Barefoot Mule Perfection

Greetings Muleteers!  Why try to improve on perfection?  When it comes to shoes I am definitely in the no shoes gang!  This week has seen FH out of action with a sore back, it would appear that too much lifting of mule’s gold and the wrong equipment have broken her...

You humans are very peculiar always trying to make something better, faster or just more *perfect*!  I am a little confused sometimes; in most cases millions of years of product development have led us all to have the perfect tools for the job, my ears are mulificent, my coat shines like the sun and my hooves have built in traction control.  Which leads me on to shoes! 

There are those amongst us that are obsessed with shoes – Ro-Land cannot get enough of these fashion items and spends half his life licking and admiring any shoes that appear (to be fair most of his world is below humans’ knees so we think he might not realise that the talking end is the head!).  I have been wondering if FH’s problem is due to her shoes?  If you wear the wrong thing for too long it is only a matter of time until something goes ping!  She has an interesting array of shoes, some that are practical and some that are just a bit daft. 

Whatever happened to bare feet?  You’ll see that mine are very beautiful and perfect for the job!  I have the best of donkey feet and the best of horse feet and never need any help on rough surfaces.  I do feel sorry for most of the short ears that are my neighbours as they have metal attached to their feet, and can you believe it they have them burnt on, goodness me that’s brave!  Not even glamorous shoes like FH – METAL!  No wonder they slip and slide down the road outside our stables, it must be like walking on ice.  I do know that some of them can’t manage on the rough surfaces that I do as they are not quite as tough (aka not mulificent) but I’m sure that not all of them need those bits of metal on their beautiful hooves.  FH says it takes work and good management to ensure a short ears can manage without shoes, I guess that not everyone can be as naturally superior as me ;-)

FH also says that there are not many farriers in the UK that like the idea of shoeing a mule.... hmm I don’t know what she means?  I shan’t ponder it too long though as there’s no way I want any bits of bling near my heavenly hooves.

The classic Fisk poster - Time to Re-Tire, says it all!

I am off to put my best foot forward, and look no shoes!