[HeeHawHaven]

Just updating everyone on Duke.

We had another good day of driving Duke! We hooked up the wagon and took him up the road, then around our neighbors farm through his service roads. Probably 2/3rd’s of the drive was on packed gravel/mud. The drive is a little over 3 miles. He’s still getting in condition. He sweats a lot! I think he’s 100 lbs. or so overweight or at least too flabby in spots. If it turns to muscle, he’ll be happier.

We came across a heifer that was lose. She even turned and walked toward us. He just looked at her and kept on going. He ended up pushing her down the road and into the driveway of the owner! All of this was stress free on him.

As far as being herd bound – he moves well away from the ranch, but will call back every now and then. We just keep him moving and tell him to quit.

We got home and tied him up for a moment while I put new wheels on the light cart that we’ve been fixing up. I backed him into the shafts, hooked him up and off the wife went again.

This time, she took him in the arena (lots of sand) just in case he wouldn’t be used to the light weight. He was perfect. So, she wants barrels out there. She proceeds to put him through the barrel pattern on the cart – all in a nice moving trot. Our 11 year old son had to have some of that so he took the lines and gave it a try – all good. Then, it’s my turn (yep, even though you tack them up, fix the equipment, etc… you’re always last!).

Then, we took him out into our let out pasture which is a little rolling and has some irrigation ditches. All went well. Tracy drove him back in even over the bridge we built for a riding obstacle.

Now, we’re thinking about adapting our trail training course for carts! He takes everything in stride!

Oh yeah, one more thing, our son took him around the barrels one more time – got a lope out of him! He grinned from ear to ear!

Here’s some pics!

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

Congrats! Keep them generations of teamsters coming!

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

I understand their need to keep the bloodlines, but this doesn’t make sense with making a mule since the resulting offspring would be sterile. This does nothing to upset the bloodlines. It may even bring more attention to the breed. What I do understand is the economy of these choices. The prices I’ve seen for Friesian colt/phillies is still quite high. Registered Fjords are high priced too. On the other hand, non-registered fjords are not too costly and are sometimes downright cheap; look at Duke. He won’t win any Fjord shows, but he’s a great one!

I think it’s also a prejudice against mules in general. We mule people run into it all the time. We hear “those things can’t run, they can’t pull, they kick, they sit down, etc…” Our neighbor stopped by today while we were driving and said “Oh, you’ll be riding that from now on won’t you?” He thinks I’ll stop riding mules now that I have a horse.

I like what someone else said on another thread. I like what I like, I like what makes me happy, I like what works for me. For me, if mules were good enough for Salomon and David, they’re good enough for me!

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

Duh…..

I’m not ready for the drama of seeing them in front yet! We’ll condition them in the back first. Work with them on the ground and in due time……

They’re a bit squirrelly right now. The weather is cool and they feel really full of themselves!

Come on down and you give them a try!:D

[HeeHawHaven]

Could use some better weather to work with them more. We may tie their lead ropes to the wagon today and give them a workout.

Don’t think we haven’t thought of doing a unicorn hitch with Duke up front and the fjord mules behind!

What is a frule anyway? I know a fjule is our nickname for a fjord mule…..:)

[HeeHawHaven]

Well,

As you know, the Fjord registry is really strict too and I have 2 Fjord mules. It can happen, just find someone with a quality mare that’s willing.

I think it would be a great combination!

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

I don’t know, but yours look great! Real beefy! But, this is coming from a 5 mule, 1 horse owning guy. And, the horse is stout, but not 1500 lbs. Welcome to the forum. I’m rather new too!

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

Got a dusting the other day. I hope we’re done! I want to spend more time working with Duke without freezing my donkey off!

D

[HeeHawHaven]

Well, here’s a couple of pics of my mules after what I’ve been feeding all winter. They look great to me.

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

Great Job!

I also had my hands on lines for the first time on Sunday. Tracy handed them to me on our ride with our great new Fjord, Duke.

It is an awesome feeling to have your hands on that power! And, for some reason, it feels completely different than riding.

Keep it up!

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

I know nothing about oxen, but I say “good luck’ and have fun!

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

This is terrible! I feel so badly for him and his family! Here he was living out his “dream” and it turned into a nightmare!

He will be in my prayers!

Here’s the link to his web page so we can learn more about him.

http://wagonteamster.com/

Thanks for the links to the story and the bank.

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

Well said, Geoff! I was thinking the same thing too! I took my hound mix to the vet yesterday for a dental and was amazed that she still weighs 90 lbs. – the same weight we got her from the shelter! She is a huge dog – big enough to put her paws on my 5’10” shoulders for a hug. I’m amazed at folks who say they have 120 lb. labs – these are much smaller dogs. And, as the vet mentioned, look at the owners and you can see what’s going on with the dogs. Maybe this is true with many horses, mules, etc…. I think many people feel that they are “loving” their animals by fattening them up. Kind of like my grandma used to try to do with me!

I suspect my animals are fine too! I think they’re getting their 20 lbs. (approx) of hay and grazing around a little to keep busy. It’s just funny how the internet brings you together with so many different thoughts and ideas. And, I often wonder if many of the people on the other forum spend too much time on their computers and too little time with their animals! It seems like this forum is much more of a “working” mentality as a whole.

Thanks again for all the input so far. I’ll take some pics in a little bit. I’m home today with a cold – kind of hard to teach music when you can barely talk and don’t have much energy.

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

I wonder about feed too. I’ve been recently accused of under-feeding on another forum. Funny, because I’ve also been accused of over-feeding my fjord mule phillies too. My wife and I are transplanted city folks (never going back!) and are only in our 6th year of owning mules, donkeys, and horses.

We grow grass hay, but ran out about 2 weeks ago. I bought a stack of alfalfa/grass mix – 80% grass.

We pasture our mules and donkeys too. The new horse (Fjord) is still penned up so that he bonds with us more than them (another story to be posted soon).

We get winter here in SW Idaho, but not too harsh. We’ve had several 2″ snowfalls this winter, but have had melting in between.

My neighbor is trying to sell his house and he moved already. He allowed us to pasture them on his land. There was a lot of weeds and a good amount of grass too. They’ve since eaten that all down. We also let them eat our grass hay field instead of doing the last cutting. It was only about 8″ long and too rainy at the end of the season to bale up.

So, this winter, our 5 mules, 2 donkeys, llama, and goat have eaten our neighbors pasture down, our 2.6 acre hay field down and about 4 tons of our grass hay. We were able to keep them fed with only 1 bale of hay per day.

I’ve since closed them off our hay field and our neighbors pasture and have put them out on a 6 acre pasture with not much grazing other than to keep them busy.

We feed in the morning and afternoon about 3/4 of a bale each feeding for all the animals above plus the new fjord (overweight from under-use from last owner) and young steer. This is probably about 60 lbs. of hay each feeding for all these animals. The steer gets RBC grain and the 40 year old donkey gets senior equine as well.

They eat for a good 1/2 hour or more and usually end up walking away from the hay near the end and back out to the pasture. The underlings in the herd will usually finish up the hay when the others leave.

Am I starving these animals? I don’t think so. They are not showing ribs. Their coats are thick. There are no hip bones showing except maybe a little in the 40 year old jack. But he is still spunky! They are all energetic and I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for a nice long ride.

I’ll take some pics later for you all to evaluate!

Thanks in advance for your input.

Dave

[HeeHawHaven]

Thanks Donn, It’s great to have friends all over! I love the power of the Internet!

Here’s a better copy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbH6APlN4yU

Dave

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