Thursday, July 30, 2009

A light-hearted question about mules...hmmm...who could I be thinking of? ;o)?

Awhile back while trailriding in Shawnee National Forest, our group met up with a couple, he rode a QH, and she had this gorgeous dun (?) grulla (?) mule. Great folks, had a fun time.
It seemed like everyone we met had some sort of smart a** (sorry) comment about the mule. "Wow, Nice A**" "You need to get your a** going or you'll never get back to camp." "Hey, comin' through, get your a** out of my way" Well, you get the picture. It was all done in fun, and she had a great sense of humor...we saw the "Haulin' A**" decal on her trailer...
So, mule-o-philes, what's the funniest thing anyone has said to you? Does any of this stuff get under your skin? I know attitude probably has a lot to do with it, so what crosses the line to offend?
Answers:
First if anyone has a problem with the word '***', skip this post :)
How many serious ppl have you met that ride mules?? LOL
Most mule owners have a great sense of humor and are used to being humbled by their mounts. So if someone makes a comment about my mule, it depends on if that comment was made in hmmm meanness or out of fun.
Since I show my mule against horses, I get the joy of seeing ppl absolutely lose all self composure when they are beat by a mule. Majority of the time, my son does the halter and showmanship with him so the ppl standing next to me, have no clue I am with the 'jackass' out in the arena lol. One time that sticks out the most was a halter class. My mule is TB type and the judge put him into the hunter halter class. A guy was standing along ring side with me and Stretch (Razzmyass) beat his horse. I think Stretch placed like 3rd in a big class. The guy totally lost it and went off on how he was going to sell his horse because a %26$(#%26#(%26$ jackass beat it, sad sad day when a (%26#$(*#%26#( can beat a horse . So his daughter leaves the arena and my son and mule follow them out. He then sees I was standing next to him . I wink at him and walk on by . Later that day, he sees us hooked to cart and makes a 'nice' comment, I took it as an apology .
I have had ppl at the shows make negative mean comments to me, my standard comment is, " well he's only 1/2 ***,whats your excuse?". Then I make sure I can lope off faster than they can LOL.
Other than that, the doctors and coworkers make fun comments all the time--
In those cases my comments are
I have a hairy black ***
I have a hairy spotted ***
Does this make my *** look big
it goes on and on.
I never mind joking, I play into it just as much.
Most of the time when we are at shows, we just get bombarded by questions from ppl that don't know much about mules. Ppl see Stretch and want to buy a mule, what they don't realize is, there is a reason why only one of my mules is a show mule, they take so much work to bring up to that level that its impossible for me to get that same caliber out of all of them. For every one hour of training that goes into a horse, consider it 3 hrs more into a mule. Thats why a good mule will cost more than a horse of the same training.
On my truck, I have a running mule with haulin *** under it. I have a sticker on my trailer that says
"Caution show horses, *horses is scratched out*, then written is Mule with an attitude!"
To even ride a mule you have to have thick skin, you better have a pretty good sense of humor to go with it :)
I'm looking forward to this. I'm planning to get a mule and they're a rare thing in the UK. I will just smile, and get my mule to do something their horse can't...
That's if I can find a mule in the first place!
The only thing that gets under my skin is if people are disrespectful of my beautiful Kate - a red quarter horse molly mule who looks like a big red carrot.
Otherwise I have no problem with "mule jokes" after all Mules are only half-a**ed anyway!
Oh - did you know that donkeys and mules carry the sign of the cross across their backs and withers? That's because the mule colt is what Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, and the donkey is what Mary rode into Bethlehem. And the donkey/mule is the only other creature besides Man to whom God gave speech. And at least the donkey/mule said something intelligent.
I love those retorts to the disrespectful.
I had 2 donkeys in high school and I heard it all.
They would ask if they could come over and "ride me a**" or tell me my a** was hairy and I should shave it.
Those are the 2 I remember. I now have a baby a** and my mother in-law tells everyone she has a grandass.
It gets under my skin completely. Why the **** do you call a mule a ***? I dont get it. and i dont think its funny
Oh, yes...the a** jokes. I never take them personally. You can't..most people know absolutely nothing about Mules, and I have even had people surprised you could ride one! As a girl growing up, I dreamed of owning a horse..as most young girls do. I never had one until I was grown...I only had riding lessons. Upon becoming an adult, and buying a house in the country with some land, I decided it was high time my dream come true. I had some neighbors who bred/sold horses, and I was riding a good QH one day, thinking of buying him, and my neighbor asked if I'd ever ridden a mule...of course, I hadn't. So, I hopped off %26 got on his mule. I was SOLD. I found me a good john mule, he was old %26 reliable, %26 very well broke. I loved him so much. He was the best animal. That mule could be on a trail, and you'd just give him his head, he would walk for hours. Never run you into anything. No trees, no branches, nothing. He was slow, but he was good. Bought me a QH next. Nice horse. Good breeding. Nothing like my mule...so, I got another young john mule. This one was awesome. He was broke to ride, hunt, drive, pack, just about anything. And, he was TALL! All legs. If you were on a trail, you always had to duck, them branches would take your head clean off. Going down hills, you always felt it'd be a long fall if you did fall..never did.
What I really wanted to say was I have never met a "horse" person who loved mules...but, nearly every "mule" person I know LOVES horses, too. I think it is really rather funny. And, if you own a mule, I think you know to expect a few "a**" jokes now %26 again. But, we can rest assured knowing that these people have never known how great a trail ride, or a wagon ride can be with a good mule leading the way...right??
On top of the fact that I'd rather ride a mule than a horse any day, I think my favorite comment is "nice a**!" I always retort with "thanks, I like her too, but she won't like you!" Mules are kinda picky when it comes to picking a person. People are always afraid of what my mule will do to their horse, when the horse has never seen a mule. They always say, will your mule bite my horse? or Does your mule kick, well if she kicked I'd put a red ribbon in her tail. And a mule doesn't kick at you, they don't miss!
I remember once, a long time ago actually, I was asked by a 4 H board member to come show with the horses, when the judge in our mule show didn't even see my mule. She said, our judges don't over look the best, and reward the ones who don't work with their animals.
I have a sign on my trailer that says "don't be what you see, drive carefully, MULES!" We always get thumbs up and honks when we're haulin'.

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