ON THE EDGE OF COMMON SENSE – By Baxter BlackMule ConversionMule Conversion

Western Horseman | January 2004 | Baxter Black

[Cuttnhorse]

ON THE EDGE OF COMMON SENSE – By Baxter Black

Mule Conversion

What makes a man switch from horses to mules? Loneliness? Desperation? Boredom? Something to fulfill his life after he quits chewing Copenhagen??

Deb has watched Jimmy make the change. She actually may have contributed to his fall, which makes her an accessory, because she bought him a carriage for Christmas. She hadn’t known he’d been fantasizing about jacks and jennies the same way teamsters fantasize about Reos and Kenworths.

Jimmy started going to buggy and wagon sales, draft-horse shows, Amish rodeos. He started learning the names of things, doubletrees, neck yokes, spacers, tugs, sulkies, lines, gees, haws, hitches, hames, contusions, fractures, sprains, bolsters, blinders, britches, and bruises. He began experimenting. Maybe it was the challenge that appealed to him…dealing with an equal.

Deb had gone to Amarillo shopping. Upon returning, her 15-year old son, Will, met her at the door. She could tell something was wrong. “Dad’s had a small wreck,” he said. “He tried four-up, didn’t he?” she asked. Will nodded. “Which ones did he use?”

It turned out Jimmy had hitched George and Huey, 2-year-old mules weighing about 700-pounds each, with Dolly and Patsy, full-grown, well-broke mules at 1,500 pounds each, to a big rubber-tired flatbed hay wagon. Jimmy wasn’t exactly sure which pair should be in front, so he put the big broke mules in the lead. As Custer would say, “I didn’t know.”

Jimmy didn’t have a complete set of harnesses for four-up, so he improvised with doubled-over baling wire, hay twine, old saddle parts, an inner tube, hog rings, an elevator belt, u-bolts, water skiing tow rope, and the frayed electrical cord off a broken belt sander. He showed son Will how to work the brake and admonished him to never jump off.

With Jimmy ahold of the lines and young Will with a death grip on the brake, they eased out into the pasture. The jury-rigged chains on the wheel horse doubletree began slappin’ and bangin’. It spooked the young mules. Jimmy, who had never driven four-up was still tryin’ to get the eight lines sorted out. He looked like a man rassling an octopus. Dolly and Patsy took advantage and were soon pounding across the soft ground like thundering buffalo! George and Huey were trying to keep up. Will was mashing on the brake with all his might and Jimmy was shouting, “DON’T JUMP OFF!! DON’T JUMP OFF!!” They ran until the young mules simply quit, and started dragging their feet. They plowed to a stop with George and Huey sort of wadded up against the wagon.

Thanks to Ace Reid, the patron saint of cowboys, neither mule nor man was hurt except for the blisters between Jimmy’s fingers and Will’s dog, who sprained an ankle jumping from the wagon at full speed.

Deb says that Jimmy’s next major project will be a 20-mule team hitch. Right now he’s savin’ up hog rings and baling wire. Should be good. I just hope the dog heals up in time.

[Cuttnhorse]

Bax always has it right

[Cuttnhorse]

Ping

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
50	Ireland	50.00	1	50.00	24	2.08

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[international american]

"Bax always has it right"

Yes he does. If you have a BB ping list, please add me to it.
Best regards, IA

[Cuttnhorse]

Thanks,

I don't have a formal list but will keep you in mind when I go to the effort of copying him from Western Horseman.

Have you ever seen him in person??

[Cuttnhorse]

I've seen Bax a bunch of times; my wife used to work for a veterinarian who went to vet school with Bax and Bax came to our small Idaho town for a Fouth of July party.

He is one fine person, about as nice and pleasant a person as you could hope for. I've seen him perform a bunch of times in Elko, Nevada, at Cowboy Poetry. He'll play guitar and drink whiskey and talk to his many fans 'till 3 in the morning. He really is a great guy.

[FourPeas]

I've always enjoyed his views. My cousin is a BIG fan. He'll like knowing that he's a great guy, too.

[international american]

No, I have never met him. My dad, who grew up on a horse ranch in Colorado turned me onto him many years ago. He was a regular contributor to Fencepost magazine. There was an A&E special on him in the mid 1990's. I taped it. Will look for it today.

Best regards, IA

[Cuttnhorse]

Baxter Black can shoe a horse, string a bob wire fence and bang out a Bob Wills classic on his flat-top guitar. Cowboy poet, ex-veterinarian and sorry team roper, he has more hair around his lip than on his head. Raised in New Mexico, he spent his workin' life in the mountain west tormenting cows. Now Baxter lives in Arizona and travels the country tormenting cowboys.

Since 1982, Baxter Black has been rhyming his way into the national spotlight, and now stands as the best selling cowboy poet in the known universe. He’s written many books (including a rodeo novel), recorded over a dozen audio and video tapes, and achieved notoriety as a syndicated columnist and radio commentator. From the Tonight Show and PBS to NPR and the NFR, Baxter’s wacko verse has been seen and heard by millions. His works are prominently displayed in both big city libraries and small town feed stores.

Yet Black, who still doesn't own a television, fax machine or cellular phone, hasn't changed a thing about his subject matter or his delivery. He continues to focus on the day-to-day ups and downs of everyday people who live with livestock and work the land. Driven by a left-handed sense of humor, Black evokes laughter just by being there. Baxter’s philosophy is simple enough - in spite of all the computerized, digitized, high-tech innovations now available to mankind, there will always be a need for someone who can “think up stuff.”

"He could make a dead man sit up and laugh" - Washington Post

[AnAmericanMother]

Uh-uh. Mules are too smart.

As William Faulkner said, a mule will work for you 20 years for a chance to kick you once.

I'll stick to the ponies. They're nicer.

Here's my good-hearted Tbred mare doing her thing in the hunting field last weekend. I wouldn't trade her for a span of sorrel mules!

[Cuttnhorse]

The wife and I used to go to Cowboy Poetry in Elko every year. A favorite late night watering hole and gathering place is the second floor of the Stockman's where all the performers and musicians gather to pick and grin. You can see everyone there, and Bax will play guitar, drink whiskey and BS with anyone who has the time.

He is a treasure and I admire him immensly.

[international american]

"As William Faulkner said, a mule will work for you 20 years for a chance to kick you once."

ROTF!!
My favorite Faulkner line is as follows.

When asked why he rarely answered or even opened his mail, Faulkner said: " I will not be at the beck and call of every SOB who has 3 cents for a postage stamp" :)

[EagleMamaMT]

LOL! I needed a good laugh today! I get to see him once in a great while on the Rural Channel on Dish Network. He's a great guy and right on the money most of the time.

[AnAmericanMother]

"The past is not dead; it is not even past."

[Cuttnhorse]

What a pretty girl.

I've never spent much time around mules, but have seen some that are amazing...can do cutting, reining, jumping, just about anything. I've always figured it takes the right personality to get along with mules...I think if you are suspicious of them, better not fool with 'em. They are smarter than horses in a lot of ways.

I've got some mule owner friends who you couldn't give a good horse to.

[international american]

Thanks for the photo. I am moving to Summerlin, NV in March
Where is Elko from there?

[international american]

:)

[Cuttnhorse]

When we go home to the US in the summer, we are glued to the Rural Channel. We're now living in Chile and sure miss home...every day. We have a small ranch in Idaho and as soon as we own it, will return home and be broke like all our neighbors and friends.

[Cuttnhorse]

I spent 20-years wandering around Nevada and have never heard of Summerlin. Where is it??

[international american]

Summerlin, or at least where my house will be, is 14 miles up Sahara Bl. on the hillside from downtown Lost Wages.