My dh got the mule out first thing this morning to brush her and check her teeth. So much for being around 2 like we were told. She doesn't have her year old teeth in yet. So she is around 9 months. Well the kids got to pet her while waiting on the bus and then got to smile as the whole bus threw a fit when they got on. LOL My dh put her up and shut the stall door. A few minutes later we heard the dogs throwing a fit and when we looked out there went the mule down the highway! It headed towards the VFW, then turned down a little driveway and finally stopped by some horses in a pasture. He was dressed for work, but I was still in my PJ's and slippers chasing it. It finally stopped and he caught it. By then the woman who lives beside the pasture came out of her house and my dh explained that it had gotten loose and the entire time he was talking to her it was biting the crap out of him. He would gently swat it back and it would bite him again. When we got it home the stall door was standing wide open and of course our main gate was open becuase we rarely shut it. Anyway, we put her back in the stall thinking it just must not have been shut good and as we watched she reared up aginst it with all her weight about three times and almost got it open again. My dh stood aginst it while I went to get something to secure it better with. When raising up against it didn't work then she preceeded to bite it while pushing on it, then showed my dh her teeth when he swatted her back. My dh of course found all that quite funny. Needless to say our main gate is now shut and her gate is now screwed shut since that was the only thing I could find in a hurry. And she is standing looking very irritated in a corner with her ears laid back! I remember now why I hate mules! As if I ever forgot! And now my dh wants to name her Spunky.
We used to have a POA pony gelding that we raised. He was a little hellion! We have raised LOTS of horses and I train so I know how to do things right. He was imprinted as a foal, treated fair and gently and still he was always doing evil things. He decided he was going to be a biter even though he was never hand fed. My rule on biting has always been - react within 3 seconds and you have 3 seconds to kill them then you have to stop.
He was corrected the very first time he ever tried to bite. Yet he seemed to get some weird rush from it. You could actually watch him planning to bite someone. He would look at the intended bite spot - then quickly look away, like he was trying to talk himself out of it. The he would look again, blink, duck, shudder like he was remembering the last time. Then at last he couldn't stand it anymore and he would reach out an take a bite!
The same pony used to throw himself on the ground and have "temper tantrums" when you tried to lead him where you wanted him to go, sit down with his rider, take his bridle off WHILE you were riding him (even with a full headstall AND a tight cavesson!). He could get out of a TRIPLE wire electric fence. On the good side he was broke to ride, drive, clip, load and do just about everything a big horse could do perfectly, if HE wanted to.
I remember one ride my D1 had with him in which he was not going to do something and she rode him until he finally complied. That evening he broke into our tack shed, went clear to the back of it, got my D1's riding helmet and DESTROYED it. We sold him as a three year old.
Funny thing several years ago I got a call from his new owner (3rd owner he has had). She called to compliment me on how perfectly trained the pony is and tell me about all of his show winnings! I almost asked her if he still LOVES to bite.
FF that is a funny story! Rebecca, Spunky is a great name!
I had a shetland pony that would let himself out of his stall each night and select a buddy to come with him. It was the same buddy each time ignoring the other bigger horses. Even when we moved his buddy to another stall, he would be out of it in the morning if we didn't lock the stalls. It was kinda cute, but they always made a mess.
FF that is funny. Isn't it amazing how smart they can be? You can just see the intelligence in this little mules face and that really worries me! I have a feeling it is going to be a battle of wills.
Well, my dh works for a propane co. and regularly picks up money. Well he called in a panic today. His deposit bag disappeared with nearly $600 in it. He looked everywhere and even retraced his stops and searched the truck. It is gone. We will have to replace the money ourselves if it is not found. It may have been stolen out of the truck, but my dh says he doesn't think so since he never leaves it in sight when he leaves the truck for a stop or to get lunch. He went to Searcy with is about 60 miles from us and retraced his steps there. That amount is over what he makes in a week. We'll be okay though if he doesn't find it, but I really pray he does. I even called the bank to see if it had been turned in, but no luck. he doesn't think that there is any way anyone would return it with the money, but I do believe that there is a chance someone would.