MULE CROSSING: Assets of the Mule in Equestrian Sport 2010
By Meredith Hodges
The following is a list of points that I used in my pursuit for “Mule” acceptance into the national equestrian organizations such as the American Horse Show Association, The United States Dressage Federation, the United States Eventing Association and ultimately the United States Equestrian Federation (A.H.S.A. replacement).
- The mission of the U.S.E.A. as in Article 2 of the constitution in “Vision” and “Mission” vows to promote the pursuit of excellence in equestrian sport from grass roots to the Olympics. I am a life member.
- The mule is half horse and therefore his rider is an equestrian.
- Because of his “peculiar” disposition, he demands the respect and cooperation from his handler that is also in pursuit of excellence. He is not likely to put up with a disrespectful rider and therefore demands excellence.
- Dressage has 100’s of years of successful training and is taken well by mules because of its positive attention to all aspects of the equine’s well being and development. It makes sense to the mule that is an animal that is sensitive with a strong sense of self preservation. It is the right way to develop an athlete. When conditioning for other types of equine sport, Dressage is still the base from which one should work. Any other way would be considered a short cut and could result in a shortened life span, injury or death!
- I began lessons with Melinda Weatherford in Colorado in Dressage with my mules and began to see phenomenal results.
- Once we had achieved some level of competence (Training Level), I was able to ride with some of the best riders and most influential people in the equestrian world:
- Major Anders Lindgren helped my now 4th level mule, Lucky Three Sundowner begin true forward motion in his lateral exercises.
- Denny Emerson, Jim Graham and Bruce Davidson helped refine our techniques for the 3-day horse trials.
- In 1986, we approached the U.S.D.F. and were accepted in non-AHSA sanctioned shows.
- We continued to improve and score high in Dressage tests to 3rd Level and were schooling at 4thLevel, at which time we approached our own World competition at Bishop Mule Days and in 1992, Dressage classes were included in our world show. There is continued interest and growth in these classes.
- It was because of the help of individuals like Major Anders Lindgren, Denny Emerson, Jim Graham, Bruce Davidson and others like them who have helped us achieve levels of Horsemanship never before achieved by anyone with mules and we have subsequently inspired those who follow to pursue these venues of Horsemanship.
- Those that helped have truly done what your constitution (U.S.E.A.) implies and now there are more than 6 million mules in United States. Many of their owners are in pursuit of these same levels of Horsemanship. I was fortunate that those in my area were more than happy to open their shows to my mules and me. There are other areas that haven’t been as cooperative.
- The struggles that have arisen from this issue are largely coming from those who are yet naïve on the finer points of Horsemanship. Those who don’t want to compete with mules because they scare the horses, simply have not the trust from their animals to learn to investigate first. This is not anything that cannot be improved by improving their own skills in dealing with their horses.
- Mule people’s naivety shows when they approach this issue with the idea that a mule is better than a horse. Dressage teaches you to learn to do your best with your animal and the ones you should be competing against is simply yourself! When your scores improve, you are doing well. When you have a low score on any given day, you learn one day does not a whole life make and we hope for a better score next time. Everyone can’t always have good days.
- The equine industry only represents about 1% of the population. We should not be arguing amongst ourselves. Rather, we should try to recruit more interest in our industry for the success of the industry itself. Mules can bring in more numbers of participants in these kinds of activities.
- Mules can actually promote more interest from the public because they are not expected to be there. Thus, they can help to sell more tickets top events.
- Some of our future Olympic riders could be mule riders with exceptional ability. The mules would insist on the best from their riders to get to this level much beyond what a horse demands from his rider.
- There is increased interest in 4-H club children who wish to use mules as their projects. They add humor to the equation and make them more fun to be around in a lot of instances thus promoting staying power. Children are less likely to lose interest like they often do with horses. People are drawn to the unusual.
- We have been working on this quest since 1986, 17 years! If this were not something that people believe to be an important issue, it would not have been pursued so adamantly for so long!
- This is not a case of mules vs. horses. It is a case of giving riders the best possible education in the pursuit of their dreams…no matter what type of equine they decide to ride. The U.S.A.E. should not think that this will naturally follow with a pursuit for donkeys, zebras, etc. As an educated trainer, I know that these animals are not structurally nor mentally fit for participation in dressage at these levels. Why? Because they are not half-horse!
To learn more about Meredith Hodges and her comprehensive all-breed equine training program, visit LuckyThreeRanch.com, MEREDITH HODGES PUBLIC FIGURE Facebook page, or call 1-800-816-7566. Check out her children’s website at JasperTheMule.com. Also, find Meredith on Pinterest, Instagram, MeWe, YouTube and Twitter.
Covered in TRAINING MULES & DONKEY: A LOGICAL APPROACH TO TRAINING, TRAINING WITHOUT RESISTANCE, EQUUS REVISITED and A GUIDE TO RAISING & SHOWING MULES at www.luckythreeranchstore.com.
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By Meredith Hodges
In order to remain an integral part of the A.H.S.A, once we were accepted, we are expected to meet certain criteria. First, our breed organization must have been incorporated in the United States a minimum of five years. Since the American Donkey & Mule Society was founded in 1967, we had already met these criteria.
records on stock for the purpose of a traceable ancestry and to monitor the accomplishments of our athletic champions. Obviously, registering animals improves the chances to help you monitor the health and well being of your animal. A traceable ancestry gives us the opportunity to explore and examine the strengths and weaknesses of our breeding programs and other related research. Monitoring the successful accomplishments of our champions allows us to set new goals and new challenges for our Longears and keeps them in a favorable light in the public eye. These things are all-important to the stability and growth of our industry. With a well-organized registry drive, we could, no doubt, meet this second criterion with no problem.
The third criterion was, perhaps, the one that is gave us the biggest problem: “Competitions restricted to a breed or discipline must have been held in at least 20 events during the year immediately preceding an application for recognition either at A.H.S.A.-approved events or at events approved by the breed or discipline.” This alone, is not a problem, since we definitely hold at least 20 events a year that could stand the scrutiny of A.H.S.A. approval. To remain in the A.H.S.A. we must follow up by having “a minimum of 25% of the competitions restricted to a breed or discipline held at A.H.S.A. events annually.” We needed people and clubs to take responsibility for seeing that these competitions continue to survive and thrive in the corning years.
In order to remain in the A.H.S.A., there are only 2 more requirements:
However, it isn’t any more so than any other “new” experience. There are many benefits to be gained by joining, and the most important of all was the overall unification of the entire Equine Industry including all breeds and disciplines. Our world is composed of billions of people with many diversified interests. To see that each different interest has the best chance for growth and development, all of those with that particular interest should ban together in support for its very survival. Dissention and arguments within an industry are counter-productive. Those who wanted to see mules and donkeys accepted by the A.H.S.A. as a division were encouraged to write me letters, cards and even call me at the Lucky Three Ranch to let me know their feelings. We wanted to begin the organization for this action. I felt that if I did not receive any responses to this request, I could only assume that our industry was too young and immature for such an action at this time, and the action to join the A.H.S.A. would again be postponed. I pleaded people to PLEASE, for the sake of our growth, consider the options carefully before rejecting this proposal. It could have meant the success or failure of our entire Longears industry!
I remember back in 1982 when summer came and we had to search high and low for shows in which we could compete with our mules! As they say, “You’ve come a long way, baby!” Mule shows are now so numerous that it is becoming very difficult to decide which ones to attend. Years ago, our mules were not necessarily welcome at horse competitions, and today that has changed as well – making our decisions about where to compete is even more complicated. It is truly amazing to see the tremendous growth in popularity of the mule over the past 30 to 40 years, but then I guess it was inevitable given all their redeeming qualities! It really isn’t that unusual that people would begin to prefer mules once they received accurate and truthful information about them. Granted, you have to be smarter than the mule in order to train one, but once you train one properly, you have a wonderful companion and a top competitor in the equine world. More and more, the criticism of mules has changed to general curiosity and a willingness to learn more about these unique animals. Many people have taken a great deal of time and effort to bring these animals into the public eye. To name them all would take volumes, but their work is certainly appreciated!
As I said, there are many all-mule and donkey shows that you can attend in most states across the U.S. Most of them are held in conjunction with State Fairs. However, there are others that are promoted with horse and mule races as well. The American Donkey & Mule Society sponsors a National Mule and Donkey Show that floats from state to state. The 1992 A.D.M.S. Nationals were held in conjunction with the South Carolina State Fair. There were some truly lovely mules to see in our eastern United States.
Breed shows are another place you will see mules today. In many places, you will see mules competing in their classes sandwiched between classes for anything from Draft Horses to Arabians and Saddlebreds. Many of these breed shows not only included a mule division, but allowed mules to compete in their Open Classes as well against the various horse breeds. In 1991, our own Lucky Three Mae Bea C.T. competed in an Open English Pleasure class of primarily Saddlebreds and American Show Horses to sixth place of 20 entries. It is nice to know that the judges were taking mules seriously, as well!
The American Driving Society has been quite supportive itself! They encourage mules to participate in the many facets of driving that they offer, from pleasure, to fun events to actual marathon driving. In these shows, the mules are allowed to compete directly with the horses. Shows such as these tend to really test the knowledge and expertise of the trainer and the conditioning and response of the animals. Integrity in progressive learning is encouraged while stark competitiveness and politics take a back seat. This type of situation is much more appealing to the novice who wants to learn and improve his and his animal’s skills.
The United States Combined Training Association left it up to each region to decide whether, or not, to allow mules to compete and some areas are more tolerant than others. Dressage and Combined Training offers the ultimate in fitness and conditioning of both animal and rider. Because it requires so much physical exertion and skill, everyone is accustomed to discussion on gross errors and wrecks with little or no embarrassment. This makes for a great learning environment with a lot of positive social interaction. We have had a lot of fun for three years competing with the Mountain States Combined Training Association and the Windy Wyoming Combined Training Association. They were a great group of folks from the organizers to the competitors. When Lucky Three Mae Bea C.T. came in second in 1992 in the Open Novice Division at the Abbe Ranch Horse Trials in Larkspur in June, organizer Susan Farmer presented our ribbon and warmly said, “We’re not prejudiced here! Congratulations!” I think it is more important to these folks to see that people enjoy the sport and more over, to continue to want to participate and learn. This makes for attainable long term goals, and even more… it makes for long term friendships.
If you are not really the competitive type, but enjoy the simpler side of showing in gymkhana events and pleasure classes, there are a lot of small Open Shows that you can attend sponsored by various saddle clubs across the U.S. They will usually let the mules compete right along with the horses. Learning and having fun are again the key issues here.
