Congrats @dungrulla! Sal is adorable and so lucky to land with you.
I have no appreciable mule experience, but with my donkeys, the poodle description sounds spot on. I always say donkeys are more like cats and horses are more like dogs in the sense that donkeys default response is “what’s in it for me?”
Good luck! Sounds like you have a good plan.
over the many years we have used various treats for the horses but recently found Purina Outlast Horse Treats that the horses have really, really taken on as their most favorite treat ever surpassing peppermints by a long shot.
We had gotten these at first to help an older mare with gastric problems but found that all the horses’ just became eager to come to us (even the older rescued buckskin who questions everything)… and added plus is the mare we got these for in the first place stopped banging on her stall door
Yep, 15 miles, a day’s work.
And thank you guys for getting that stuck in my head. Just caught myself on the way to the refrigerator “Low bridge, everybody down.” Stop it, I told myself. A few minutes later, “We’ve pulled some barges in our day, filled with something, something, and hay.“ Aargh!!!
ETA: Oops, see my correction, 8 posts down. And the darn song is still stuck in my head!
Mary Kitzmiller is a well known trainer who works with mules and donkeys too. She just got two rescue mules and putting up videos working to gentle them. LOVE Mary. She’s talented, kind, and also does training podcasts for Horses in the Morning.
https://www.facebook.com/MaryKitzmillerHorsemanship
Sweet! Mary is talking about her two new mules in the latest podcast.
https://www.horsesinthemorning.com/category/mary-kitzmiller/
…“lumber, coal and hay, and we know every inch of the way, from Albany to Buffalo-o…” 
We live near buffalo, my husband has always loved that song lol. So when he saw the mule he was like WE CAN NAME HIM SAL!!! and it was never a question what his name was going to be because any mule we got was going to have that name.
I wondered about that too. When I was searching YouTube for the recording I knew as a child, I heard versions with “years” and versions with “miles.” My record said “years.” I guess like so many old songs, words get changed over the years.
Cool. I would not have known that. Thanks for sharing.
The record I had as a child said “years,” and had a wonderful picture of the singer and his mule and the barge and canal, all very muted, darkish colors, which suited the singer’s voice and the tune.
“I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” was on the other side.
Ha! I was wrong!
I was on my actual computer (rare these days) so I decided to check my music library - turns out I don’t have a copy. But it got me wanting to confirm I was right, so I did a search, and turned up a page at eriecanalmuseum.org - now they should know the facts on that song! In fact, they have a whole page, written by a guy who has researched as well as sung the song for 20+ years.
And what do you know, it’s 15 years as originally copyrighted in 1912. Although 15 miles showed up as early as 1926, so it has some history now. (And I definitely remember reading the “day’s work” explanation somewhere sometime, probably a bit of folk etymology because it seemed so logical. This is one of the myths listed on the page below.)
And the official name is “Low Bridge! Everybody Down.”
My source:
Interesting. Thank you for posting.
Now I have the song running through my mind again! Good memories. 
I adore that bottom illustration! Dinah does not look pleased.
Update: he’s home.
For an animal that does not really lead it was confusingly easy to get him on the trailer. Once he realized a bucket of grain was being offered in exchange he got right on like he does it every day of his life. Same when I went to unload him, I had this complex plan to put panels and snow fence up to make sure he goes into the round pen (unfortunately part of the path to it is too narrow for the trailer) so he could get off and follow me in like it’s just a regular thing he does.
There was some negotiation involved to get his catch rope taken off, I elected not to leave it on for risk it might get entangled in the panels, I don’t want him to pull them down. He’s chilling right now.
Well, we’re on day four of our mule adventures. On advice I received, I went in there and worked with him a little just to see what he would do. Basic round pen stuff, the kind of stuff you’d do with a horse. I’ve noticed the following:
-He doesn’t seem to do any of the ‘naughty’ things I was warned about. He’s not particularly interested in kicking, striking, or biting me. He hasn’t tried to run me over even when he’s had opportunity to do so. This has time to change I suppose, but for right now I haven’t seen him try to do anything concerning.
-He is also much more thoughtful than a horse is. I’m not having to worry about him doing stupid stuff like getting scared and ramming himself into panels, or trying to cut through the center of the round pen directly over me. He seems to consider whatever’s being asked before he does it, and everything he does, he does fairly calmly compared to a horse.
-His body language is a lot more subtle but still pretty ‘horselike’. I’m sure there are differences I will see in time, but his facial expressions and body positioning don’t seem that different from a horse.
-He’s also much smarter. He picked up very quickly on how to change directions in the round pen facing me with just me lifting my arm and shifting my body weight over. Generally it takes horses much longer to pick this up, and they also usually aren’t willing to do it without getting freaked out and racing around at least for awhile.
-He will square up with me and follow me for a bit at what he considers a ‘safe’ distance. He is happy to approach and sniff my hand if it’s offered to him. Getting close enough for ME to touch HIM or close enough where I might decide to touch something other than his nose is a no-go right now. Not surprising, it’s only been four days. I know at the quarantine facility they grabbed his halter to handle him, and I want to avoid doing this because I don’t want him to learn he can pull back and get away, and also don’t want him to learn to be headshy.
He has ample hay, because we want him to put on some weight. Right now we’re also giving him some alfalfa and a small quantity of grain twice a day, and he has learned that when we appear he will receive those things so he’s usually waiting for me at the gate to receive them. I’ve made a point of sticking around until he’s at least finished his grain, which he will eat even if I’m standing right next to him on the other side of the gate. He does not seem protective over his food, which is also good.
From what I’m reading, I don’t expect this to be a fast or easy process, but he does at least seem like he wants to engage with me when I’m around. Other than the small round pen session I have mostly just been hanging out in the round pen with him to do chores/feed/etc. He’s very curious about me, but clearly doesn’t trust me yet. That’s okay. We have time. He seems very easy to please and like he has a really good brain, and he doesn’t appear to be mean at all, and all those things are in my favor.
He sounds like a good soul!
I don’t know if this is true for mules, but my donkey’s attention span for lunging or round penning is a fraction of that of a horse. She is a quick study and just gets irritated if you make her go round and round, repeating what she already understands.
I only mention this because Sal sounds like a smart cookie too, so you probably don’t need to grill and drill him either. Sometimes it really is that easy with them! If he seems to have figured it out, he’s probably ready to move on to the next task.
I did round penning and lunging with my mule when saddle training but like @Texarkana mentioned it was more to gauge his energy level, warm him up a bit and just get him in the working mindset and listening to me. He seemed to not need to burn excess energy to be safe to get on. His sessions were brief.
Way different than when lunging my horses , who sometimes needing to be drilled or worked decently before it was safe.
Sounds like he is a good mined guy.
Update: Sal is doing well.
I left for a week because I had an event out of state to go to. I told the housesitter to feed him and not otherwise go in his pen. By day three he had figured out what they looked like and that they brought food. Yesterday when I came home and went to go feed him and he made the most sad pathetic noises. I’m not sure if it’s because he was hungry, or because he’s been alone and bored for a week.
Right before I left he sliced his face open pretty badly somehow, I think he was rubbing his face on the top of the panels and dug the ring from his halter into his face. We wound up buying extra panels and making a pseudo-squeeze chute. I had been warned by my vet and other people that when we took away his option for flight, he would probably start trying to kick/bite us. I am happy to report this did not happen.
Granted, there was a fence between me and the animal, but it was an open piece of pipe corral and he could have totally kicked through it if he wanted to. I had him penned in there with no escape route, and I was doing mean and probably painful stuff to his face. He didn’t LIKE it, but at no point did he try to hurt us. He didn’t kick, bite, or otherwise behave aggressively. This allowed me to get his halter, at which point he seemed to decide ‘oh, that’s all you wanted?’ and stood quietly–if anxiously–to have his halter taken off and wound dressing placed on his wound.
We left the panels in there because if he needs to receive attention from a vet it allows us to work with him without having direct contact, which is safer for everyone involved until he’s been tamed down.
We worked on going into the chute for dinner after that. He only practiced it a few times, but when I came home last night and opened the door to his round pen he happily put himself into the chute and waited for his dinner. The panels are just corral panels so I can pull them in or out to make the space narrower or wider and with more or less corners. I left it wide open with few corners. He allowed me to come in with him. The end of the chute was also left wide open, so if he felt he had to, he could turn around and leave and neither of us was in a position where we could get pinned against a wall or stuffed into a place with no exit.
He let me pet him.
It turns out going for his shoulder is way more intimidating for him than trying to touch his haunches. I’ve been trying to touch his shoulder under the assumption touching his haunches would result in me getting kicked. Turns out he likes when you scratch his butt.
I expect this process to take quite a bit longer, but we’re getting somewhere.
Update: No huge progress to report but Sal was getting the hell bitten out of him by stable flies so we had to do something about that. I now have a 12x12 ez-up tent erected above a 12x12 pipe corral. The legs of the ez-up are firmly anchored to the corral with zip ties and rope. This was my manager’s idea, she has horses and claims it will stay up even during a serious thunderstorm.
He doesn’t 100% trust the ez-up yet. He’s been sniffing back and forth before going into his shelter, taking a bite of food, and skedaddling out of there. But he’ll get it, I’m sure.
That’s interesting… you would think there wouldn’t be a huge difference in touching either place.
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