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October 10, 2004
Jumping Mules
Since Jim didn't know what a mule jump was, here's an article with the results from this year's competition.
Mule jumping does have its practical side. Mules, which are the hybrid offspring of horses and donkeys, have the unique trait of being able to jump over obstacles up to 6 feet tall from a near-standing-still position. Hunters traditionally used them to jump over fences, which takes less time than finding a gate....In competition, the mules attempt to jump over a pole with a cloth hanging to the ground. The cloth is necessary because mules won't jump over something they can't see. Sometimes they won't jump over something they can see. Several contestants simply walked around the barrier.
Competitions are great fun, both because of the athleticism involved (the winner of the under 51 inch tall amateur class cleared a jump of 48 inches) and the antics of the owners trying to get the mules to jump.
Great clean family fun for a day, and fairly inexpensive, only $4 admission. There's pony rides for kids, an adjacent playground and various food and craft booths. We've gone the last couple of years, but the weather yesterday was just too chilly and damp to take WildChild.
Otherwise we wouldn't have missed it for anything.
Posted by Rita at October 10, 2004 07:53 AM
Comments
Hee hee! I had no idea about this unique talent.
Posted by: david at October 10, 2004 08:30 AM
Me neither, and I grew up around mules....though jumping is generally discouraged in work mules like ours. We went the first time as a lark, and got hooked. It's really pretty amazing to watch.
Posted by: rita at October 10, 2004 08:48 AM
Alas, the cultural divide. I don't believe I have ever seen a mule in the flesh, much less a jumping one. My "experience" with mules begins and ends with Donald O'Connor talking to Frances, the Talking Mule. I don't recall having ever seen Frances jump.
The event sounds like fun.
Posted by: Jim at October 10, 2004 02:13 PM
Frances, Schmances. Real mules are awesome. We had a team of work mules when I was a kid, trained by the delightfully named Off Parks. I learned gee from haw at an early age. I wasn't very good at plowing, but I spent many hours skidding logs with ol' Kate & my dad. My dad would cut the tree & trim the branches; while he was cutting the tree into stave bolt length, I'd pile the branches out of the way. When he'd get the tree cut up, I'd hook the skid tongs onto one & away Kate & I would go down the skid trail to the log landing.
I'd take a mule over a horse just about any day.
Posted by: rita at October 10, 2004 03:48 PM