Damn, I Forgot My Keys!

When I first started riding lessons, I always felt like it took forever to tack up the mule I'd be riding for the day. I didn't know what tack I needed to use, so I was always hounding the wranglers with questions, certain I was never going to know the difference between a Kimberwick and a d-ring snaffle. My favorite days were the busy ones when they'd just hand me a mule that was warmed up and ready to go.

Five years later, I've my own mini tack room in my trailer, which is parked at the barn. Armed with Kimberwicks, curb bits, three saddles, breast collars, cruppers, and the like, I can get Maxine ready to go for Western or English riding in fifteen minutes or less, including a light grooming.

Unless, of course, I forget my keys--which I did today.

"I guess I'm taking a road trip," said Travis, when I realized my main set of keys was still firmly attached to the belt loop of the pants I wore yesterday and the set that's supposed to be in my car hadn't made it back to the glove box since I'd borrowed them as a safety set for my last camp trip.

"Why are you taking a road trip," I asked.

"Because, all of you're tack's locked up," he said.

"No biggie," I replied. "I'll just borrow a saddle and bridle."

Saddle and bridle my ass (pun intended). Not only did I plan to take an English lesson today, I also brought my driving bridle and reins to long-line Maxine. That means that by the time the day was out, I'd borrowed a dressage saddle (boy, was it comfortable!), saddle pad, girth, bridle, crupper, spurs, surcingle, and driving whip.

Of course, since all of the tack was on loan, I had to take time to size everything to fit Maxine. This included trading bits on a bridle so the bit wasn't cinched up to Maxine's eyeballs. As I slowly adjusted the borrowed tack, I had flashbacks to my first year of riding when it took 30 minutes or more to saddle up.

Nevertheless, we had a fantastic lesson. We've been working on our English frame for the last few months and Maxine has responded beautifully. Her trot is so light and floaty that I've begun to call her the English mule disguised as a Western mule. And her canter, which I never thought would happen on both leads, is easy and collected most of the time. We're slowly working our way to 20 laps at the posting trot (five at a time) each lesson. As a result, Maxine is in the best shape of her life (and I'm slowly getting there, too). She honestly looks ten years younger than when I bought her four years ago.

After our English lesson, Travis helped me long-line Maxine and she did great. Max was very quiet and responded will to her lesson. It wasn't the first time with this new challenge, but she and I are still quite new to the cart world. My two-year goal is to have her driving a cart in order to extend her usability into old age. When you have a mule this fab, you do what you can to ensure that your partnership lasts as long as possible.

After we finished, I returned everything back to it's proper bag, corner, and peg. In the end, I'm kinda glad I forgot my keys, because I got to try a new saddle that I really liked. Plus, it gave me a chance to show Travis a few more things about tack fitting (four cheek wrinkles are bad!). Next time I'll remember my keys, but it's nice to know that even when I don't, we can still have a great day.

Photo: Maxine is encouraged to deepen her headset as she floats at the trot. Still, not bad for an old roping mule.