After saddling up a mule and a horse yesterday we rode them across a friend's pasture and through a gate, which I had to dismount to open and close. As I was getting back on my mule he tore off full bore, and this was before I was even in the saddle. Half in the saddle, I grabbed the reins and pulled hard while trying to remain calm. There was no slowing him down and since the area was full of all kinds of deadfall and stumps and there is a barbed wire fence, I bailed the way I was taught in an area with no logs.

Spent last night having surgery for a badly broken ankle. No weight allowed for one month. I will still be able to float with friends but I won't be guiding for a while. DOUBLE WHAMMY! Lose your source of income and get a $5000 hospital bill on the same day.

I don't know what happened to that mule. I've never seen anything like it. He's normally a steady guy and maybe stepped on a hornets nest? Saw something that really scared him? Who knows? It's going to take me a while to get back on one of those beasts.