Hi from So. Illinois!

Hello to everyone! First of all I really like this site! There is a lot of good people and great information on here.

I have been around draft horses on occasion and got to drive them but only a couple times a year until now. About a year and a half ago my wife, son and I purchased a small farm with just a few acres and decided to get a few goats. We are animal people and my wife works for an animal rescue(mainly dogs and cats) so we loved having goats but after about a year my wife started talking about how she always wanted a horse. I finally caved after many “discussions” she got a horse. Well of course her horse needed company so it all began. I ended up buying a saddle mule that was not as broke as the owner claimed and it was all over I was addicted! I quickly realized that riding was not all it was made to be so I decided I needed a mule that can do other things too. I purchased a 15yr. old 15.3h 1200lb (needs to gain a couple hundred lb) Belgian cross gelding that was an amish mule that later become a carriage mule in New Orleans. That was the best thing I ever done so now I’m either always building equipment for him or trying to buy some and I hope to purchase another in the near future to have a good team. My wife is starting to think that it wasn’t such a good idea to talk me into getting equine! I will say that she is talking about getting rid of her horse to get another draft mule because she has fallen in love mine.

I have also been picking up saddle mules one at a time, that for one reason or another people want rid of. I work with them and get them where they will ride decent and are on their way to becoming a good mule then offer them for sale to help pay for feed for the others. Paulk