Well Ralphie,it is probably because you haven't been on a good trained mule.I'd bet you are under 35, and have the attitude that all cowboys ride horses and tradition says you have to. Nothing wrong with that and I'm not picking on you for it. Heck, if it were not for horse riders, we would have anything to breed to make good mules.However,if you think cowboys never ride mules,you need to work down in AZ, NM or parts of Texas or Nevada. You also need to spend some time at Jake Clarks Mule sale and rodeo in Powell, WY and the Mule Days at Bishop Ca ,if you don't think mules can move like a horse and ar not athletic.
There was fellow at the Eagle Co Mule sale this year from Riley NM.That is all high desert country. He and his family ranched 57 sq miles of that nothing country and does it all with big tall 16-17 hd mules
As for the predjudiced part.I have just always found it is the horse mounted guys who claim they would not be caught dead on a mule.
Common sense says if we can find some thing to do the job better,we use it. Example:I would not try to pull my gooseenck with a 1/2 ton pickup.
Most mule riders did not start off as mule riders. In fact I don't now anyone who was not a horse back rider to begin with.These folks didn't just one day say,"I'm going to start riding" and decided they would ride a mule instead. They just made the switch after they found out mules could do what they wanted just as well as the horse but had more attributes. I'd never climb on a mule that only did mountain trail work in order to work cattle on, just as I'd never climb on a roping horse, that only did that for a living ,to run up and down mountains with.
Last edited by saddlesore; 09/21/09.
