What the Mule?

Why is that big trailer pulling into our yard?

Who is that mule getting off of it? Carrie? What did you do?

Meet Pockets. He's the mule peeing in our end stall.

Pockets comes to us from Louisiana. He's Carrie's "Been-there-seen-that-Husband-mule."

He'd been 'surfing' on a horse trailer for the past two days and was happy to move around.

Carrie likes her surprises.

I was surprised.

Carrie had "all but given up" on finding a mule that was at least 15 hands when Pockets showed up on her radar. "It was the perfect opportunity" and she pulled the trigger.

Pockets was a family mule. Carrie showed me the family used him in a gender reveal (A belated congrats on the baby boy, Francois!). His 'dad' put him up for sale (as the one he "didn't want to sell"), because of the pandemic. He worked oil rigs.

He seemed super friendly. One thing did stick out: His left eye.

Pockets had an accident when he was a baby. He ran into a stick and he's permanently blind on the left. It doesn't seem to bother him. I would've thought he'd bring his head around more to keep his eye on things, but he seemed laid back enough.

Which was the opposite of how the other horses felt. Especially the geldings.

Magic lost it when he realized what we had stalled.

Huck was curious at first, but followed Magic's lead. He kept at it, too.

1111

Ironically, we just watched the movie Gus. 

It was slapstick fun. I picked it because I knew Carrie wanted a mule and old movies are good for kids.

Shane was bouncing on the couch and laughing then. Now, he was laughing and saying, "We have our own Gus!"

I'm still amazed he knew and didn't let something slip. Carrie told him two days ago. When I asked, he said he "made himself forget, because he didn't want to lose Minecraft."

We talked to the driver for a while. He talked to us about the horse transportation biz. In a little over a year, he'd put 258,000 miles on his truck and trailer. He said that he'd spend two weeks on the road and then 2 or 3 nights back home. His wife was the logistics brain and would schedule deals and rout him here and there while he slept in the truck each night.

He had one other horse in the back he was taking up to Massachusetts. I haven't seen many horses with blue eyes.

So I was hoodwinked. It made sense why she wanted to stay home while we dropped off the skunk now. I'd known Carrie was leaning heavily towards a mule to replace Sam, too, but I thought she'd have waited until the sale was finalized! 

I didn't expect it to be on a social night, either. Barn people were coming over for dinner and chores. We had to clean up and Shane had to water the garden before they arrived.

Ellie, Landie, and Alex showed up. Ellie brought corn and put the kids to shucking.

Carrie cooked burgers and Loki supervised whoever he could! Alex and Carrie had a competition for who could stack the biggest burger and still eat it (Grilled pineapple, giant mushroom caps, bean sprouts, lettuce...).

Shane showed Landie the hose after they were done eating. You know how that's going to end!

No one was surprised when she came back on the porch dripping wet. Loki volunteered to supervise further play.

Don't be surprised that he ended up dripping wet either!

I didn't get a heads up Carrie let Pockets out into the back lot. I arrived just in time to see his inaugural roll.

The boys freaked out from a distance. They clung together for protection.

Magic was the worst of the lot. Ellie had warned us that he had a thing against long ears.

The mares were more curious.

Espeically Abby and Maddy.

Pippin was not happy. She shooed her girls away and made sure they maintained proper social distance!

Maddy tried to sneak back a couple of times, but Pippin wouldn't' have it!

It doesn't stay dull around here if you like animals.

Or hoses. Shane could only come so close to the barn with both attached!

Landie was soaked, so Shane grabbed one of his shirts for her to use a dress. They spent the last part of the night curled up watching Loony Toons. 

The next morning there was horse drama. Pockets? He was fine. So were the mares.

The boys however....

Magic refused to let any of the boys come up for breakfast. He kept herding the off to the far corner of the pasture. 

Carrie had to go out and bring them in one by one. 

Eddie was the first, because he had a muzzle on she could grab. Magic kept crowding her and trying to herd him away.

Ernie was next, but his fly mask wasn't enough to hold on to. I had to fetch his halter and it took a couple of tries.

Huck came next. He spun around Carrie even with a rope halter on. She knew what to do and after a while he was penned.

That left the ringleader of the paranoia: Magic.

Carrie got him stalled, but he was a nervous mess. He twitched. Constantly.

Ellie texted to ask if "her horse was still alive!"

"Mike says you have a racist horse."

We don't know what happened in Magic's life, but he seemed to think the large ears were horns and that Pockets was going to eat him.

We needed to break down some barriers.

So Carrie stalled Pockets right next to Magic. 

Magic continued to freak out. He twirled and we closed the curtain door before he got the idea to jump out.

Maddy was turned free and Eddie went into her stall to make room for Pockets. Eddie looked back for all of a second to check on his bro before he realized he was in mare territory. He promptly forgot all about the mule and tried to introduce himself to Abby next door.

Meanwhile, Carrie handed out treats whenever Pockets and Magic came to the stall wall together. She wanted Magic to associate a 'better flavor' with his new buddy.

Pockets was perfectly happy with the arrangement. He never had any trouble with horses to begin with!

And so begins our Mule adventure.

I texted Patrick to let him know what happened after we left his place. He thought Pockets was a horse.

"Nope, he's a mule."

"I should have seen he's very donkey in the face!"

I'm sure I'll have more pictures soon. Carrie will probably give Pockets some time to adjust, but he's going to need a test drive to see what he knows.

We Have a Buyer!

In anticipation of selling, Carrie has started to ride Pockets more.

He's been on something of a break, so she wanted to give him a boot camp on manners.

I don't remember which days Carrie rode, but she hopped on at least 3 or 4 times over the course of the week.

It was well timed, because Sunday a Scottish woman named Jacqui came out to see Pockets. Carrie has been Facebook friends with Jacqui ever since she sold her a trailer a decade ago!

Gay came and helped out by riding and presenting Pockets. I watched some of the proceedings before I was charging a dead car battery (more on that later).

I checked on the ladies from time to time and saw them all out riding in a trio after an hour. Jacqui was on Pockets, Carrie was on Eddie, and Gay was on Maddie.

I took the Subaru on a test drive and found everyone riding the bridle trail as I approached the house. Carrie waved me on, so I kept driving! I turned around a few miles down the road and they were on the back trail, so I could come in safely.

Jacqui was interested. She'd always wanted a mule! Carrie was interested, too, because she's seen how Jacqui has treated her other equines over the years (Carrie is always interested in 'forever homes').

Monday, Jacqui came back with her trainer. I don't know the woman's name, but she was from Estonia and Carrie spoke highly of her.

I looked out from the window as I taught and saw some of the trainer riding. My first thoughts: Wow, she's riding Pockets hard. She looks like she's really pushing him.

I asked Carrie later and she said, "It was humbling. In one hour, she pushed Pockets to do things I haven't been able to. I thought I spoke mule, but she spoke mule."

The trainer had pushed Pockets on purpose to see what he knew and how he'd react under stress. Jacqui has had some ongoing health issues, so she needs a mount with the right attitude and training.

Pockets passed the attitude test with flying colors, but didn't know much beyond the basics. We definitely paid too much for him originally. 

So it was no surprise when Jacqui made a lower offer. It was more than the trainer thought Pockets was worth, but her heart was set on a mule and she liked Carrie. 

We accepted. 

Yes, it was lower than we'd hoped, but Carrie thought it was probably the best we could've got for a good home. If we can get a boarder to take Pockets' place, we'll recoup the difference in a few months. 

Jacqui won't be able to pick Pockets up until February, so he's hanging out with us in the meantime. He follows me around whenever I scoop his poop.

He'll lower his head and ask for ear rubs and loving. He doesn't care that I'm allergic.

He may not be the most trained mule in the world, but he loves people and attention. It didn't work out here, but I hope he'll be a fantastic friend for Jacqui and that everyone walks away happy with the deal. 

The Mule Moves On

Pockets might have thought something was off when I stalled him Sunday morning. But he laid down for his usual nap while I worked through morning chores.

And a few extras. 

I cleared off the truck the night before and started on the trailer before my gloves soaked through. I don't think it's safe to leave potential slabs of ice when driving, so I finished the job while Carrie prepped the inside.

Carrie prettied up and prepped the mule, too. He was a little wary about getting on the trailer by himself, but it didn't take too long.

Laura and Amy arrived in time to watch all the festivities and wrap up chores. Grandma arrived next to play co-pilot and we had a veritable farewell party in the snow!

Pockets wasn't sure about it all, but he's going to a fantastic home.

Hopefully, he never finds out, but the boys threw their own farewell party after he was gone

So I can't guarantee that the boys were all singings "Ding-dong, the mule is gone!" They had been in their stalls for a while and they could've just been in a rare mood doing a snow dance...

Yeah, they were probably celebrating the mule was gone. Don't tell, Pockets.

They went at it for a while, too! I only started filming around the tail end. It's probably been my most requested video by boarders.  

Carrie and Grandma trailered Pockets up without issue. He stepped off the trailer to a kinder spirited welcoming party hosted by his new mom, Jacqui.

Carrie and Jacqui have been trading texts and researching Pockets' entire life story. He's something of an outcast from a line of gaited mule royalty. His brother was bought and flown to Austria. Pockets doesn't have his lineage's trademark gait and lost an eye as a youngster and found himself at an auction instead.

Carrie and Grandma didn't turn around and come home after they delivered Pockets to his party. Instead, they kept on driving up to Pennsylvania for reasons that will soon become apparent.

I stayed behind to deal with the muck and grime! Sunday's supposed to be my day off, but I spent a lot of time in the mud.

Carrie wanted the mini-lot cleaned up, so that it could revert to Maddy-land. That meant I had to clean up loose hay, scoop poop, and all that jazz.

Boarder only deal with routine chores. Special tasks are designated for me. And I preferred to take care of it when I didn't have to content with my actual paying job.

And so Pockets' time with us came to an end. He was a surprise from the get-go and stayed for ~7 months. We had one night of less poop production at the barn, but Carrie and Grandma were scheduled to return Monday with another surprise.