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A Good Mule!

Current bathroom book is Sam Savitt’s True Horse Stories, one of my finds from the library sale recently. Nice short chapters.

One story Sam had heard from the source was of a country doctor who did rounds on his mule, Jenny. Since he was often out at all hours, he had learned to sleep in the saddle. Jenny would take him home.

So one night, he was out setting a broken leg, and they had an awful storm, but the storm was blowing over. That house requested him to stay overnight, and he refused, needed to get back home in case another call came in. So he climbed aboard his mule, turned her head for home, and went to sleep.

He woke up when the mule stopped, and he was at his gate. The stable boy came out to meet him and was all scared and asked if he was all right and which way had he come. The doctor didn’t understand at all. He’d come along Whatever Road, of course. The stable boy then said that they had received word that the bridge over the river had washed out during the storm.

The next morning in daylight, the stable boy and the doctor went to the river to investigate. Sure enough, the bridge was smashed and mostly washed away. However, there was one narrow beam that still spanned the river, side to side, and there were the hoof prints on each side.

The doctor’s mule, in the dark and with him asleep in the saddle, had walked carefully along that one beam across the river while taking him home.

Wow.

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Oh my gosh, I got chills. Thanks for sharing!

This brought tears to my eyes. Yes, thank you for sharing.

Cool story :grin:
My cousin spent some time as a working hand on a cattle ranch.
One of his jobs was checking many acres of fencelines at O’Dark Thirty.
He told me he’d doze off in the saddle & his horse would stop at any break in the fence & stand until he woke.

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Mules are smart as whips. That’s why I don’t have one -smarter than me!

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