Where mules are king but all work hard.

Greetings muleteers!  We have all been sheltering indoors keeping our ears dry.  While we were all inside our human was telling us about her trip to a far away place called Ethiopia.  In Ethiopia our human told us that mules are kings!  Well nearly!  Our cousins in far away lands are the most sought after of the equine race, they are valued over our short eared cousins and even our donkey pals.  In Ethiopia mules are a sign of wealth and success and are highly prized!  That made our ears prick up!  We are very aware that in this wet windy country called the UK mules are a looked at with disdain by many 'horsey folk', we are always annoyed when people mention the stubborn word or when they ask if we're an ugly horse, well really....

Where mules are king and everyone wants to be one!

So we listened carefully to what our human was telling us. Our donkey, horse and mule cousins are used as taxis, water carriers, riding animals and all round four wheel drive vehicles.  Our cousins live close to their humans and are a very important part of everyday life, they are allowed on the main highways, they stand outside the shops, they go to the well to fetch water for their humans and sometimes they even get to sleep inside with the family (The Mini thinks this is a great idea!).  We eagerly told our human this sounded brilliant, when could we start to offer a taxi service, Callie is very keen to start a school bus service as she likes small people :-)

A short eared taxi service taking owners to church on a Sunday

Hmmm apparently life is not quite so simple for our cousins in far away places.  Our human carried on telling us about what being a real working mule involves.  You see mules, donkeys and horses work for many hours a day on crowded roads, they are fed what their owners can afford and often have saddles and bridles that don't fit, Callie's ears drooped when she heard this.  No fine cow mule gear for our cousins,  just harness made from what is cheap and locally available, very often tyre rubber or seat belt material is used as this is all our cousin's humans can afford.  The human we own said not to judge these humans too badly, they try very hard to give our cousins the best that they can but they often don't have much money and they themselves wear tyre sandals on their feet and don't have enough food so everyone works hard and has to suffer whether they have long, short or human ears.

Ro-Land was especially upset after listening to what human had to say, she said with a sad look that the short ears are the ones that really struggle with the work they have to do.  Horses are prized and are big enough to be used as taxi pullers, unfortunately they don't cope well with the work and the weather, they are often painfully thin and have badly fitting harnesses which rub them and cause sores.   She even said that horses often get very sick and are abandoned by their humans who can't treat them and don't know what to do with them, apparently some nice people will collect them and take them to the Rainbow Bridge, this sounds nice, we hope they like it?

Our poorly cousin waiting for someone to help.

Us long eared mules and our donkey pals cope much better, human said that most of our cousins that she saw were in really good condition despite having only meagre rations and working hard.  We all conferred and thought this was obvious - WE ARE MULES! We are the original all terrain vehicle that lives on nothing and likes to work, of course we're fine, no wonder we are the most prized animals in all of the world (well Ethiopia at least!).

Our donkey cousins snack at the side of the road, why doesn't human let us do this?

Just as we were feeling really sad human stroked all of our ears and told us not to worry.  There are some people working really hard in Ethiopia to help long and short ears and the humans that they own.  These lovely people are called The Donkey Sanctuary and SPANA, they work to help adjust harnesses, treat wounds and offer advice to owners and children who will one day come to be owned by us long and short ears.  Human said that the vets and helpers are real long and short eared fans and they know the secret - the mule is king (or queen!).

www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk
www.spana.org