bipedalist Posted February 7, 2023 BFF Patron Share Posted February 7, 2023 2 hours ago, Catmandoo said: Sasquatch have approved horses for human transportation for many decades. All animals watch horses. An ebike will not alert you to danger. Now if an ebike could only alert you to a horsefly I'd sign up and forget the horseback riding lessons! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC witness Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 2 hours ago, Catmandoo said: Sasquatch have approved horses for human transportation for many decades. All animals watch horses. An ebike will not alert you to danger. Very true. Many years ago I was riding a quarter horse that a kind French Canadian woman had loaned me for the day. She lived way out in the northern BC woods, working as a logging camp watchman in the off season. During my ride, the horse refused to go down a cut line that I wanted to hunt. When I mentioned it to Yvette when I got bake to the camp, she said " Ah, 'e smell da bear down der, 'e won't go". She called me from the camp a few months later to tell me she'd been riding in the same area, and a bear charged out of the woods towards her, but the horse was able to outrun it down the trail. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted February 7, 2023 Share Posted February 7, 2023 I’ve shot more deer and elk because I was watching my horse or mules ears than I ever did with boots on the ground. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted February 7, 2023 BFF Patron Share Posted February 7, 2023 Old Action Jackson would vouch for the nostril flaring of his horse during a Sasquatch encounter too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC witness Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 Game animals definitely react differently when you're on a horse. I was riding a section of the old HBC trade trail through the mountains NW of Princeton, BC, on a sidehill section when my rented mount turned her head slightly to the left, the uphill side of the trail, and as I followed her gaze, I was looking right into the face of a doe, bedded at the base of a pine, about 12' off the trail, at my eye level. I doubt I would have come anywhere near that close on foot. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
langfordbc Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 On 2/5/2023 at 8:36 PM, norseman said: I hear you. I sold my mules two years ago. It was traumatic. I’ve been riding since I was a kid. My daughters still have 2 horses on the ranch. But that ebike doesn’t paw the ground or girdle a tree when I park it. Doesn’t need hay or water either. It’s pretty easy. Battery up…..gravity down. I didn't grow up with horses (though I did ride a few times as a kid), but my wife had a Morgan/QH gelding when we got together 13 years ago. I've always loved them, and the idea of them, so I'm getting into it at a later age. Not necessarily higher maintenance than EV's and ICE modes of transport, but they definitely have different needs. It's a lifestyle, which I'm sure you know well. My mare's colt is 16 months now, and is very receptive to training, so we'll be looking forward to riding him down the road. Don't see much for mules up here, but I'm interested to learn more about them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 1 minute ago, langfordbc said: I didn't grow up with horses (though I did ride a few times as a kid), but my wife had a Morgan/QH gelding when we got together 13 years ago. I've always loved them, and the idea of them, so I'm getting into it at a later age. Not necessarily higher maintenance than EV's and ICE modes of transport, but they definitely have different needs. It's a lifestyle, which I'm sure you know well. My mare's colt is 16 months now, and is very receptive to training, so we'll be looking forward to riding him down the road. Don't see much for mules up here, but I'm interested to learn more about them. I had vertigo for a year and a half. Two artificial discs in my neck later I’m not perfect but I am better. If this had never happened to me? I would still be in the mountains packing. Boot hunters call you when they have a big elk or moose down two ridges over. You are the apex predator of the woods if you have horses or mules. Mountain man. I miss it very much. So I’m now a yuppie on a ebike. I can still crash but it’s alot lower to the ground and it’s 100 percent my fault.🤣 Mules are hardier, more longevity, more sure footed, less prone to colic, less prone to blow up…. they also don’t forget, more stubborn and often times cost more. But I packed a Molly mule til she was 25 years old. Most horses are not doing that. She packed her last Elk out of the Selkirks 5 years before her death. I put her down. She could no longer follow the other mules up my mountain. I wept like a baby. I sold my last batch of mules two years ago and got out. If I was you I would go buy a riding mule from a outfitter in its teens. Long in tooth for outfitter work. But plenty of life left in it for recreational stuff. That mule will teach you volumes. I bought my first two in my early 20’s from the Busted Ass Ranch sale in Arlee, MT. Two mules and one decker pack saddle. It was Bennies own pack saddle. They auctioned off the mule, pulled his saddle and started bidding on it. It was a Ray Holes pack saddle with manganese bars. I had to have it. Bought it for 350 dollars.🤣 Paid like 1700 bucks for the mules. Everyone said I was crazy! Now? Everything is ridiculously priced. I don’t know where to go now to get good stock. I will poke around for you! 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Here is a auction house with some good lookin mules in Wyoming. https://www.saddlemule.com/mules4sale-detail.php?Chrome-644 Mules have a small hard hoof. Much smaller than a horse of comparative size. They don’t do well in a bog. But in Rocky country they are superb. They can wedge that foot into stuff a horse is gonna skate on, 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incorrigible1 Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Quality postings, Norse. I always appreciate learning skills just paying attention to your postings. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgerm Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 How much would this mule go for. It's the last one on your auction web site? The video showed just how agile mules are and especially the last scenes sliding down the steep rocky hill side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 7 hours ago, georgerm said: How much would this mule go for. It's the last one on your auction web site? The video showed just how agile mules are and especially the last scenes sliding down the steep rocky hill side. A good riding mule can go for 5k these days? But at an auction a person may get lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmknight Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 Looking forward to a Spring expedition with some younger acquaintances of mine, to a very active area. They were camped out on a powerline right-of-way, and had to bug out at 0500 because one of them had his tent pushed down on to the point of collapse. Right now, though, I have to recover from this darned COVID. Day 2, and had horrific nightmares, muscle spasms, and my back locked up in my sleep, so I couldn't roll over. Fever strikes me at night when I'm sleeping, so not only am I having the muscle spasms, but I'm shivering enough to register on a seismometer. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nipissing Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 That sounds miserable; hope you're on the mend soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmknight Posted February 21, 2023 Share Posted February 21, 2023 Okay now, thanks. Starting day 7. No symptoms, but still testing slightly positive with the home antigen test kit. Day 2 was the worst. Still felt like a strong flu, though. By day 4 I had no symptoms except for a runny nose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norseman Posted February 24, 2023 Share Posted February 24, 2023 Kalispel peak. -15 F Frosty one today…. 4 days before March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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