kinda challenging - not due to traffic, which Butch handles very well - but holes. Hundreds and hundreds of holes made by small critters in the soft dirt next to plowed fields. Lois's mule went down to his knees in one and finally refused to go anywhere but right next to the asphalt shoulder. We were worried Butch could hurt himself bad if he stepped in one carrying all that wieght. But we made it, carefully. And the fields! So many wheat fields. To this desert rat, there was something comforting about all those miles of green... green = water. The mules had a feast grazing on volunteer shoots along the wayside. That night chained Butch to the trailer and hobbled him, concerned the light chain might break. Butch tested the chain til late into the night, when he finally fell asleep.

Monday, about midmorning J&L drove away from us with mule Barney in tow, braying at Butch through the bars of the stock trailer. At first Butch seemed confused - hesitant, looking all around anxiously. Then he got his stride. But after about 2 hours he suddenly began having a nervous breakdown. I got off to check the cinch and he tried to tear the lead out of my hands, head high, snorting, spinning, running into me, backing up at my sharp command (thankfully!), then trying it again and again. Took me ages to stop his spinning long enough to get back on.

Turned into a house by the highway to ask permission to stop for an hour for tack check, water mule & lunch. Young woman very sweet with broken German accent, kind but clearly nervous about having a stranger on the property, let me tie him. Or attempt to tie him, I should say. Butch nearly exploded when I tried to tie him to a tree. Apparently he has had enough of being restrained. Brought out the chain, even worse... then he wouldn't let me take off his packs. Wouldn't let me touch him. He started swinging a hind foot at me every time I tried to unclip the rear bags. (Clip was near the cinch-I learned later this was one of the two issues.)I ignored the first 4 warnings, as I have learned that the "10 seconds of death" usually has the opposite effect with him as it's supposed to. Also I knew he was not deliberately being mean, he was scared and confused and hurting somewhere. He nailed me on the 5th. Not hard enough to break my thigh, but man did he bruise it deep! Then I wanted to give him 10 seconds of death, but had nothing in my hands to wallop him with so it was too late to do anything but look big and yell loud. Spent the next hour very, very carefully little by little reaching over to unclip here, untie there... whenever he'd swing I'd stop and just let him stand for about 5 minutes with the packs hanging. It finally worked, he quieted just long enough to let me slide everything off.

But he was still furious at being tied, and hard to get near. What to do? Only 2 in the afternoon and I obviously wasn't going to be able to even check his back, much less get anything back on him. And I couldn't leave him tied all night, not in this condition. And I needed to get him to a place with horse people to help.

I began leading him back down the road to a place I had seen with an empty turnout and metal horses on the driveway gate. Butch tried several times to tear the lead away - something he hasn't done since I first got him 2 1/2 years ago. We ended up at the home of a wonderful woman named Barbara who said they haven't had horses in years, but offered the use of thier huge arena turnout or little pen, and a barn for me to pitch my tent. Husband got home after turning on water in the barn, the whole family swept and cleaned the bathroom and sink area, and then they went and bought a bale of hay. What a blessing! That night there was an issue with hobbles, I am only saying it here to remember to write more later.

Took me 4 hours the next morning, to tack up and pack Butch. I lost his rear cinch in the melee. But once I was on him he gave it his all. Stepped out like he had nothing on his back, focussed and purposeful. As long as we headed south. Butch had spent much of the night pacing the rail, looking west and south. Apparently he thinks that's the direction of home. (He's right!) We turned east and he suddenly got slow and fearful again. I was afraid to get off his back to give it a rest. But I did, halfway there, and without much fuss he let me remount. Barbara had showed me a vet clinic for large animals just east of town. That's where we headed; I wanted the vet to look Butch over, and thought he might know of a place I could put Butch up for 1-2 days to rest.

We rode right through town. City traffic, lights, 3 police cars with sirens blaring, huge construction site going full blast, everything. I kept saying to him "just a little farther Butch, just a little farther... you're doing good... just a little more..." he made it like a champ. Once through, he suddenly began kicking at his cinch again. Then it was: "Just get us to the vet's Butch... don't buck me off... just a little farther..."

We made it right at closing. The vet agreed to let Butch stay in a large pen with grass, gave him hay and got me feed from the store, and let me pitch my tent out back by the rest of the pens.

Today started out discouraged, feeling dirty, hungry and tired. Walked 2 miles to town to eat a good meal and do laundry and errands. Well... landed at a Mireya's restaurant with the world's greatest breakfast burrito, run by the world's most wonderful family. After I ate, they announced they had bought me breakfast! And if that wasn't enough... or more than enough... the daughter, Meriya, offered to drive me to my errands. The first of which was buying a backpack, to carry the tent and feed for Butch. Meriya came with me, and... yup... backpack donated. Oh my gosh. Such generosity! We talked about her church and the tradition of giving, which was very gentle and made me feel more at ease about accepting the help, also knowing it was for Butch and his comfort.

Now I need to get offline so I can go do laundry. And shower later, courtesy of Meriya's fiance Pedro's empty for-rent house. Cleanliness! Woohoo!

And then to the vet's to see how Butch is. Crossing my fingers, hoping hoping it's just mental adjustment, and a bit of soreness that can be easily tended.