Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine February 2018 Vol 3 Issue 1

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

horse a basic maneuver such as when to depart at a walk during groundwork a horse will pick this up pretty quickly. The mule takes a little longer to fully understand what you are asking, but then once he has it, he has it for forever. If a mule doesn’t see the point in doing something, then he won’t. I ask JoJo to go over a narrow obstacle bridge. He wasn’t afraid of it, but he decided to just go around it. I stopped him, backed him up, and then ask again and he went over it perfectly. Typically my horses will just immediately go over any bridge I ask of them. The reactions seem to be a little Continued on Page 44

For the largest part, there is absolutely no difference in training a mule than training a horse. I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing mule trainers, and I have yet to have one say anything differently. However, some will openly say this statement and some will only say it behind closed doors. I kind of have mixed feelings about training a mule and a horse the same. I would say that a solid 90% is exactly the same. Every equine learns from the release of pressure. But that other 10% does take some time to get accustomed to if you have always rode a horse. Here is what I have noticed with my journey of my first mule, JoJo. Please understand, I

am typically a clinician that trains people. I have started two horses and for some reason I keep buying horses that have sat for a while in a pasture. This was also the case with my mule. However, our horses and mule have all won buckles, saddles, and/or titles in divisions from Novice to Open in disciplines from obstacles, dressage, mounted archery and as of last year, the mule and I even won a rodeo queen title. Our herd is also able to be rented to trail guest with vast amounts of experience ranging from showing up with high heels on the ride, to trainers. One main difference I have noticed is the amount of time. In general, if I am teaching a

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