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Barnyard Buddies:  I need advice regarding mini mules...  |
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl
2199 Posts
Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms"
Ca
USA
2199 Posts |
 Posted - Mar 22 2010 : 5:05:58 PM
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A neighbor bought 2 john mini mules from a horse trader , cause he felt sorry for them, now he doesn't know what to do with them, they are wilder than march hares and escape artists, barely halter broke and if you do catch them, they will drag to to hell and back, try to bite and kick. Long story short, he wants to give them to me, am I insane for even thinking about this??? Has anyone here ever dealt with them in the wild state, and if so, how did it go???
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
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Faransgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
895 Posts
Beth
Houston
Texas
USA
895 Posts |
Posted - Mar 22 2010 : 5:56:17 PM
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I use to work for a horse Rescue and we took in 8 of them after hurricane Ike. They were in Galveston and after about 2 months of trying to corral them the Galveston Swat team was planning to shot them. Our farrier was a Galveston cop and called to let us know it was about to happen. Took some time but we managed to get ahold of them. Some of them got pretty friendly and others never did. They are still at the rescue. The females did get friendly faster than the males.
Farmgirl Sister 572
When manure happens just say "WOO HOO Fertilizer". |
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl
2199 Posts
Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms"
Ca
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Mar 22 2010 : 7:02:34 PM
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I should say that I have years of experience with horses/ponies, have broke/trained all of mine myself, saddle and cart broke the ponies myself, and some of them were pretty wild, but I do know that mules never forget bad treatment or the person or persons that treated them badly, I'm seriously thinking about giving this a try, but I am also kicking the hell outa 53, if I get broken by one or both of these guys, it will take a little longer to heal,lol. I figure if they turn out to be as they are forever, I can just turn them out in my big pasture and let them be to live out their days. So what do you all think?
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
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kristin sherrill
True Blue Farmgirl
11303 Posts
kristin
chickamauga
ga
USA
11303 Posts |
Posted - Mar 22 2010 : 7:33:59 PM
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Teresa, if you have the room to do that then they would be so much better off with you. And I don't know a thing about them but like any animal, calmness and treats work wonders. You sound like 2 more critters wouldn't make a big difference and you have the place for them.
Have they been gelded? If not that might help calm them some. And the more you and other nice people are around them they will eventually get used to you. I would hope so anyway. All you can do is try. And be very careful, lady! They can be dangerous little buggars.
But good for you for even thinking about doing this. You have a good heart.
Kris
Happiness is simple. |
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl
2199 Posts
Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms"
Ca
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Mar 22 2010 : 8:12:28 PM
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Kristin, yes they are both Johns (gelded), Jacks are the un-gelded. I'm not so worried about me as I am for my G/sons, they have no fear of animals of any kind, cause they've been around all kinds since birth. So i will have to set some very strict rules, but they mind without question, so I'm sure we all will be fine. Sometimes, if an animal has been extremly abused, there is no way to ever gain their trust, so if that is the way it will be, they will be pasture buddys, and if they need vet work, or normal maintenece, I wil just squeeze shoot them.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
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Faransgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
895 Posts
Beth
Houston
Texas
USA
895 Posts |
Posted - Mar 24 2010 : 11:08:31 AM
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They can live on a little bit of nothing and do very well. It is possible to gain their trust but it takes time. We had one that we rescued and for over a year he wouldn't let anyone near him. Now after 5 years he will just come up to you and let you pick his feet, he stands for the farrier and is really very friendly. The seem to do best with just one or two people working with them. If you just turn them out they do very well. They can get enormously fat on just grass. They would be very luck it sounds like to have you care for them.
Farmgirl Sister 572
When manure happens just say "WOO HOO Fertilizer". |
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peafarm
True Blue Farmgirl
182 Posts
Penny
South Dakota
182 Posts |
Posted - Mar 25 2010 : 10:36:33 AM
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With my experience with Mini-horses, I would have a tendency to not put them in a pasture until they will tolerate some handling and comfortable approaching me even if it's only for treats. If nothing else, so I can have vet and farrier work done without stressing me and her out.
For Valentine's, I got an unhandled 3 yr old mini. We put her into a 16x20 pen and there was still no catching her! A couple of the things we did right was leaving a halter and catch rope on her. The catch rope did double duty as she would step on it and learned to "yield to pressure" so when we did finally get to the point of being able to catch her lead rope it was ho-hum for her and she didn't think twice about me pulling on it.
We started with just me hanging out while she ate her grain and slowly the pan moved closer to me until her head was between my knees. I never once attempted to touch her during this period as I was only after trust. Then I started adding touches, and then approaches etc. It took 4 weeks before I felt comfortable putting her in the big pasture and was pleasantly surprised that as soon as I sat down she approached me to see if I had treats. I am still putting her back in the pen at night because I want her to see me approaching with the halter as a good thing. "Yippee, the halter is coming" "Yippee, she brought the lead rope, too!"
With the yard finally drying up, we will soon be going for walks and see how her leading is.
Well that was a long answer from someone who knows nothing about mini-donks!
Penny
www.peafarm.weebly.com |
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1badmamawolf
True Blue Farmgirl
2199 Posts
Teresa
"Bent Fence Farms"
Ca
USA
2199 Posts |
Posted - Mar 26 2010 : 7:29:46 PM
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Well, I may shoot myself here in a few weeks, but, I took them little buggers on. I put them in my bull pen, which has 6 ft stout wood fencing , with wire fencing around it also, its a 24 x 24 pen, that is after spending 3 hrs getting them loaded into a stock trailer and moved over here, then another 45 min.s trying to get them out of the trailer, and I had it backed up to the pen gate, and they WOULD NOT COME OUT, finally with some knocking on the trailer, and sending in my neighbors cattle dog, we got them out,lol. So I will give them a few days to settle down and then its on! Wish me luck, I will need it.
"Treat the earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children" |
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MaryLD
True Blue Farmgirl
861 Posts
Mary
New Braunfels
TX
USA
861 Posts |
Posted - Mar 26 2010 : 8:05:41 PM
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GOOD LUCK!!
Meredith Hodges books and DVDs on longears are somethimes available at libraries, and the website www.yourhorsematters.com rents some of the DVD's. I have donkeys and they are different from horses. Oh! Meredeth has a show on RFD TV, if yio get that on sattelite. I don't , wah!
~ Mary LD
Haflingers- You can't have just one!
( I'm just one short of a drill team!) |
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Barnyard Buddies: I need advice regarding mini mules... |
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I need advice regarding mini mules...
