Friday 23 March 2012

Don't Make a Mounting Out of a Molehill

Greetings muleteers!  Please excuse the title to my post but there is a reason for my spelling, my hooves haven't slipped on the keyboard ;-) and I'm not mixing my metaphors!

The sun has been shining and it is officially Spring!  Yipppeeeee.... I've been busy playing kiss chase with The Mini and making sure I mow the lawn with precision.  The mornings and evenings are getting lighter and this means that human and I are managing to do more fun stuff.  When she's finished the boring jobs like mule poo collection (you humans really do collect the strangest things in your wheelbarrows) it's time for training.

Human and I have been working on standing still again this week (yawn....) and have nearly got it sorted.  I have developed the saying 'don't make a mounting out of a molehill', aren't I clever?  Now human getting on and off without me moving is getting easy now that I know what on earth she is talking about!

So human very kindly broke it all down in to steps, it's a bit like learning to read (which of course I can do!), you don't start reading the full series of lord of the rings until you've mastered the Winnie the Pooh books.  We started out with her telling me where my feet needed to be.... she was very precise and when I'd got it right I knew it as I got a lovely ear rub and forehead scratch just where I like it.


Once I had mastered standing like a statue human gave my saddle a gentle tug to tell me that she was preparing to launch herself onboard.  This is very important because us mules need time to anchor our feet appropriately, how would you feel if someone jumped on your back without any notice?
And then gently does it, I stand steady and beautiful as human leaps on board!

Finally she was on board and after practicing a few times we were ready for the off for a gentle stroll up the lane... guess we need to master the mounting up before we can be off on our long trail rides. 

This whole process just goes to show that standing still for human to clamber aboard is easy when you know how, it just has to be explained properly, we're not mind readers you know... why make a mounting out of a molehill?

I've got another busy weekend ahead muleteers so will update soon, til then enjoy the sunshine!  Callie xxx

2 comments:

  1. LOL, I know Mules are great at teaching patience,who would of thought that you were so good at learning how to be patient yourself Callie.. Well done, both of you x

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  2. Such a dignified pose, Callie, patiently awaiting for Human to maneuver. You resemble the statue of Aphrodite, so beautiful and still!. I love the little stool, for a gentle launch I fancy?.

    Bravo Callie, you have your Human very well trained!. You make a pretty pair.

    Sending you e-carrots ♥

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