Marty
Marty came into my life in the spring of 2014 and is currently unbacked. He is my first mule and has been one hell of a learning curve, particularly as he seems to have some Marty-specific issues. He and I have walked hundreds of miles together.
Marty is the first ambassador for Mule Welfare UK.
Xato
Xato is a magnificent Comtois mule who offically came into my life in July 2016 – thanks, in part, to this blog! I flew out to Mallorca to meet him and gain his approval, and we brought him over to the UK in November ’16. He is very different from Marty and I am so excited about our future together.
Cash
Known affectionately as Cashbash, Cashper and The Little Yellow Idiot, Cash is our pasture puff and all-round sweetheart. His favourite things include being muddy, hanging out with humans and playing bitey games with the mule.
Joey
Joey is a small hairy cob we accidentally acquired because the guy who was fixing our roof said we could have him for free. He’s very sweet.
Read his intro post here.
Iris
A mix of Lusitano, Hanoverian and Shire (with all the best qualities from each), Iris is Ben’s riding horse and herd matriarch. Both boys are quietly in love with her; she quietly tolerates them.
Iris sadly passed away on 30th July, 2019. read her eulogy here.
Ben
Ben is my husband, the love of my life (don’t tell the mule) and resident sage; my progress with Marty is entirely due to his knowledge and calm, patient approach to teaching. You can read more of his thoughts on horses and horsemanship in his blog, here.
Sari
That’s me, full time groom and mulographer (one of these is paid). I have ridden and owned horses for twenty-four years but Marty is my first mule, and I honestly have no idea how I ever got by without one. I really, really, really like talking about my mule, and so to save boring everyone I know, this blog is my mule-obsessive outlet!
Elsewhere…
- Interview with Sari on the Equipepper website, December 2019
- Marty and his litter-picking duties feature in Horse & Hound, February 2020
- Marty in Pony Magazine – coming April 2020
Hi Sari
Just reading your blog, my young donkey leans is weight on me while I do his feet, what do you do About this ?
Hi Jenny, thanks for your comment. What I found useful with Marty – and what I will now be doing with Xato – was teaching him to hold his own foot up. In Marty’s case, he would lean on me, then panic when I gave way which led to him refusing to let me pick up his foot at all! So we taught him to pick up and hold his foot by using the end of a schooling whip to gently rub or tap his hoof. When he picked it up, he was rewarded. Eventually this progressed to us ‘supporting’ the hoof with the whip. Once he realised that he could stand on three legs all by himself, he was much happier and no longer leant on us. This is what worked for us but of course your donkey may require a different approach! Good luck with him. 🙂
hey there ! , i love your blog are there any mule breeder’s in the uk ? – im 15 at the mo and would rather have a mule to a horse or pony or other anytime – despite my dad thinking because of the stereo types they are pets and cant do that many things 🙂 any sites or links or wherever would help thx ! :))
Hi Megan! So sorry, I’ve only just seen this message from you. Unfortunately there aren’t any mule breeders in the UK, but I would recommend joining Facebook groups such as ‘Mule Owners UK’ and ‘Mule Welfare UK – Group Chat’ as people will often share adverts there. I also share any I come across on the Mulography Facebook page, too.