What to Feed a Mule?

Greetings Muleteers!  The Mini here ;-)  FH has finally graced us with her presence and is back after a holiday in the sun (she says she needs some time away from the mud and rain occasionally, well really….!)

FH came to bring us back from our extra grazing this morning as she was muttering something about too much grass (is this ever a problem??) and risks to us long ears from laminitis.  She is regularly obsessed with our dainty hooves checking them for heat and feeling our pulses, I have to say I do get a bit bored when she’s feeling my feet, I know they’re lovely but what is all the fuss about?

So FH decided that as the grass is growing so much and we are making a mud bath out of our spring grazing that we should come home for a few days!  Now don’t tell anyone muleteers but this is always our heart’s desire and we have been puddling the non-home fields for just this reason so that she will take pity on us!

So home we went and FH promised us a mule feast!!  Yummy!  Us mules are definitely culinary connoisseurs, we enjoy the finer things in life and after a short aperitif of grass we were all gathered in for the main course!  Ro-Land thinks Callie and I are a little strange… (that’s rich coming from him) as we like to eat wood.  Now folks we have told you of our love of wood before but today we had a special treat, MH had been chopping branches down and just so happened to find us some nice ash branches that are particularly fine to strip the bark from.

So I concentrated on the bark stripping and had a jolly good time as you can see!

Dragon was a little more lady like and went for the delicate chewing approach, I’m hoping that she will leave some of the bark for me as my delicate little teeth are definitely the best at pulling off the choicest morsels.

And what did Ro-Land do?  Well he watched us with puzzlement and went to sleep, sometimes I have to remind myself that he is a short ears and hasn’t discovered the pleasures of wood yet (let’s hope he doesn’t anytime soon as then there’s more for me!!) 

So what should you feed your long ears?  Here’s my list of what we like:

1.              Not too much grass otherwise our feet get sore… when we are allowed grass FH says it must be scrubby and not fertilized (she is very particular!!)

2.              Straw (preferably barley) should be available at all times in case we need a little something to chew on, you humans may think it plain but we love it!

3.              Safe branches and twigs to munch on please

4.              A regular trip out to munch on the hedgerows, we love cleavers, cow parsley, primroses, dandelions, blackberry, hawthorn and wild rose.

5.              The occasional treat of a pear, apple, carrot or best of all a lovely banana peel!

Now if only I could work out how to climb trees like Catanian I would be able to munch all day!  Til next time muleteers and remember always eat high fibre first!