John Henry - One of the World's Nicest Mules

Dear John Henry

[click to enlarge] Photo by Sally Eckoff

Dear JH,

Hope all is well for you with Spring coming! My name is BuddyBeGood, and I am a young mule in training. My owner is pretty good about letting me have days off of working in the round pen and in our riding arena when I am having a "bad day" and can't concentrate, but I still have a real problem. She gets to coughing, and I know she feels bad, but she insists on coming out to work me. I get confused sometimes if she starts coughing while she is riding me, and scared if she has a problem breathing.

Shouldn't SHE get some time off, too? Will it hurt our training program more to have her work, or wait? What would YOU do if Kathleen, your person, got a cold?

Thanks!
Buddy

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Dear JH,

I am a 10 year old miniature mule (about 48" tall). I go to lots of shows, I enter in the Youth classes with my girl, and then in the coon-jump classes. The problem is, the shows sometimes are 3 days, and sometimes there are a bunch of classes all crammed into one day. The longer shows are okay at first, but then by the end I am tired of going in and out of the ring, and the my people feel I don't show so well on the last day. At one-day shows, I get irritated because I am hot and tired and have to go back in, one more time, and then it is usually a speed class.

Is there something they can do to help keep me occupied during long shows? Or what about keeping me calm and in tune for the one-days. How do you handle long, boring shows? Do you have a toy from home you bring? Or do you get to trail ride and do different things while you are away from home?

Bit O Fire

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