Winning Mule

Winning agility mule!

My attempts at human training are coming on well!  After reading all about what FH really thinks of me  (I knew she was soft on me really....) I decided that I should take our training to the next level and enter her for an agility competition.

Whilst the competition was called 'Horse Agility' I shall rename it 'Human Agility', FH has named it 'Mule Agility'.  Honestly I think she just tries to deflect pressure from herself on to me!

So the Dragon mobile arrived and I hopped on board without any problems..... I had plans for my day out....

Hello fans, nice to see you all.  There were lots of handsome short ears to chat with and show off in front of.  They had all brought a human with them too, some had even brought two (not sure I could cope with two humans, one to train is quite enough thank you!).  

So we had a little practice,   I got FH through the flappy curtain once she'd decided it wasn't a human eater....

Then over some poles, through and hoop and over a jump, backed over the poles, controlled FH's paces (impossible, she is too slow and prone to stopping for a little rest....

Then I loaded myself in the trailer while FH watched (lazy human), picked my way through the 'S' bend pretending there were snake infested waters on either side, stood on the podium with all four hoofellas off the ground

Then I had a little play on the tarpaulin...again FH stopped for a little chat... honestly humans talk too much... have you noticed me?!

Then my big mule moment came when I showed FH how to play see-saw, I was not at all bothered about tottering on the plank.... FH looked alarmed!  Sorry no pics of this one... blink and you'll miss it!

Then a stop for a lunch snack.... mule cannot function on an empty tummy so I opted for the 'all you can eat grass buffet'.  FH went and ate unhealthy human food, no wonder she was sluggish!

Then my big moment!  The competition!  Gotta show those short ears how to train humans..... I gotta prove that humans are not stubborn (not all the time at least) and if you negotiate with them you can get them to achieve quite a lot.

So around the obstacles I went with mulish charm and a swish of the tail here and there to keep the human listening to me.  FH did fairly well and managed to keep her feet up with mine most of the time, she did fail to get her feet in the right place in the S bend and dropped some points but I was perfect (not meaning to be big headed of course...)!  When we'd done we patiently watched everyone else who did great (whilst eating grass ;-) and then waited for the big results!

And the winner is...... ME!!! I managed to train my human so well that we got first prize!  How about that!  My first competition and a winner :-)  It's not the winning that was good though, it was the big grin on the human's face and the fun that we had.  Secretly I quite like this human training thing, I could get used to it..... now I have to train her to provide carrots on demand, scratch my itches, tidy my room, talk to me nicely..... hmmm actually I'm not doing too bad so far am I?  

Time for home and there was just one thing left for this superstar mule to do.  Have a nice little snooze in the afternoon sun.... it's hard work training humans!

Snoozy Mule!

Have a great week muleteers, whoever said that humans were stubborn?  They're actually quite a trainable species really but I doubt they have the intelligence of us mules... ah well at least they have us to look after them :-)

Many of the pictures  in this post are used with the kind permission of Martin Lovell Photography and remain copyrighted.

Mule Agility

Greetings Muleteers!  Well what fun I had this weekend.  I knew something was up when a mule mobile arrived and I was shown inside.  Yes, yes, been there, seen that, done that, where are we going, when are we going?  Well the humans kept me waiting for another day..... sigh!

Eventually after much faffing around on their part we were ready for the off.  I entered my mule mobile straight away, the flight mule attendant brought my in transit snack of a carrot and off we set.

Gosh MH you do drive like an old lady.... actually that's fine as it means I can balance easy and eat my hay, this is great, if I travel I gets hay not straw - yippee!

Here we are.... woohoo, have you seen all that grass, my goodness me, I have come for a Dragon sized picnic.

 

Well it seems that FH had other ideas.... she appears to think that we are here for a training day?  Apparently she thinks she is training me to do Horse Mule Agility with a group of other equnes and their humans, I think I am training her to do Mule Human Agility.  Whatever, I'm sure we'll figure out who's in charge.

 

 

After lots of showing off to my new fans (they was amazed at my mulificent, good looks and willingness to show my human up ;-) it was time to tackle some obstacles.

 

First up was the curtain thingy, I went through no problems, I was so quick the photo does not show my prowess... Here I am mostly concerned with the grass not the curtain, looks tasty!

 

 

Next up was the hoopy thing, yep I went through and over that quick too and the camera thing didn't catch me..... errmmm FH look at the grass..... come to think of it there is a theme here in these pics??

 

Then off to 'Scarey Corner', why is this scarey?  That's right FH you lead the way and I'll follow like a good muletta should, someone has even left me a helpful sign for directions :-)

 

 

Me and FH is rebels though and decided to go the wrong way round this one way system, just in case you didn't get my best side on camera!

 

 

Then on to some other obstacles, first I had to walk across a wooden bridge and through some barrels and over a tarpaulin, I was so speedy the camera didn't catch me, needless to say I was teaching FH some real agility tricks, in between there was a bit of grass munching - yum!  It was even better because our trainer insisted that me eating grass was good as it kept my brain happy.  I like this trainer she gets my need for feed!

 

Next up is the podium, I think this should be renamed Mule Mound.  I gots my little, itty, bitty muley hooves up there as quick as I could, no place I'd rather be than up high!  FH was well pleased with me. 

 

 

In the spirit of fairness I wanted to give my back hooves a chance too, but then the urge to eat got too much..... it's ok though mules can multi task!

 

 

Then there was some of that ground worky stuff where I had to go backwards, bend round poles and trot next to FH (she's slow but I tried my best not to overtake, it would not have been sporting).

 

 

The human was definitely getting better with this agility thing, we'll have her jumping through hoops in no time.

 

Just one last thing FH, how about the grass eating obstacle?  Can we tackle that now?  If I can just get my head down another couple inches I'll complete that task.

 

It was time to go way too quickly but alas I had eaten enough grass to brag to the minis about, had taught FH some moves, had conquered every obstacle put in front of me and made loads of new equine and human friends - not bad for a day's fun.

So when are we coming again FH?? That was quite fun, although I'm ready for a snooze now!