My friend, Bill, started talking about this certain mule a few months ago. He knows I’m fond and curious of mules.
Read about mules and Your Ass Rescue.
Bill’s brother had recently purchased one at an Iowa auction. It wasn’t working out; the mule was often frightened and took off during a recent trail ride.
She was hard to catch and harder to comfort.
Long story short:
We welcome Jolene, a six year-old molly (female mule) from Missouri to our herd!
She stands at about 15 hands and looks more horsey than many mules with white feet, black coat, and an auburn-tinted tail.
Jolene’s adjusting well to her new herd and her new surroundings. We gave her the paddock for several hours while the horses looked on. In the afternoon, we let them intermingle over our 7-acre pasture.
Jodi (who ranks second) wasted no time asserting herself. There was no blood lost, but lots of charging, ear-pinning, head-tossing, and kicks in the air. The two main combatants seem to enjoy hanging out together, actually.
Herd dynamics are intriguing and it’d be tempting to expound on who likes who and where individual members stand. But the reality, I think, is much muddier than we humans would like to believe. Dynamics are not strict and fixed. They flow more like a weather system or an office where sometimes actions of the less dominant have significant impacts on the upper-ups.
Read herd article and watch video.
Read some great herd-related blog posts.
Stay tuned.
Visit our facebook page for new album of Jolene and the rest of the herd.
