So as to not hijack the other thread and such,I thought I would give an update on my mule and the bike.

Tieing the bike up in the stall resulted in a chewed up seat, so we dispoensde with that.

Things are coming along slowly. I can ride the bike around the edge of the arena at a fast clip holding her rein and she does good running along side.No spook at all.In fact I can turn her loose and she will follow me doing a few figure eights and around the arena few times and then she figures out she is loose and trots off on her own.Then she won't get close. She does not spook, she just doesn't like it. I can ride her around with my wife pushing the bike and she will followat 4-5 feet away.She does not like the bike coming right at her and will backup aways, but sooner or later stops and lets the bike come to her if it is not too fast.

I can set the bike in the middele of the arena,and trot around it, She is still a little snorty,but not bad.

My wife can't ride the bike as she has had two hip replacements and I don't want her to fall. There are no neighbor kids close.Good exersize for me though.

This might take awhile. Suggestions are always welcomed.

I have a friend that bought a young mule to deer hunt with back when running dogs was legal here. He shot a deer one day and the mule did OK until he tried to load the deer on it. After a rodeo they took the deer out by atv. A few days later same thing. Next time they saw a deer the rodeo started as soon as the deer was spotted. Friend vowed to break said mule for deer hunting but eventually gave up. miles

Almost expecting a Far Side cartoon.

Hows it going with the bike?

Slow but sure progress.

Right now, every day for about 20-30 minutes, I take her out to the arena and let her walk around the bike until she stops snorting and then I ride the bike around the arena at pretty fast clip while she runs along side me with me holding the lead rope. I ride about every three days and at that time, I come back and have my wife walk the bike around with her folllowing.She is getting better (the mule) about having the bike come towards her.

I don't think I will ever cure her of buggering when a bike comes up from the rear without making noise, but at present,I think it is just doing the exersize continually until she decides the bike is no longer a threat.

When young,it took about a month for her to decide the wheel barrow was not going to eat her when I had it in there cleaning corrals.Now I have to get after her to keep her form chewing on the handles.

Interesting thing.I emailed a fellow about this who is a well known mule trainer and has articles in Western Mule about every month. He could not offer much advice and said if he goes out and if there are vehicles with bike racks at the trail head,he doesn't unload and goes elsewhere. He said hehas ahad alot of problems with cyclist and it is worse in Colorado than anywhere. DUH, like I don't already know that.

Here is the latest. Just to let you know I'm not making it up. Don't laugh at the old guy riding the bicycle.

Heck she looks pretty calm running alongside you there

Good looking Mule saddlesore.

FWIW, I had a friend once that had the same problems on trails with cyclists spooking his horse.
He rigged up a trike (full size bicycle with three wheels and a basket on it) with a set of poles like you would pull a cart/buggy with attached to the handle bars.
Then he would lead the horse around with it until it got used to it.
Then he rigged it up to pull the horse behind him and would ride in front around his arena and on long straight aways.
He had to play with the pole/rigging set up a little to get it right and moved slow.

Good Luck,
Ted

PS = Forgot to mention that once his horse was a little used to it, he used to leave it hooked up in the arena and let it pull it around by itself while he sat over in the shade and had a cold one...............

That is one fine looking mule!

saddlesore
Good looking mule, out of a Belgian(sp) mare by any chance.
Cheer NC

I doubt it is the bike itself that spooks the mule. Most likely it is the silent way a bike makes a quick approach, like a cat/predator would.

No, she is out of a halflinger,which is sort of like a minature belgium pony.Here is her mama.She was 13hds, the mule is now 15hds, out of a std jack.



Richard.

"I doubt it is the bike itself that spooks the mule. Most likely it is the silent way a bike makes a quick approach, like a cat/predator would."

She certainly spooked at those bikes coming up from the rear, but when I first started this, she would not even get close to a bicycle.Having it set right outside her stall gate,she would stand out side and snort at it. It took her several days to come into the stall.I even had a bike tied up in her stall all one winter and that did not help.

Three things that have really spooked her in her life have been bicycles, baby strollers and sheep.Other things,not so much.

Setting out in the arena, it took a week to get her to within touching distance of it. If the bike fell lover, it backed me up a day.

I got to the point where she did not mind it as long as it was not moving,but it took me anothe rweek to get her close to it while I rode it.

We are now working on me riding her,while my wife pushes the bike around the arena.

Then I will start getting someone to ride the bike while I am riding the mule.

Great looking mule. Really though. The stuff we do to get our horses/mules acclimitaded to different things. It's part of the fun of it all but can be very time consuming.

Wow! That is a stout mare!

Kinda sorry I sold her,but they are a bugger to fit a saddle to.She was a pulling fool though. I bought her just to breed mules with and there weren't any in CO. I went over to a big sale in MO. Her and her brother went thru.I only wanted her,but they didn't want to split the team. They said if I was willing to pay a little extra, they would (Dummy me) I could have bought the two for $200 more than I paid for her.

It worked out though as she was bred and the seller did not know it .She foaled that spring and I sold the foal that fall for 2/3rds of what I paid for the mare.She was not registered though,which made no difference to me.

Does she have that same side gait as some of the fjords do?

tolt I think it is called?

Icelandics have a tolt gait. Do Fjords too?

She was not the smoothest riding thing I was ever on, but she had alot of bottom to her as does this mule.

saddlesore
That is not surprising as they were breed to climb around in the mountains. Cheers NC

Thankfully the bikers can't go where I mostly pack. But the dang Backpackers that think they need to rest on or right next to the trail have sure put a bend in my mule string many a time.

The fishing rod/reel sticking out above the backpacks are what my horse is sure is going to eat her. No trouble with just backpacks.