[J-L]

I’ll try and send a picture of one of my mismatches here. If it comes through, it’s a pic my wife took when we came home from the hayfield and the kids didn’t want to walk the mile home after a hard day.

[J-L]

Donn, I do believe they look good enough together to spread manure! I like the team pictures you have with the mules and horses together. Now that is diversity.
I wanted so much to take a picture of my bobsled this winter. I came out of the barn and had 2 cow dogs, 1 moose beagle, 2 kids, and one goat on a load of hay. It was pulled by my little blue mule and and my big black one. Talk about a hodge podge set up.

[J-L]

It’s funny you should bring this up. Just the other day I was visiting with my uncle (who is my neighbor also) and he said he worried so much about me down there working teams by myself daily. He said he’d feel better if there were someone with me.
This caught me off guard and made me think. Here’s a guy who’s 81 years old and still driving a team of Belgians most every day (but with his kid’s or grandkids) who grew up using horses on the ranch, who logged with horses for years, and he’s still concerned about you being by your lonesome working animals. I guess he knows all the pitfalls out there.
I just never give it too much thought. You just go and do your work the way you know how, and try to think ahead enough not to get yourself in a bind that you can’t walk away from.
I kind of like it out by myself also. But now and again having someone to B.S. with besides these mules is a nice change.

[J-L]

I come from a background of riding horses on this cow ranch. We ride a lot more than we drive. The feeling of a riding horse with a heavy mouth still bothers me. This might translate to my dislike of heavy mouthed driving horses.
I was always taught that to be make your horses light, you had to be only as hard on them as you needed to get the response you’re looking for. That’s a simple sounding thing to do, but much harder in practice.
Most of my driving is feeding cows for 6 or 7 months. This is normally by myself and the team has to be able to work on a slack line. No way around it. I want them to be able to handle slight pressure when I’m driving through tight places, but that’s about it.
The last team of Belgians I had were a really nice team, but they were older and had been driven on a tight line. One horse adjusted well to my routine, the other would absolutely lose his confidence when you didn’t have contact with his mouth. I was constantly having to reel him in and shut him down while feeding. He wore a buck back most of the time, and you couldn’t go without it. I tried for 3 years to get him to walk the feed ground. He never did get entirely used to it.
I did read Donn’s article also and he handles them much like my Dad did and how he taught me. That article made a lot of sense to me and I thought it was a really good one. Well done Donn.

[J-L]

Russ, I think you’ll find it an easy job. I occasionally put a saddle horse in harness to work when I run short of horsepower. Usually the horses that are broke fairly decent under a saddle don’t have much problem going to work. I do find that it helps some of them to become better individuals.
The town water intake is on our ranch here and the guys who run the plant come here daily. The boss stopped me one day in the grocery store to visit and had to comment on how he watched me feed and haul hay etc, just about daily and hardly saw the same critters hooked up two weeks in a row. One day was a black and white paint horse and a blue roan mule, next week was a red and white paint horse and a black mule, then a black mule/sorrel mule, sorrel mule/sorrel mule, and so on and so on.
Being mismatched can happen even when both animals are the same size. The reverse is true also. One of my favorite matchups is my little 950 lb blue roan mule and a 1300 lb perch mule. They just work well together and match their gate well. If anything I have to get after the big mule to stay up with that little blue mule (who was a saddle mule for 4 years before I put a collar on her one day. In two days she was feeding cows for me.)
Watch your horse and go along as fast as he can tolerate it without a blowup. It usually comes to them fairly quick. Work what you have and have fun doing it.

[J-L]

I just got around to reading this thread. One thing that struck me was Plowboy mentioning the DHJ as having some good stuff on working animals. The last time I looked at their pub (a looong time ago) it was full of hitch horse type of stuff and very little that was dedicated to working.
Funny how things change.
Sometimes I think Mr. Miller is full of himself (find the last post he put on here) and could be a little more down to earth. Some goofy stuff in the magazine at times, but I still enjoy it, and that may be one of the reasons. Because it does make you think.

[J-L]

Jen you have a good way of putting things. I guess I’m a visual learner too. I would really like to talk Donn, and the others who are computer savvy enough, into drawing a picture of their method for this simple minded rancher. I might just hook 3 on and do what I can. One of my mules is gimpy anyway.

[J-L]

Robert, you die hard man. I’ve got to say I admire your will. Still disagree though.
I had the opportunity to visit with Ronnie Tucker on the phone. The man has a vast amount of experience and knowlege of mules. More than most of us will ever have, due to using them and training tons of them. That was a good conversation. Wish he was my neighbor, I’d bug him to death.
I do believe Donn has it right in his comment about taking away the restraints and using your instinct to read these animals. You always get to that point in any training method really. You will have to hook your animals to unfamiliar things throughout it’s life. At that point you’re relying on instinct and experience to keep things from blowing up. You have to have the ability to read your mules. It takes experience and concentration.
Good old broke animals usually get that way from lot’s of use. If they are started right (however that is), then it’s a matter of getting used.
I think your perspective is that if they like you, they’ll work harder for you. I’m not convinced that’s true either.
Your dog analogy is a good way to gauge how differently you and I think. If I’m riding and my dog won’t come across the creeks, I just keep riding. If he can’t figure it out he’s not the one I want anyhow.

[J-L]

This is fine Robert. We can disagree agreeably. Sure don’t mean that I don’t like to hear your views as well (this goes for everyone). Good luck to you.

[J-L]

There is no reason that pair of mules pictured would not ‘bond’ with who ever they are working for. I just don’t see that viewpoint (no offense, I just don’t understand it).
I work my mules and horses a lot, daily since November. I will never know if they have ‘bonded’ to me. Yes, they show up at the barn door every morning to be harnessed for the days work. Is it because they just flat out love me? I’m not sure. In my honest opininion, I think they like the grain bucket a hell of a lot better than me.
Three of the five that I work were broke by me, and it was a quick training period and then just learning on the go. They are just as willing and trustworthy as anything I’ve ever worked, if not moreso.
I will tell you that in my experience, if you work (and I mean really work) a team long enough and hard enough, you will also wonder if they are bonded to you like a human friend, but you may have the working relationship that you want anyway.
Every now and again you might even have to spank one where the colt sucks if they’re doing wrong and know better. But that won’t mean they won’t ever trust you.
Bottom line for me is, they work for me. I am the boss on this outfit. I try to be a fair boss.

[J-L]

Plowboy just stole the words right out of my mouth. I may never use it either, but can also see it’s merits. I see nothing cruel or abusive there. They are learning the ropes as they go and under control.
I’m not sure why we now believe the mule/horse has to be our buddy to learn anything or be trustworthy.
The worst time I had breaking an animal was a mule who was someones best friend. Pet was more like it, with zero respect for people.

[J-L]

First off, thanks for sharing the pictures and the information. I find it interesting and that’s a nice looking little pair of mules.
Secondly, we still have a thread going on breaking them old school that sure raised some hackles.
I don’t really see anything wrong with it myself. If it works, it works.

[J-L]

You may be right Ira. I didn’t know for sure where those guys came from, I thought New York. It would be interesting to know for sure about the harness’ origins.

[J-L]

Another story on the “Yankee Britchen”. Some people in the west called it Mormon Britchen as well. It’s fairly common around UT, WY, ID.
One story I heard was it came into more common use around here while the Mormons were hauling stone from the the quarry down into the Salt Lake Valley to build their temple. Apparently it was a more practical set up with heavy loads and steep grades. I’m sure it came with some of them from back east when they migrated.
It does a good job holding back loads on a down hill grade. It’ll push the hind feet down somewhat for better traction vs. the box britchen. Although I use my box britchen a lot on a down hill, you have to have it adjusted right or it’s hard on your animals. Whether they’re mule or horse doesn’t matter.
I have a set of Yankee/Mormon britchen harness, but it’s spotted and pretty so it doesn’t see a lot of everyday use. My old box britchen harness is used every day. When it wears out I think I’ll get a plain set of Yankee britchen harness for everyday use.

[J-L]

That was an awesome collection of pictures. Thank you. It’s good to see those work animals in a familiar setting for me (sagebrush and open country). I couldn’t agree more with Jen, those big, soggy gray mules just blew me away. Lot’s of pretty horses also, but what a bunch of nice looking mules. I’d love to have a plowing bee here but am not sure how we’d do in my rock pile. In about 2 or 3 weeks we should be working up my oat/barley hay patch. I’m hoping to drill it with my mules.

[Author]

Posts