Jacqui was one of our early Mule Tale tellers, with the story of her wonderful boy, Polo. Now she’s back to tell us about Chico – you may have seen him recently take part in the Animals In War memorial service in London!
All images copyright © Jacqui and Clive Tilley.
1. Please introduce us to your mule!
Chico is one of our five mules. He also lives with one Paso Fino pony and two donkeys. Chico is 15 years old and was quite dappled when we first got him but now he is really grey.
2. How did you meet him?
We have had the pleasure of Chico in our family for about 12 years now. It all started on our family holiday to Spain … we were on different time zones to our teenage children and their friends that they had brought along! Which gave us lots of daylight hours to ourselves. One of those days we were going through the Friday adds and there was the advert … stunning mule for sale. Well we could not believe our luck. I told Clive, my husband, what to ask and he made the call and came back with all the right answers … this really was the mule of our dreams! Leaving the sleeping beauties, off we went to see him. We knew instantly he was the one for us. His owners at the time were Rose and Pete who we have stayed in touch with us up to this day.
3. What do you do with him, and what are your plans for the future?
We ride, jump and carriage drive Chico. He has also done some film work and local educational events. Our future plans are just to carry on enjoying each other’s company.
4. Can you share a story that you feel sums up your mule and/or your relationship with him?
Chico really does know the meaning of Chico time plus he just hates being left behind. Chico will load like a dream – in fact every time we bring them in they walk through the trailer with no hesitation. However you turn that trailer round and Chico just knows it’s not a practice run! The other week we had two of our others on board but would Chico load? NO, he tends to just plant then look at you and say, let’s play the loading game! Well that day our time was running out, so I just said to Clive if he does not load in the next 30 seconds I’m taking Fuego … have you guessed it … yes he walked straight on! This just sums Chico up!
5. What has Chico taught you?
Chico has taught me patience and to always have a plan B!
If you would like your mule to be featured here, or if you have a mule story that you would like to tell, then please contact me either via this blog, message me on my Mulography Facebook page, or email me at: herecirm (at) gmail.com. I would particularly like to hear from UK mule owners (purely because Mulography is about owning a mule in the UK), but am more than happy to take worldwide submissions!