I recently acquired a mule! I love her to death already, she doesn’t have a bad-tempered bone in her body. She’s trained to ride, but needs a little bit of fine-tuning. I really would like some insight on mules and the best way to go about handling, bonding with, and training them. TIA
Here’s a couple pictures of the little cutie:
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3 (pardon my lack of helmet – it totally slipped my mind and I was very startled when I realized I’d forgotten it)
Go to this page: https://sites.google.com/site/brayhaven/ and scroll down to the bottom for links to some good articles. I have one of General Pershing’s sons and Greg gave me a lot of good mule advice.
There’s also lots of info here: http://luckythreeranch.com/
Mules are great fun if you are temperamentally suited to being owned by one. 
She is very cute. There are lots and lots of good books out there for training mules, but some of the best mule trainers out there. I’d start with something by Meredith Hodges. Do be aware that they are quite different than horses, although not in a “better or worse” sort of way.
Be prepared to take things a little slower, but then not drill once you have them down. The thing that jumps to mind first when people ask me what’s so different about them is that very often, you can “bully” a horse in a way that a mule will never, ever stand for. I’m not talking about gross physical harm, but for example…if a horse is having some doubts about crossing something scary, you might tap them with the whip behind the leg and they’ll go forward. You can “growl” at a horse who is hesitating to step on the trailer, and they’ll hop right on. A mule will have none of that. If they aren’t sure about something, they will not be doing it. This is where they get their “stubborn” reputation from, but the fact is that they just need the question explained to them better. My mule has never hesitated to do what I ask once he fully understands the scenario. And like I said, once he “gets it”, that’s that. I’ll never have to revisit water crossings or trailer loading with him again in his life. It is part of their highly-developed self-preservation instinct.
I can’t be too much of a help with the bonding issue. Mine was a cuddlebug right from the beginning, once he learned who fed him. They definitely will pick a person or two to bond to…mine is a good-natured, well behaved guy for basically anyone who handles him, but he will come RUNNING across the field to greet me when I pull in after work.
Here’s my guy, “Henry.” I’ve had him for six or seven years now, and he’s a delight. He’s only 13.2 or so, a little wee guy, and next spring I’m actually going to start shopping for a slightly-larger molly mule to be my main riding companion.
She is a darling, supaflyskye! And the two of you look great together!
Goforagallop, you have just explained why a couple of schoolteachers told me I was mule-headed! I take it as a compliment. 
Supa, my firewall won’t let me see your mule pics because it says they are sexually explicit, LOL.
oliverreed your firewall probably has tumblr blocked, that’s where they’re hosted. sorry!
goforagallop your mule is purely adorable! mine is a tiny thing as well, somewhere between 12 and 13hh, I haven’t measured her yet.
we’re already making good progress! (even w/o a girth that fits her yet) today by the end of the ride we were trotting around the ring w/o slowing to a walk for a couple strides in front of the gate, when at the start of the ride yesterday just making it past the gate, period, was an accomplishment. =)
Thanks for the info everyone! good reading. I’m determined to be the best mule trainer I can be.
So adorable! I love her!!! Best of luck!
How’d you decide to get her? Gotta be a story worth hearing there!
Congratulations!
[QUOTE=Lady Eboshi;7838906]
How’d you decide to get her? Gotta be a story worth hearing there!
Congratulations! :)[/QUOTE]
Its not that fascinating a story, really. I’m looking for someone to do an off-site lease on one of my geldings, which would leave me w only one horse. My parents gave my permission (the horses are at their house) to look for a companion animal animal such as a donkey, that would be cheap to buy and cheap to feed; this darling mule popped up on Craigslist for extremely cheap – and I’d honestly much rather have a mule, something I can can ride, than a donkey; I couldn’t pass it up.
Sounds great–have fun with her!
One of my riding buddies switched from QTR horses to mules about 4 years ago and after riding with her all this time I am a fan of mules. Hers are obedient, smart and nice looking. Bonus- they are affectionate too!
Thanks, she’s coming on pretty decently so far, her biggest flaw is being slightly herdbound and a bit hard to steer (especially when she’s feeling like she wants to head back toward the barn), both are improving immensely each day though. She is also incredibly “lazy,” which, as I learned from the resources nosuchperson provided, is not laziness, but simply the exercise intolerance which is of the nature of mules. Its interesting, the way she has been trained, she does not respond to squeezing from the legs at all, only kicks-- that is not to say a wallop w/ the heel, more a tap tap tap w/ the back of the calf-- to move forward, to steer, everything requires actually removing your leg from her side and reapplying it, squeezing simply does not do a thing.
We’re getting to know each other though, and its going pretty well so far.
I always joke that my mules are actually environmentalists - they’re all about energy conservation. :lol:
We had a huge Belgian mule once. And everyone is correct, they are different from horses. Our horses shunned him. He ended up going to live with the neighbors heifers for a year and then was sold to a man who worked him in harness. He was very intelligent in a slow sort of way. Maybe wise is a better word.
And he insisted on rolling every day. As soon as he left the barn. Sometimes before he got to the pasture gate. Someone told my mother if you let a mule roll over every day you can keep him on half the feed. I believe it. There was some sort of weird mule necessity going on there…
I was searching through the files on my computer for a document that I never did find, but in the process, I stumbled across this:
The Difference Between a Whinny and a Bray
A horse can be dominated by men
A mule can be dominated by none
A horse succumbs to aggression
A mule succumbs to affection
A horse is indifferent to man
A mule is inquisitive to man
A horse moves, then thinks
A mule thinks, then moves
A horse is trained by short punishment and small rewards
A mule is trained by long patience and great logic
To ride a horse well, one must be proud
To ride a mule well, one must be humble
The more one understands people, the more one loves animals
The more one understands animals, the more one loves mules!
