Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting an other horse accident

This thread is timely. In an earlier post, I mentioned on of my partners who got busted up a couple years ago when his horse stepped off the trail and the edge caved in.

Last night he got it again. He was with their horses when their cat spooked one of them and it kicked him in the face. He's in the hospital now with a severe concussion and a bunch of stitches. I haven't heard what the prognosis is.

The cat is a goner.....

As a followup...It appears the hoof caught him flat on. If it had hit at an angle it would have been a lot more serious. He had a serious concussion and that side of his face is pretty cut up. He's covered with stitches. Nothing's broken, though. They're doing another CAT scan this morning to make sure all is ok and he could be home today. He's all swollen and black, though. At 70, he'll be a while healing up.

I've been tossed many many times. Only landed on my head once, got lawn darted pretty good. One of the very very few times I've worn a helmet. Smashed the helmet and all I got was a jammed up neck and the breath knocked out of me. I still don't wear a helmet.

Everything in life is dangerous, you play the game and you take your chances.

You can ride a horse to death but try that with mule, won't happen.
Mules were the only animal that my Gr'ddad would drive. This was back in the day when most mules weren't refereed to in kind words. Cheers NC

A good horse will give you100% a good mule will only give you 90 , he keeps 10% for himself. I was at a branding many years ago. I was riding a bridle mule,not mine. A friend asked how I liked that $5000 mule, I told home about like a $1500 horse. 90% of the big pack strings in the high Sierras are led by a horse. I asked a packer why that was, he said the mules would follow a horse anywhere and a good horse would give you all he had where a good mule wouldn't

Ed, that should keep the mule guys quiet for a minute....grin

Friend of mine has been using mules for years in his guiding and ranching operations. The most that he has paid for one, old High Dollar, was $2,000 about 15 years ago. I have ridden Dollar on several lion hunts and would trust him to take me just about anywhere and get me back. Most of his mules are bought for between $500 and $1,000. I have watched Warner ride his old favorite, a white mule named Snowy River, chasing his hounds through some of the damnedest country you can imagine. Two days later, he would be roping calves on Snowy River and dragging them to the fire.

In the last year and a half, three rancher friends, ranging in age from 60-75, have been seriously injured in horse wrecks. These guys have all been riding since they were pre-K and they know horses inside and out. I will still get on a horse if needed, but for the rough stuff I prefer a good mule these days.

Mudhen, I have read about your friend Warner, can't remember his last name, in Range magazine. I have been in more horse wrecks than mule wrecks,rode a hell of a lot more horses than mules lol. Not saying there arn't good mules but will say there are a hell of a lot more good horses out there than there are good mules. I make my livin with a horse and have ridden some pretty rough country. I will say mules are smarter than horses, which isn't always good, that's why they keep 10% for themselves.

A mule naturally buddy sours to a horse and that is why a pack string is usually led by a horse. Once bonded, those mules will follow that horse anywhere. True a horse will give you all he has , even to kill itself and you can force a horse into dangerous situations. A mule however, being smarter than that guy who forces his horse, will not let that happen.

Those packers know that and that is why they won't lead with a mule. They just need to get the job done and if it means using up their horse, they will do it. Most of those guys couldn't get along with a saddle mule for that very reason.

It is a wise person who knows when the mule is trying to tell him that this situation is not good and listens to the mule.

There is a good reason why the top high dollar mule at the annual Jake Clark Mule sale in WY went for $64,000 this year and it wasn't because that mule only gave 90%.

I led pack strings with a mule for many years.I always got the job done and went where I needed to go with no fuss. If I had horse they got packed and I rode a mule. If something was going to fall off the mountain, I wanted it to be the pack not me.It worked for me a lot of years

Saddlesore I agree with you somewhat I have seen some damn good mules, also seen a lot of dinks. Have a friend that rides a mule, she is pretty handy but has one serious flaw. We were tagging calves in the foothills of the Sierras, brush and oak country. My dogs held up a bunch of cows, may be 10 or 12 pair, and we started roping the calves, of course some cows being good mommas, and because of the dogs decided to fight I had a. A calf roped, cow banging my dumb old pony and me. Ole Gunner, my horse just stood there and took it and kept the rope tight . Becky the good mule scattered, damn near killed
My pard running thru the scrub oaks. Cow wasn't banging her. Worked out for her though as Larry, my pard,never used her for cow work again lol. Dogs finally got the cow off me and I tagged the calf and went and collected Larry lol

m_s_s. The problem being is that not all mules, just like all horses are not suited to all task. A lot of people think because they have a mule that it will do anything. About like comparing a cowy horse to one that isn't. It is easy to give an example of what one mule did, just the same as what one horse did. Breeding mules is like breeding horses. Garbage in=garbage out. If you don't start with good bred,calm mares and good jacks, you get dinks. It has taken a lot of years for people to figure that out and a lot won't ever.

Some mules will ever only make good work mules in harness. Some will only make good pack mules.

There a lot ranches that use mules in cow work. Particularly in AZ and NV where the mules can tolerate the heat better than horse.

There used to be a fellow in north west NM, (Doyle Hill, he has since past) that raised some dandy mules out of tennesee walker mares and quarter horse mares. It was darn hard to buy a mule off him because the cowboys in AZ would buy every mule he bred and if you didn't know anything about mules , he would only show you his trash mules. I was finally able to buy a few off him, but I had to give him 1/2 the price of the mule when the mare was bred and the other 1/2 when I picked it up.

Go to some of these better mule competitions like Bishop and you will see some good mules working cows just as any horse would.

Get on a FB group about mules and you can buy all you want down in Texas that are in kill pens for $400 or so . Now those are realdinks

Saddlesore you are right about the breeding, same holds true in dogs and people. I have been to Bishop and have rode some mules that won there. One was the $5000 dollar mule I spoke of. She was damn handy but didn't have the sting that a good bridle horse of the same value had. This was in the 80's and $ 5000 for a mule or horse was a lot of money. To head a cow on the fence you really had to drive her past, hence the 10% for her. In the mid 80's I won the steer roping a mule show at Gridley,CA. I was mounted on 3 different mules, the owners paid me to show them cause it was apretty fair hand with a rope. All three were nice mules, they didn't have the drive that their cousin the horse had. I roped all my steers and won on 1 mule and placed on the others. But if I had been riding just an average rope horse I would have beat myself.

M_S_S.WE probably passed each other then in Bishop. We used to go there every year back in the 80's. The last year I was there was when there was an earthquake right close.

Mule's and their breeding have come a long ways since then.

I imagine Mules are like horses, dogs and especially people. Some are smart and some aren't, some will work hard while others won't and some just need the [bleep] kicked out of them! Baker

You pretty much got that figured out for sure, but some will kick the "bleep" out of you too.

Very few horses, mules, and dogs are born bad. Most are made that way by some ignorant human.

Humans though, some are just born to be arseholes I do believe

You are right horses, mules and dogs are not born bad. Most are the product of their training. Not evey horse will make a good cowhorse but with proper training should be gentle and rideable. Genetics plays a large part in weather a horse will be an athelete or not. For a mule to be one will have to come from his mothers side, cause his dad was built to pack , pull or Barbeque. Burro ain't bad in a taco .

Pretty interesting reading all this from some guys who really know their stuff.

I will add in one thing. If you don't know horse/mules, you better do your homework to the best you can (ie references) and make sure that any critter you use is a good one. Although an accident can happen to any horse/mule, combine a bad one with a greenhorn and broken bodies are not long in coming.

Breattaman you are right there greenhorns and unbroke or spoiled horses arn't a good match. You can get hurt on broke and gentle horses but your odds are better that you won't lol. If you get on enough of them you are going to get hurt lol, just kind of goes with the deal. I am 70 and been hurt quite a few times in my life, nothing major, just broken bones, but I still say a bum ride beats a good walk any day lol

My wife is a total novice when it comes to horses.

No way would I let her ride my horse. And it's a good horse, just would be too much horse for her.


Horses can sense your fear, if they know you ain't fuuckin' around(aka greenhorn style) they'll behave(most of the time...grin).