Mules..love em and hate em

[mulerider]

My 5 yr old mollie mule, which I have had since she was 6 mos old, has been a satisfying challenge. Slick, fast, and damn smart (part of the challenge), training her was not easy. And she does love to poop in the barn (I think she knows it's more work for me). Her abilities are still growing, and she still needs to be less "spooky", but as long as I keep exposing her to new things, it'll get better. She loads, stands still for checking her feet or saddling, is good at tracking goats (cattle soon), and pulls well from the horn.
Seems every picture I've taken from the saddle, her ears are in it...

[Hud]

Ya gotta love those ears!  After you've had mules for a while, a horse's ears just don't look normal.  Sound like you got a good mule. 5yrs old is still a youngster, as far as spookyness goes.  Just keep introducing her to new stuff.

What kind of stuff still spooks her?

I just got a new pair of full lenght chaps.  I got on "Sota" with out thinking they would bother her.  Well when I threw my leg over they did! We had a little bit of a rodeo.  So I took them back off and tied them on the saddle and ran her around the roundpen untill she was use to them.  She is walking over the teeter-toter ok now.

Hud

[jiminpa]

keep those mule post coming,i want to get another and this time have a good idea on what to look for!! :roll:

[mulerider]

My mule confounds me by one walking in a river, then a week later balking at crossing a 2 ft wide creek. She is cautious (yea I know...their nature), and I try to keep her out of trouble, to build her confidence in me.
We ALWAYS confront those mule-eatin' gremlins she finds (bushes, black trash bags, etc).
My only comment on training is never tolerate ANY movement that is subtle or clearly aggressive, even if easily avoided. I learned that a little late, and had to "un-due" some bad habits she learned. And that's a lot harder than never having it happen.
She loves to still "test" me....but is slowly learning that will earn some trips around the corral, only ending when she walks up "friendly".
Mules are sure different than their mothers....
One pleasure sure comes when you hear a dedicated horse owner say "I didn't know you could do that with a mule"   :grin:

[Hud]

Sota is still quite leary of small streams of moving water too.  I am going to have to rig up a recirculating pump and make a fake stream out of a half section of 4" pipe for part of my obsticle course.  Also she is careful about muddy spots if her feet start sinking in. Practice practice practice.

You mentioned teaching your mule to track.  There is a gentalman up north of me that was at the mounted clinic I was at this spring. He teaches horses to track and find people.  His horse can find a person hidden in a 40 acre field in less than 15 minutes.  They can't track a individual person, but they can find anybody or everybody in an area.  This would not work so well in a city but would work well when looking for a lost person in a rural or remote area.

Hud

[mulerider]

Maybe it's a regional thang, but when I mentioned "tracking goats", it was in regards to roping. Prior to actually catching them (or trying to), I get her used to following the goat(s), and if a mule or horse can do that, cattle
are easy. Damn goats are quick! Too many empty loops where there was briefly a goat.
Hud: who made your new mule saddle? Custom maker here in TX wants $2300 for one built on mule bars, and I'm not interested in spending near that much. See them advertised cheaper, but buying one sight unseen is scary, w/o some good references.

[Hud]

Yea, I call that "locking on" to a cow.  There's probably a lot of different names for that.

My saddle is made by the Austrailan Stock Saddle Co.  It is not Austrailan.  It is a copy of a western 1850 style saddle called the Shootist.

Here is the website
http://www.aussiesaddle.com/classic.html#Shootist

Hud

[Hud]

You have to ask for it on mule bars but it is the same price. I also got the takaberry latigo rig with it. I like that too.

Hud