Pete Seeger! 15 Miles on the Erie Canal. The mule in the song was a “she” though. Great song and substituting a he for a she isn’t too difficult if you’re singing.
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Yes and no 
He does have the most well known recording but the song itself was first recorded in 1912, and may in fact be older than that.
We live in Buffalo, so if we ever someday in the far future take Sal down for a ride on the canalway trail we’ll be sure to take photos for the board
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Interesting to know. It does sound like a song that was/could be, before Seeger’s time. My parents had Pete Seeger records when I was a kid.
Now I can’t get the song out of my head. 
Here, enjoy! 
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I’ve raised a couple of mules and loved them both. Treat them fairly , give them time to process what you are asking.
They are loads different than a horse. I trained mine the same way I did all my horses but let them process as needed. Once they learn something it is set in stone. That goes for good and bad experiences.
My gelding mule (especially) was a total love bug. He would come from where ever he was to be near me. When I was in the barn , in the yard or within sight of him. I miss him.
Sometimes I would be doing something and suddenly found he had come up behind me and was just hovering over me. I never ever heard him coming 
Mules may need less food( in theory) but both mine were good sized and ate just as much as my horses.
Good luck with him and I hope your husband enjoys him.
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True that.
I was around seven to ten when, in the middle of summers, mushrooms would show up every place in the forest floor.
I would take three baskets, mount “my” white neighbor’s mule, my dog following and ride, probably 1000’ to the edge of the forest.
I would dismount, no saddle or bridle, just had a sisal woven halter with lead rope woven into it for reins and mule and dog would follow me as I wandered around and around filling baskets.
Once full, we walked back to our forest clearing with our farm house and those of two neighbors, dog and mule right with me all along.
I would put her up and give that neighbor a basket, take another to the other neighbor and the third one was ours.
If you had asked me who was better, horse or mule, I would have answered that was a silly question, they were both wonderful.
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Honestly, and this is going to sound funny and probably will make the board laugh at me…a lot of the stuff everyone is saying about mules just reminds me a lot of what people say about poodles.
Before you laugh…poodles are very smart dogs. Shockingly smart dogs. This does NOT mean they are push-button dogs or that they will do anything you ask as soon as you ask them to. A poodle is not a border collie. You cannot drill a poodle, if they get it right once and then ask more times they will assume they did it wrong somehow, and then they will get upset. You must give poodles time to process and fully understand a request so it makes logical sense to the dog. If it does not, they are likely to not do what you are asking. And you cannot expect a poodle to do tasks they think are silly…they simply won’t. If they don’t see a reason for what you’re asking, they simply will refuse. I know one poodle that was pulled from higher level obedience because of a ‘well if you wanted the dumbbell why did you throw it?’ type attitude.
It’s amazing how many people, experienced dog people, start with a golden or border collie and then get a poodle and act like they have never trained a dog before in their lives. A poodle that KNOWS a behavior never forgets that behavior, but it takes patience and sensitivity to teach them and they are SO much smarter than many other dog breeds that people sometimes struggle with it. People think I practice a lot with my dog between the multiple classes I have with her a week. I don’t practice very much, often I don’t practice specific behaviors at all actually. Once she gets something she has it, and drilling her to death on it just pisses her off.
The flip side is if you train a task INCORRECTLY it can take a long time to re-teach so it’s done right. Our downs are wrong right now. It’s taking awhile.
Now that I have a poodle I can’t imagine ever not having one.
Horses are very different from dogs so this isn’t a great analogy probably, but on the subject of not imagining ever not having one…let’s hope the mule is the same. If I struggle a little…well, like I said, that’s why I have a trainer. My trainer says, and I quote, ‘I think you’re going to be fine’. We’ll see if she’s right!
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One of my great grandfathers was a mule-skinner on the railroad, and I heard mule stories as a very small child, along those lines. My great-granddaddy was known for his touch with his pair. He said that a mule would never forget – that if ever mistreated, could wait years for just the right time to retaliate – and that a mule must always be treated with respect and fairness.
His pair was non too thrilled about the rainy days when they had to wear slickers while working on the railroad. As a little girl, I always imagined the mules dressed in the type of yellow raincoat, fastened with toggles and with matching hat, that my sister and I wore, lol.
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That is a funny story about the slickers and mules wearing yellow rain coats with hats! Thanks, it made me laugh pretty hard!!
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I also remember that when my mule was 4 months old. We moved and I had a new farrier. He ( for some reason) did not like the man from day 1. This farrier did all the horses at the nearby dressage barn/ boarding stable I worked at and he never had a problem with any of them. He was a nice man?
He got him done once( with protest) and the second time that the farrier got close that mule tried to kick his head off. I ended up trimming him myself ,untied, standing with head hanging and relaxed.
Thankfully we moved a year later and that farrier was totally acceptable , as were all the others that followed when we had to move!
I am not a farrier by any means and have no business trimming but I am happy to say that when the new farrier went to do his feet he said I did a real good job
@dungrulla I have zero experience with poodles but they do sound very much like a mule in dog form 
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We had two hinnies (mare was the donkey, stallion was the horse/pony) and we (and our vet) learned the hard way that they required WAY more sedation by weight than a horse.
We had to give them additional sedation four times before they started slowing down. And it wore off very quickly. The vet kept saying “I can’t believe I haven’t killed him yet” while the little bugger was dragging all three of us up and down the barn aisle. (DidI mention they were only 12 hh?) 
So I’d recommend your vet do some research on this before you need to actually do it.
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Fortunately my vet has enough experience with mules to really dislike them 
she’s the only one kind of unhappy we bought one lol
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Ours always gave a big sigh when she’d climb out of her truck!
One came from a rescue and had been abandoned and traumatized and the other was basically feral after being owned by a woman who essentially let him exist on his own in a field. So even though we worked with them, they weren’t the most compliant creatures to work on.
Quick update on Sal. He’s still at the quarantine facility but I’m getting regular updates. He’s taking treats from total strangers and letting them pet his nose. It’s been one (1) week. Apparently he’s a total hambone because last week, he was very much ‘okay but don’t touch me’.
I think when he gets home he’ll probably come around pretty quick. I’m kind of glad I left him at the quarantine facility run by a trainer, and she was too because she’s been handling him a little every day and he’s already starting to come around. Everyone wants him to go home and be successful, and I really think I lucked out on facilities for him.
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Have a look for Mjolnir the Long Ear on Facebook, he’s a show jumping mule. The owner is a mule trainer.
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I grew up with a Poodle & she was wicked smart!
Observing friends’ mules I agree with you.
On a horsecamping trip I arrived to see one mule grazing happily inside a temporary corral & a 2nd pacing in circles around the corral.
Both belonged to a couple there & when I told them they had a loose mule, they told me he wasn’t loose. He’d gotten out of the enclosure & was now mad he couldn’t get back in with his Molly.
Another friend kept her mule in a pasture with the young (long yearlings) horses she had for resale.
Came home one day to find her flowers trampled to sh*t, her mule pacing outside the pasture & the 2 youngsters safely inside it…
The number of hoofprints all over the yard showed everyone had been out at once.
Her take was: mule had let them out, assisted in the carnage, somehow got the youngsters back in the pasture & the gate closed before he could join them.
And there he was, all by himself to be blamed for the whole mess!
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“Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal”? We had that song on a 78rpm record when I was little. I love that song!
Good luck with Sal!
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Thank you! I love this!!
15 miles on the Erie Canal I think it was when I heard it. I wonder why the lyrics changed with time?.
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I used to have a mini Molly. She could get out of the pasture (never figured out how) but couldn’t get back in. Cue the neighbors putting her in all the wrong places or calling and telling me my “large dog” / “pony” / “donkey” was loose in the neighborhood. She was always so mad about being on the wrong side of the fence.
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