Hello from Idaho

[HeeHawHaven]

Just found this forum today! I’m a regular at the muleskinner’s forum.

We just got a matched team of Fjord mules – full sisters coming 2 and 3. We are excited to get them working as a team. So far they have been handled extensively and have had their feet handled, manes roached, and are pretty good in halter. We have begun the 7 Games from Parelli.

We are going to join a local driving club to learn as much as we can.

This will be our first experience with driving!

We have been involved with mules and donkeys for 6 years or so. We got our first burro, D’Leary Ass, when we lived in Las Vegas from the BLM. Soon after, we got our first mule, Mama Chula. She has taught us much. She came to us better trained than we were! We moved to Idaho less than a year later and our herd grew. We currently have 5 mules and 2 donkeys. We’ve gained much experience through playing around in mule shows (which we do not enjoy very much) and riding in the mountains (which we love!). We have done some packing, but would not call ourselves experts.

I hope to use this forum to learn as much as I can from a variety of people.

I am currently reading the “Workhorse Handbook” by Lynn Miller. I hope between that book, this forum, and the driving club, I’ll be ready to take on this pretty team.

I’ve attached pics of the girls below. You can also look at our herd and a video of the fjules at our webgallery:

http://gallery.me.com/heehawhaven

Regards!

Dave

[Robert MoonShadow]

Good to “meet” you! I moved up from that area about 18 months ago… actually, from that ‘not-so-pleasant-place’ out the on Pleasant Valley Rd., as a guest of the state. Worked at getting the BLM & IDOC to work together training burros (and mustangs) at the BLM corrals nearby there. Anyways, let’s keep in touch about working/training the donkeys & I really like the looks of them ‘fjules’!!
Ps – had a donkey named Elvis… got a funny story about his “singing”. too!

[Donn Hewes]

Nice looking mules! I think they will be fun to work with. There is actually a fair bit of training you can do with a rope halter. Teach them to lead, back, lower their head for a bridle, and yield their head to pressure. I know there is a lot more that fancy trainers do but just those basics can do a world of good. All horses and mules will push against pressure to some degree, but I have found mules will push longer and harder than most, sometimes. This provides them with the chance to learn about yielding with out a big fight. It is fun work, and non confrontational. I would be happy to describe more about how I use the rope halter if you are interested. If you want to see some fun pics. of horses and mules working on our farm here is my web album. Good luck and enjoy the long ears. Donn

[HeeHawHaven]

Donn, very cool pics. I hope to be able to work my 3 acre hay field with the girls some day…..

I’m doing the Parelli 7 games with them now in halter. They are responding well. The only problem they have is that they love on you too much….they love to be in your space….. But, these games in halter work on that as well.

Dave

[Robert MoonShadow]

Dave, what’s this Parelli “game”? I’ve heard of him, of course, but never had much chance to learn anything about him (books, etc. WAY too expensive for this man to afford)… wondering, because the donkey I’ve got coming isn’t even halter-broke, but is a sweetheart who’ll do ANYTHING for an apple!

[HeeHawHaven]

Robert – http://iceryder.net/7games.html

There, you got them for free…donkeys do great with the games….as soon as they do what’s told the pressure is gone to reward them. It’s all games done in halter with a lead rope. It’s best to have a rope halter with the knots properly adjusted to put pressure in the right spots (don’t look at the pic of my new fjord mule with the blue halter – that was before adjusting!). They also recommend having a lead with a heavy marine type buckle so that when you need to go to level 4 of pressure you have something that annoys them. Parelli was(is) a mule man before he got rich off of his training methods. He’s the one who coined the phrase “you should train a horse the way you must train a mule”. Our blm burro caught on really quick to what was being asked of him. The games are a fun and fair way to train your equine to move away from pressure and accomplish what you’ll need to teach before riding or driving.

My favorite is the send off game where you send them off in a circle around you and they have to complete 3 circles without any extra pressure from you. You stand in one place and pass the lead rope around your body as they walk off. If they stop, you have them face you again and send them off again. I did it with my last Fjord mule and it took about 25 minutes to get, but he did get it and it’s way cool to see them walking circles around you and keep going without constant pressure on them. This is supposed to teach to continue a gait until you decide to change it or stop it instead of prodding them on continually.

I’m still new to the games. We need to be spending more time on these and all our training. We hope to accomplish more now that the weather is getting better again.

Dave

[Robert MoonShadow]

Dave:

Too cool! 😎

and thanks.

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