This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 99-01-05 05:55:04 EST, you write:
<< > I don't keep mules because I'm not smart enough. I would offer a > suggestion on the trainer you choose for your fjord. Find one that has > trained mules. While not keeping mules I have been around them & fjords > remind me more of mules than they do horses. >> I would like to respond a bit to the recent dialog on Fjords being like mules. To me, " being "like a mule" has a negative connotation. Some books also refer to Fjords as being stubborn. I think perhaps their motivations are misunderstood. I would rather them be referred to as "THINKERS". Let me share a story with you that might help explain this train of thought. When we first moved to OR. I had a shoer out for the first time to do the entire barn. We have a cement slab next to one of the barns that was destined to be the wash rack, but at the time was unfinished. It did not have anywhere to tie the horses and the one side was just a drop off of about a foot to the ground. I had "STUFF" sitting all over. I had moved everything aside so there was room for the horses to stand and we'd have a nice, flat, clean, surface for the shoer to work on. After we finished the first horse (a Quarter Horse stallion that I had brought from MT. He belonged to some folks from MT. and was in reining training with entries paid into the NRHA Futurity in Okla.) the shoer started moving my "STUFF" around. When I asked what he was doing, he said he was making room for the horses to turn around. I told him to leave it, that they could figure out how to get themselves turned around or they could fall off the edge! Guess what? Everyone of the Fjords looked the situation over, "THOUGHT" the situation through, and got turned around without knocking anything over and without falling off the edge. Guess what else? Everyone of the non-Fjords bumped into "STUFF" and fell off the edge! If I am riding, for instance, up in the mountains and come to a bridge that is of questionable integrity, I would rather be on a horse that will look the situation over rather than blindly going forward just 'cause I said so. If I have asked the horse to go forward and he tells me that he doesn't think that's a smart idea, it most likely is better to find an alternate route. Now understand, there is a difference between refusing something because the horse is green. That's where our "horsemanship" comes into play and we must be able to discern the difference. I have used this example quite a lot during my lessons. It was quite interesting when I received a phone call last year from a very excited customer of mine. I had trained his young Fjord for him. He had been riding on an unfamiliar trail and this exact scenario unfolded. His Fjord told him he didn't think the bridge was safe, so he waded the creek instead. The next horse that came behind him FELL THROUGH THE BRIDGE! And, yes, I have trained A mule, my first and last!! WHAT a challenge! It wasn't my idea, believe me. I had trained all of this guy's Q H's and he bought a mule to use in the mountains. Tried my darndest to convince him I WASN'T a mule skinner, but to no avail. To make a long story short, it ended up to be a success. This fellow's granddaughter showed that mule to the High Point performance critter at the fair! When the fella picked the mule up after I had finished her training, he mentioned that his friend had a couple of mules he wanted trained. I asked him if he told the guy how much I charged? He said he had, but I infromed him that my price had just tripled!! Gayle Ware Field of Dreams
