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.

[AnAmericanMother]

Thank you. She is pretty as can be, but the most important thing is that she's kind and will do anything for me. She's a smooth mover and jumps beautifully out of her stride - very comfortable to jump.

I have plowed with my great-aunt's span of mules - Snowball and Burr-Baby. I got along fine with them, but I think they're ugly and they know it. That's not the foundation for a good relationship. :-D

[Cuttnhorse]

Elko is waaaay north, on Interstate-80. If you drive east from Reno on I-80, it's about 5-hours. Great town, still buckaroos wandering around, big ranches and gold mines nearby.

[international american]

"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.

And happy as a pig n slop! I wish you the best. By the way, I live in the US 8 months a year, and 4 months at my other home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

[Cuttnhorse]

I got along fine with them, but I think they're ugly and they know it. That's not the foundation for a good relationship.

LOL!! Not the foundation for a good relationship with mules, dogs or humans.

[international american]

Near Donner Pass? or ??

[Cuttnhorse]

...I live in the US 8 months a year, and 4 months at my other home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Good for you...I've worked all over South America and Africa...after working foreign assignments, regular jobs in the US get pretty boring.

[international american]

"I got along fine with them, but I think they're ugly and they know it"

Don't tell em that!

[EagleMamaMT]

We love the Rural Channel, too. There are so many good programs on it to choose from. When I can shoo my 4 boys away from the TV, and the cartoons they fight each other over all the time, and I get a turn at the TV myself, I always look at the Rural Channel to see what's on.

I hope ya'll can finish buying your ranch in Idaho soon. It's really hard to be away from the place you love.

[Cuttnhorse]

Elko is 5-hours east, toward Utah. Probably about a 10-hour drive north for you...completely different than Lost Wages.

[international american]

My first trip overseas was in 2002. I spent a year in KL setting up a trading company over there. KL is a great city. I have made many friends there. I love America, and was born here, but I always look forward to my time in mALAYSIA.

[Cuttnhorse]

Are you in Montana?? My other favorite state. We are near Montana, in Idaho just south of Missoula. We get over to southwestern Montana quite often. Have friends in Bozeman, Twin Bridges and even Billings.

One of my favorite towns in Montana is Dillon.

[international american]

I would go there in a heartbeat to hear BB go at it.

[Cuttnhorse]

My only excursion to SE Asia was Viet Nam in the '60s. Always wanted to spend more time in the area.

We've been living in Chile for almost 3-years, and while it isn't home, it's not a bad place.

The wife is taking dressage lessons and rides a lot...I just get to work!

[international american]

What do you do in Chile?

[EagleMamaMT]

No, I'm not in Montana. I'm in Missouri. The "MT" in my handle stands for "medical transcriptionist" which is what I have done for a living for the past 23 years.

That said, I visited Montana one time when I was very young. I still remember how beautiful it was. I visited Idaho, too, during the same trip, which is another beautiful place. I love the whole wide open-ness of that part of the U.S. A person can still get a little glimpse of the vastness of the frontier the old mountain men and early pioneers must have encountered as they moved west. I also love Western Oklahoma for the same reason - just the feeling of the vastness and the beauty of the land. Someday, I hope my husband and I can take our boys out to Montana and Idaho so they can experience it, too. I envy you! :)

[Cuttnhorse]

I work for a gold mining company.

[Cuttnhorse]

One last photo

[AnAmericanMother]

My problem is that I was raised with Thoroughbreds. Of course large ears or a large head on a Tbred are serious faults - of course, any white on the body of a Tbred is a serious fault too (as indicating recent coldblood outcross). So I just don't prefer horses of the non-Tbred type - even a typey Paint is going to get looked at askance (which is nothing against the Paint - just my preferences.)

So rather than jug-headed old farm mules like my great-aunt's, I'd have to start with a really highbred mule, like maybe a Spanish jack on a Tbred, maybe THAT sort of mule I could get to liking . . . maybe.

[westmex]

Mules will last a lot longer in hard country, like say Baja California.....

.....Westy.....

[international american]

Geat photo!