Most of our mules came out of Mexico as 3 year olds, and never saw a shoe and never came up tender, but if you ever cut through that core then you had to shoe them from that day on..Same with the horses we got out of Mexico..
You could shoot around any of our mules and they would stand ground tied (reins just on the ground)that is the way we broke them, at best they would jump and go perhaps 25 feet but only if you were too close when you shot. I never even considered shooting off a horses back, accuracy is next to impossible, thats movie stuff IMO...Our mules would all pack a deer even with you in the saddle with the deer in your lap, as that is the way we did it..They were broke, broke, broke..That is why when we came out of our elk hunting camp in Colorado each year, the packers would be waiting at Chimney Rock to buy our mules every year..We would hold a silent auction..drop your name an bid in the hat type..They were mostly excellent hunting mules, hard footed and not a lazy bone in their bodies. We got top dollar for them. All the outlaws that wouldn't sell dad kept for us kids to ride another year. Gotta love him for that. Same with the horses, sold the good ones, rode the dinks and lied my ass off to him anytime I got a good one going, told him the horse was still bucking every day..He later told me he knew what I was up to..:)
I still prefer a horse!
Most folks think of me as an old world wide hunter, booking agent, stockmaker, but that is my business....My first love is none of those things..It's horses and roping and horses and roping and horses and roping. I might play a round of golf about once a year these days so that when I get to old to rope, I'll have something to do.
