[Woodland]

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottaw....php?id=450524

Edited to 500 words

[ChocoMare]

[Jumpin_Horses]

as the proud owner of a (rescued at 3 months old) 2.5 year old baby Muley, and 2 donks...... I can TOTALLY relate to your story

Loved it!

[Antaeus]

DH came home to find Gambler (our Mule) cruising around the "horse" yard. He had jumped one of his corral panels - the one to the yard, not the one to the arena.

[Alagirl]

Life in your neck of the woods is never boring, is it!

[Bluey]

That was a great story and so well told.

Growing up in the mountains, averaging nine mules to one horse, I just can't think mules are special or really different than horses.
They are more different as individuals than if they are a mule or horse.
By the way, practically every mule we had was brown and I thought other colors were extremely rare in mules.

Looks like you had a wonderful mule there.

[OverandOnward]

great story!

[jenm]

Quite simply: Mules rock!

Loved the story.

[Woodland]

Thank you for the kind reviews. If you are interested I have written other columns for this same paper

This one is a favorite Joshua story that still brings people to my farm to meet him - he has quite a fan club!

http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottaw...=Heidi%20Henry

Every few years they give me the opportunity to write a series of columns for them - I really enjoy it!

[ThoroughbredFancy]

Lovely tale. I was hung up on the fact that the woman didn't buy the horse she was trying out, because it sounds like he was pretty well behaved through that mayhem!

[Bluey]

I think you may be glad those buyers didn't become neighbors, if they didn't appreciate life with all kinds of critters around them.
You need neighbors that will laugh with you, not be worried about what kind of neighbor they may have.

Wonderful stories.
Don't you have a picture of Joshua you could share with us?

[Toadie's mom]

Great stories! When I got my mini-donk, @ 5 months of age, I had dreams of us growing old together. He'd be pulling me in a cute little cart when I got to old to climb up on the horses. The fact that I was by no stretch of the imagination a donkey trainer became evident when I halter broke him. That took every ounce of patience I could muster! He's 16 now, and I still haven't bought that cart.

[Woodland]

Don't you have a picture of Joshua you could share with us?

Thanks!

There is a picture of him in the local paper in the first link it is at the bottom of the page on the right.

[Bluey]

Thanks!

There is a picture of him in the local paper in the first link it is at the bottom of the page on the right.

Oh, thanks, it didn't show up before, this time, there is a picture of Joshua eating on the right side at the start of the story.
My computer some times does odd things.

Joshua looks like a solid one, what can be seen there.

[LookmaNohands]

My two mini mules got loose last night! Slipped out the gate because I was too tired and too sick to know what I was doing. It was almost dark. They had 60 acres to fill up on. I sort of knew which direction they went because all the horses that I had just brought in were looking the same way. After wandering around for a few minutes I decided I was hopeless so I got on my reliable 28 yr old gelding and headed out into the dark. I told him to find the mules, he immediately turned toward the paddock they had escaped from.

I knew they were not there and turned him in the direction he and the other horses had been looking before I mounted up. We started skirting the edge of my 20 acre field. It took about ten minutes but I knew we had found them when my horse shied really hard. He saw the mules! One is catchable, one is not. I got off armed with a small halter and lead and some cookies but these, of course, were no match for a large field of grass and took off. I thought, geeeezz. It is going to be a long night and I feel really crummy. I could just make out the two mules as they headed down the lane between two pastures. I hoped they would turn toward the barn and their paddock. No. They turned the other way.

Merlin is pretty intuitive. I think he knew I was feeling bad. He turned and went right through a gate into the only other paddock other than his own that had a water trough low enough for he and Buddy to drink out of. Then Buddy followed him in. All I had to do was close the gate.

They had a round bale and a fair amount of grass in that field for the night, which of course is too much! I moved them to their regular paddock this morning.

All is now well!!