Spent today checking out a couple of mules in the Baton Rouge area. The first one I went to see was up north of Zachary in Jackson. I saw those pictures of him on CraigsList and he looked really cute. And he was, but . . . I was amazed at how SMALL he is! The guy who owns him is 6'3" and weighs about 240 and he rode him every day for over a year while he was working in a wooded area over in Mississippi (I forget doing what). I knew that before I went out there - his wife told me on the phone. But when I got there and saw him I was boggled. Here he is - on the right below. Can you believe how tiny he is! The guy in the picture is his owner who rode him all that time.
That horse there in the picture with them is a gelding who doesn't get along with any of their other (many) horses. But that mule gets long just fine with ALL horses - including him!
Here he is standing next to me. Look how tiny! But he's a very sweet boy who likes being around people - particularly women!
I told Debbie (the wife) that I'd give her a call once Mark gets home and if he hasn't been sold, maybe we would come back out there WITH a saddle and see how it feels to ride him. (They already sold his saddle -- they didn't have anything I could ride him with today.)
Okay. So after seeing that boy, I drove over and picked up Janet and Mike and we drove down the road just a couple miles from their place and checked out another mule. THIS one is larger -- about the size Ladybug was -- and a really gorgeous (palomino) color. But he wasn't nearly as friendly as the first one.
The guy who is selling him ended up with him when someone who was renting a trailer on his land quit paying him for allowing his mule to eat in his pasture, and then moved away leaving him behind. The poor boy obviously doesn't have anyone at the moment who cares enough about him to take decent care of him. Look at all the bare spots on his skin. And his feet obviously needed trimmed. And he's thin.
He looks a bit larger here standing next to that little pony than he actually is but he IS much taller than that first one I looked at. He's probably about the same size as Ladybug was - maybe 14.1 or 14.2.
The guy who owns that place said he'd be glad to let me take him and try him out at home - and he'd be glad to bring him over to us and to come get him and take him back if I decided I didn't want to keep him. I told him I wanted to wait until Mark gets home to decide. Frankly, I think I'd prefer to check out that other tiny little guy! Truthfully? . . . I think I'm just going to keep looking. I really want one who's perfectly trained already . . . AND gaited . . . AND female. So -- onward and upward, I guess. (Sure hope those two guys find nice homes that will take good care of them, though.)
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