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Re: [RC] mule question - Juli Jakub - indiancpgot to stick my two cents in on this one. i grew up with mules, rode mules, drove mules including to what we called a sled. a wooden platform that just was dragged along the dusty red road. kids would pile on that thing and awaaaay we'd go. what fun. all of these were wonderful well trained mules. trained for just about everything. went for years with horses and then mule hunger hit me. had to have a mule. bought a two year old totally untrained gelding and the fun began!! i shoulda known. the owner was sporting a broken arm which he admited the mule had done (only after i told him we were going to buy him anyhow). when i first laid eyes on my boy he was in a six ft. round pen with a halter and twenty foot rope dragging.. when we got him he stood quietly but threw his head back and looked down his nose at us. got him home and in a stall...POP..over the dutch door and gone! i didn't get that mule for two weeks. we'd think we had him hemmed up and POP over whatever it was we thought would stop him. he could (probably still can at 29) jump wire, split rail, etc. etc. etc. we finally worked it out though and when he was three i started "training", never got the first buck. did you know if a mule doesn't want to do something they can back every bit as fast as they can go forward? before this turns into a novel i'll slim it down by saying i've NEVER worked as hard in my entire life "training" as i did on this one. it was so hard that one day when we'd been working on the trails in the hot summer time and i couldn't get him to go the way i wanted i came home and told my husband "i want you to SHOOT john!!!" wise man that he is he told me to wait an hour and if i still wanted him to shoot john he would. to finish up the story john ended up being the wisest most sure footed and calmest mount i've ever had. we became partners and if john said something couldn't be done then it couldn't be done but he'd offer an alternative that worked just fine. i wouldn't take anything in this world for the experience of working with and becoming partners with this boy but i wouldn't do it again for "nuttin". john was and still is an odd duck. i'm still after all these years the only person who can get him.he STILL will not accept a treat from my hand and if he's displeased he still throws that head back and looks down his nose at you. nobody believes he's 29 now and i think he'll be with us many many more years. i've had lot's of offers for him but selling him would be like selling a part of myself so here he stays. i think everyone should experience "training" a mule. they'll teach you as much as you teach them. <G> just hopefully you don't get one that is near as weird as our johnny hee haw. by the way his dam was a quarter mare. patty in georgia Man does not have the only memory, The animals remember, The earth remembers, The stones remember, If you know how to listen, they will tell you many things. Claude Kuwanijuma - Hopi Spiritual leader. . ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ridecamp Guest" <guest-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 10:35 AM Subject: [RC] mule question - Juli Jakub
(Quote) Rob or any other mule people, What is the cross you use on your mules? TB? Arab? I have a nice TB mare that I might breed and I was thinking I might like a mule for the fun of it. Any info you >could provide on how you like your mules and how it was to train them ( different from horses? ect) would be appreciated. Exactly how do you go about finding a >good "stud" to breed a mule anyway? Thanks ahead for any info you could point me to or pass my way. Cheers, Juli Juli, My Annabelle is a Walker/Mule. I also have a gray Crabbit Arabian/Mule. I don't think that the need for Arabian or TB blood is as important when looking at mule. The thing that make them good is the mixture, and that fact that they are mules. Behavior and body shape is more important. But well bred TB do make some of the finest mules. Leroy who was discussed just a while ago was a TB/Mule. The two mules Marirose competes on are TB/mule. Her's are both completive but also loving and gentle. You should talk to Marirose, she bred and raised them herself. I believe one of the reason you don't see more mules in endurance is because the are so versatile. A good Arab that is hot, completive and just loves to run, may move from owner to owner until it finds and endurance rider. It's found it's home and does what it's good at. It does what it was born to do. A good mule that is completive, may well also be happy walking a trail, pulling a cart, or safely and slowly carrying a 7 year old child between some poles at some fairgrounds. How do I like my mule? I love my mule, and could never go back to horses. How are they different than horses? That would be a whole book of an answer. So I'm going to recommend a book; (THE MULE COMPANION), by Cynthia Attar. How to find a good Stud? Send me a email. Rob and Annabelle
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