More Long Ears

A week or so ago someone called and asked if they could board their Jack mule with me for a bit.  They had just gotten him and he was jumping the fence where he was and taking off for the hills in search of equine companionship.  They say he even jumped a 5' stall wall to escape and they finally found him several ridges west of the barn.  I was pretty sure he was escaping because he was lonely and because he was only using that dangly brain between his legs to think, so I said sure, but he has to be castrated once he gets here.

They couldn't get him up here before dark, so I ended up putting him in the yard pen with Jed.  They told me he'd kill Jed and would easily jump out of the pen and I'd be searching for him in the morning.  I could tell just by walking him down the driveway that the poor little guy was just misunderstood, but I still watched he and Jed for 30 minutes or so after putting them together. 

They sniffed noses and Lucky the mule wanted to sniff Jed's butt.  Jed kicked at him a couple of times and that was the end of that.  Lucky buried his head in the hay and was still in the pen the next morning.  And the morning after that, and the morning after that. 

 

He's still a little shy and you can't move too quickly around him, but he's getting better every day and now talks to us and comes to the gate when he sees us.

 

I removed his halter once I was certain he wouldn't jump the fence and leave.  He's now easy to catch, lifts his feet, and as we found out the other day, LOVES kids!

 

He's only two years old, so this winter we'll just keep working with him and get him castrated.  In the spring, there's a little pony cart and harness with his name (and Casper's, and Chip's... ) on it . Once he's trained to pull a cart and his owners are ready for him on their new farm, he'll be leaving us to go home.  But his owners don't want to pull him away from his buddy, so little Jed will go home with him!  How awesome is that??