Training Mules and Donkeys
The first COMPLETE book on mule training. For beginners and veterans alike. Covers all aspects of the subject and applies to all types of training.
Author: Meredith Hodges
Publisher: Alpine Publications
Copyright: 1993
222 pages
Hardcover
Preface
The information on donkeys and mules has been sketchy to say the least over the past twenty years, and the information about training longears has been even less. For twenty years, I had to rely on my knowledge of horse training, coupled with my experience as a psychiatric technician. Oddly enough, it was my psychiatric counseling experience that actually gave me the key to training mules and donkeys. Basically, "you can catch more flies with sugar than you can with vinegar," and, "a little patience goes a long way." Looking upon my mules as children along the path of life enabled me to find the path of least resistance to success with them. It has allowed me to maximize my enjoyment of these wonderful companions!
It was exciting for me to achieve so easily with my mules by taking a few simple ideas into consideration. I have recorded the concepts that were especially successful and compile them into this book, because I wish to share the knowledge that has brought about my satisfaction and success in working with longears.
There are times when training longears can seem like a hopelessly frustrating job if you do not consider the dynamics of longears thought and behavior. When mules are only two and three years old, you are convinced that you may kill them because of their youthful antics! But treat your mule as if he were a precocious child, and the less desired behaviors will tend to subside over time. Allow patience and understanding to govern punitive actions, and realize that your longear's attention span will afford more timely obedience at a later time.
Knowing some simple psychology and training techniques will help you toward a more enjoyable and rewarding experience with your longears and will afford you a lot less frustration than I suffered during the training process. I would like to see others experience the same joy that I have at last found with my longears today!
Table of Contents
I. Physiological and Psychological Attributes
II. Understanding the Donkey
III. Care and Handling of the Jack
IV. Understanding Mule Foals
V. Ground Manners and Attitude Development
VI. Catching the Difficult Mule
VII. Teaching Your Mule to Load
VIII. Beginning Basic Training
IX. Lunging Your Mule
X. Ground-Driving in the Round Pen
XI. Ground-Driving in the Open
XII. Lateral Work on the Long Lines
XIII. Adjusting Your Harness
XIV. Finishing the Driving Mule
XV. Judging the Driving Mule
XVI. Training to Saddle
XVII. English or Western - Dressage Means Training
XVIII. Proper Conditioning Through Balance
XIX. Moving Off of Your Legs
XX. Rein Back
XXI. Clarifying the Aids
XXII. Facilitating Balance and Harmony
XXIII. Lateral Work under Saddle
XXIV. Better Balance and Lateral Response
XXV. Clarifying the Forward/Lateral Connection
XXVI. Enhancing Strength and Muscular Development
XXVII. Fine Tuning the Rider
XXVIII. Fine Tuning the Aids
XXIX. Attitudes and Use of Restraints
XXX. Grooming and Clipping for Show
XXXI. Responsibilities to the Veterinarian and Farrier
Glossary
References
Index
Foreword:
When my husband Paul and I first started the group known as the American Donkey and Mule Society, we realized that the main problem we had to face was the fact that information on donkeys and mules was almost nonexistent. The verbal knowledge that had been passed along through the generations was dying out and could not in any case be easily shared with the new public, which at this time was beginning to get seriously interested in these animals.
Oddly enough, books on donkeys started appearing on the market in moderate quantities after this time as a new club, oriented only for donkeys, came into being in England -- at about the same time that ADMS started in the United States. At this time, however, there was only one actual book on the subject of mules, and it had been written about one hundred years ago! The staff members at ADMS started reprinting A Treatise on the Mule by Harvey Riley, written in 1869, and were glad to have anything with which to help people.
I still know of only three general-purpose mule books in print, which means that Training Mules and Donkeys: A Logical Approach to the Longears by Meredith Hodges will fill a place that has been vacant for many years.
There are thousands of mule lovers in the United States who feel that they do not know how to train their mules or donkeys and who, in despair, put them into the hands of trainers who do not understand their particular character, and who proceed to ruin animals that have the potential to be safe and loving companions for the next forty years. It is everyone's hope that this book will help those individuals, or their trainers, to understand mules and donkeys and to handle them correctly.
All of us at the American Donkey and Mule Society hope that this book will improve the lot of an animal that is very popular and that could be far more popular if correct training methods were applied so that everyone who wants one could have a beautiful, well-mannered, well-trained, modern mule.
–Betsy Hutchins,
Co-Founder, American Donkey and Mule Society
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