To those who have started mule colts

[FlipFlopFarmer]

All of the experience I have starting colts is with horses. I have raised and started several. I have owned one female donkey years ago, and she was already trained. My methods of training/starting under saddle, are based on the clinton anderson style. Having given that history so you have an idea on my knowledge base, here is my question..........

I purchased a 7 month old molly mule with the main intent on having her pull a small cart and allow my younger sister to ride her, and maybe even have her carry a pack when i go camping. I was wondering if you guys with experience could give me pointers on a few things I can work on until I get my training dvd's in the mail.
1. how do i go about teaching her to stand tied to a post for things like grooming, bathing etc.
2. can i teach her to lunge like a horse colt?

I understand mules respond differently than horses, I leaned this by reading free material online, and observing my mule ( gerty lou) around my mares. I want to train her correctly, I want her to bond strongly to me and trust me. She is a very very sweet lil mule, and I would like to start doing a few things with her immediately.

thanks in advance for your responses.

 

[()relics]

Never owned a mule but I do use a donkey. She is substantially smarter than any horse I have ever owned. I Don't think you can ever train them completely because they are such independent thinkers. Horses can be trained using the Herd mentality, You are the Boss and Prove it, The horse listens and obeys because...Well You are the Herd Leader...Not so much a donkey...If you think you can outsmart them you are wrong. If you think you can train them using "horse methods", again I think you are wrong...I think you have to come to an agreement with them, They understand and will get the idea. One useful tip I have found....They become VERY attached to 1 animal that they are kept with. If you try to take them away, for any reason, they throw a fit. Find their "buddy" and use him to help you train the donkey. If you want a team, keep a pair of them together, alone. They will be inseperable. If you want a pack animal keep it with your trail horses. Out on the trail you won't even need a line on her because she will not leave "her horses". Our donkey just trots behind our horses while we are riding, just off my grey geldings left rear leg, nearly all the time.
I used to use them to train horses but now that I am getting too old to fall off horses, I save the breaking to the kids, and Daisy, the only donkey I have left here, stays with our boer goat herd. You don't want to harrass them unless you like dealing with a Mad Donkey, because now They are her animals.

 

[michickenwrangler]

The barn I ride at has had several mules go through there

They owned a gaited mule for awhile with the intention that he be the husband's hunting mount. He was extremely bound to the stallion he was pastured with and if anyone took the stallion away, he would run through the fence. They tried putting him in a stall if anyone rode the stallion and he would thrash and all but kill himself trying to get out. He was broke to ride but they sold him.

Trainer also trained a few gaited mules for a friend of her husband. They were very placid animals, but had no respect for anything--humans, horses, fences.

And they had a pony mule for awhile. He was old and died of old age, but he was very herd bound to my mare and several times he broke out of the pasture to follow us. And of course while I took him home, there was traffic on that quiet dirt road like there never was before.

"Hey, nice @$$!"

"What a cute @$$ you have!"



From what I have gathered, they learn very fast. Too fast. They can very easily pick up bad habits.

 

[Bunnylady]

For the last four years, I have been owned by a 32" mini mule, Betsy. She was 9 years old when she was given to me by a very frustrated friend of mine. The man she had gotten Betsy from had told her she could be ridden or driven. After I'd had Betsy about a week, I came to the conclusion that he had either been speaking hypothetically, or outright lying; that little animal had no training at all!

My mule came with serious trust issues, so everything I was told by mule trainers was exponentially true with her. But these are some of the things I've learned:

Pet, don't pat. Anything even remotely like hitting is a reprimand to them.

You don't bully a mule. If you try, it will come back to bite you, sometimes literally! Be clear about what you want, be fair about what you ask them to do. They usually are quite willing to do what you want, once they are sure that it is safe.

Mules are so smart, they almost seem psychic. They may "get it" faster than you do! Once they have learned something, they never, ever forget it, so be sure you are teaching something that you want them to remember.

While you can lunge a mule, you don't want to do it much. They get bored easily, and then they can get "creative." If you do too much repetition with a mule, it may think it's doing something wrong, and try to get it right by doing it differently, which means you are actually regressing in your training instead of advancing.

Mules are usually perfectly happy to do a job, once they understand what that job is. Betsy thinks her job is to look after little ones, either human or equine. She is very good with children and has "adopted" two mini weanlings that have outgrown her mother hen-ing and now outrank her. She also keeps my goats in line, something that neither mini can do, though they are bigger than she is!

Good luck with your longear!

 

[w c]

I only worked with one over the years. It had no training at the time, except some rough knocking around so that he was wary and afraid of anything moving near his face. Had no real idea what to do or how to behave. Reacted to everything just as a horse would, except that he was more thoughtful and would figure out your mistakes quicker. I had to have a clear idea of what I wanted to do and be systematic and consistent.

Training him was like a series of conversations in which he told me what I was doing wrong. Since they are generally not as go-go-go and excitable as a horse, it is a different experience.

I don't think Clinton Anderson's methods would work well with a mule or donkey. Too much stopping and neck bending and standing around, they want to stop too much as it is. I got better results from 'my' mule (I loved him!) from keeping him moving at a steady speed, and keeping sessions very SHORT.

During the session, he needed to keep moving. Five minutes of trotting and one halt at the end was better. It's important to teach them that when you say trot, they need to keep trotting until you say whoa, not get 'nursed along' with constant clucks and flicks of the whip.

Too, because of the usually shorter stiffer neck and shoulder, all that bending puts them more off balance than a horse. Mine got very stoppy with all the neck bending someone else tried to do. he did much better with 'just keep moving' and a very slight bend of the neck on a large circle.

I had no problem longeing, but again, keep it short and sweet, and don't focus so much on stopping and walking, or that's all you'll get.

This one also had a problem with fences, but respected well built, solid fences. The owner told me it's VERY important to not let them get sour by putting them out with the same horse all the time. They need to keep getting switched around. I think they feel they have to protect their 'herd', so this one, he ran down a dog in the pasture and near about killed it. I would not assume they will leave dogs or other small animals alone.

 

[Bunnylady]

he ran down a dog in the pasture and near about killed it. I would not assume they will leave dogs or other small animals alone.

I second the recommendation not to trust a mule around a dog. The animosity of donkeys and mules toward predators is legendary! In fact, I remember an animated antique bank from wa-ay back when. This one had a tiny dog that peeked out from behind a hay bale. When you put a coin in, a tiny mule jumped forward to try to stomp the dog, and the dog jumped back. Dating, as it did, from a time when mules were common, it needed no explanation then!

 

[w c]

It just amazed me, but the lady who owned the mule, had gotten him to protect her livestock. I was like 'aw, come on', til she sent me a picture of a mule stomping a cougar to death. It was pretty much a throw rug by then, and the mule was swinging the throw rug around by the tail. Absolutely do not assume it will coexist with a bunch of dogs. I must say though my horses are no different. I pity the dog that gets in a pasture with any of them.

The feeling you get with a mule, is that they are thinking over what you tell them. There's a famous old story to match your wind up toy. A man hitches up his mule, and climbs into the wagon and says 'giddy up'. The mule just stands there. He gets out of the wagon, checks the brakes, wheels, and harness. Climbs back in, 'giddy up'. The mule just stands there. The guy picks up a 4 by 4 post, walks around to the mule, and knocks him in the head with it so hard the mule falls to the ground. As the mule is groggily lifting its head, the man says, 'Now that I have your attention....'

Which shows you how they got treated, in the 'good old days'.

 

[Weedchick]

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to say that Meredith Hodges has an excellent book on training longears called "Training
Mules and Donkeys". She also has training videos available. Maybe she has been mentioned elsewhere... She has vast experience with mules and donkeys, and has shown them in dressage and CT and done well.