For those who don’t know, mules are bred from mares (female horses) and a jack (male donkey). They are a hybrid creature and according to science, they are sterile because their gene strands don’t line up. A male mule is a “mule,” while a female is a molly. Ours came with no name so she is now Molly.

For a week, the cowboy could not catch Molly even though she had a halter and a leadrope dangling and she was in a very small corral. She’d bury her face in a corner and threaten. They don’t call it a mule kick for nothing. Being mule kicked can be fatal, especially for my cowboy who is no spring chicken. But he is patient.

Gradually over the next month, he won her over. He used his secret weapon, pure cane syrup. Mules, unlike horses that will take your reward/goodie, eat it and enjoy it and still treat you like a stranger, mules respond well to rewards. The cowboy puts the syrup on the end of a long stick and lets her lick it off. Gradually, he got her working in the round pen, but to actually touch her, he had to drive her into the cattle chute. There, he brushed her and started putting tack on her (bridle, harness, long lines).

When Molly was dropped off here, we were told she had been ridden and driven. Bahahahah! Sorry, but there was no way. We contacted the trainer who supposedly performed these feats and learned he had climbed on her back one time while she was snubbed up against a huge post. He said he lunged her. She did do this well after she was driven into the round pen. And he said he drove her pulling a sled. Meanwhile, the cowboy continued his patient work.

Since Molly had the tendency to bolt, once the cowboy had her tacking up for him, he decided to hitch her to a sled but attach her to the boom of his tractor in front. In this way, she was prevented from running off. They only have to bolt once to be ruined. You can’t trust them with a wagon ever again. Wagon wrecks are serious. There are no seatbelts. So the cowboy had to give her a whoa.

More weeks of patience by the cowboy and Molly had pulled a wagon around the block behind the tractor twice, pulled a sled and a pasture drag without the tractor but inside a fenced area. There is only one more step left to this process, getting her to the point where her whoa is good enough to trust her with a wagon and no tractor.

(Molly and the drag: Molly pulls the pasture drag behind the tractor driven by the cowboy. Photo: Janet Schrader-Seccafico)

In the mean time, he has started saddling her. She now “likes” him . . . a lot. But no one else. The cowboy finds this insanely gratifying and his tough old cowboy heart has opened to Molly. He tried to get on her the other day and she protested. This could take a while. But old Molly is coming along.

Mules are famous for remembering and it’s true. They do. Once they learn something it’s imprinted on their brains. One day the cowboy had a job shoeing 11 head of mules for a man who, once a year, takes them out of the pasture, shoes them, and takes them packing into the mountains. We were a little worried. They’d been out to pasture and untouched for an entire year. But after a few minutes, the mules “remembered,” and the shoeing went on without any huge glitches.

These cantankerous animals are also famous for being stubborn, hence the saying “stubborn as a mule,” and they are. Molly still will not let anyone but the cowboy, approach her. She still doesn’t lead well, plants her feet and refuses to move forward. Mules are famous for being strong . . . and they are. Molly can pull the heaviest load. The blend of horse and donkey has created a tough animal. There is a rumor that mules will eat anything. That is not true. Molly will only eat her grain, hay, corn on the cob, her treat, cane syrup, and grass. Put anything else in her bucket, she turns her nose up. Mules are also known to develop habits they will not alter. If you feed them in one spot for a long time, they will ignore food placed in a different location. Where a horse will eat grain if available until they colic and die, mules are sensible. You can fill their buckets with grain, they eat all they need, and ignore the rest.

When this country was first settled, the mule was the favorite draft animal of the masses. They are strong, live off very little, sensible and strangely loyal. When Molly first came, I didn’t like mules at all. Molly is slowly changing my mind. If she will only grow to like me as much as she likes the cowboy, I might like mules.

(Down the road: Molly pulls the wagon driven by John Gentry behind the tractor driven by the cowboy. Photo: Janet Schrader-Seccafico)

------------

About the author: Janet Schrader-Seccafico is a multi-published author with a new book out through ravenousromance.com called The Virgin Shifter under the pen name Melanie Thompson, another called The Secret, The Shifter, and Sex Slave Shanghai and one more under the pen name Janet Post called Alligator Gold available from amazon.com. A retired reporter, she lives on a ranch in North Florida with her cowboy husband, a fluctuating number of cows, six dogs, three horses and a cat. Check out her two websites: melaniethompsonauthor.com and floridacrackerwesterns.com.



Email: jschrade52@yahoo.com

Tweet

Comment on this article here!



------------

All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal).

	Web useless-knowledge.com