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A lady who had worked with horses all her life now had a mule to start...she wrote in to Mulerider.com to find out what kind of bit she should train her mule in.
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Your experience with horses gives you a good background for working with your new mule. After all, the mule is
half horse! Yet the donkey side of the parentage does add a unique twist to this hybrid. I agree with your
attraction to learn from horseman who advocate working with equines in a way that they understand, rather than
through force and intimidation. This is especially important with the mule.
I see it more so in mules than horses that people think they need to use a lot of iron in the animal’s mouth (and/or
on it’s nose) to control them. I think that they make up for lack of training by going to more bit. In most cases, it
is ignorance or laziness and not meanness that has people going this route with mules or even horses. A lot of
people don’t think that a gag is severe--I don’t care for them but I’ve certainly seen worse pieces of torture devices
hung in a mule’s mouth.
My bit of choice for ALL my mules and horses for trailriding and schooling is the snaffle. (The definition of a
snaffle is a bit that does not have shanks for leverage, it works off direct pull and the mouthpiece can be broken,
solid or ported). You ask if mules work in more gentle bits such as a snaffle...definitely YES. If you’ve been
around donkeys, you’ll notice that they are good at ignoring pain. In fact the mule can ignore and run through a
any kind of severe painful bit if they decide to. So going to more iron in a mule’s mouth may be giving some
people a false sense of security. The mule can be as sensitive and soft-mouthed as the horse--that’s where
understanding and training comes in.
I’ve learned a lot from natural horsemanship clinician Peter Campbell--he has a saying about the subject of bits:
“It’s not what you put in the horse’s mouth, it’s what you put in their head”. The same goes for mules.
On the other hand, severity should actually be attributed to the rider’s hands rather than the bit--the smoothest
snaffle can be abusive in bad hands, and a good horse or muleman can be soft with a spade bit.
I don’t think you would be looking for trouble if you put your mule in a snaffle--but there should be some
re-education for the mule--to get him to respond to this bit that feels different and doesn’t rely on leverage. I’d
work on getting the mule real good and light at giving his head to each side and disengaging the hindquarters
(the hind legs stepping sideways and underneath the mule). Disengaging the hindquartes is good for a lot of
things--it works on their mind, it works on getting rid of the defensiveness in their hindquarters (for flight) and
can be used as an “emergency stop” if the animal shies or tries to run off.
Regarding differences between training techniques for horses and mules--I’d say that good training is good
training...horse or mule..the foundation is the same. Horseman Ray Hunt’s observation about mules is: “You have
to treat a mule the way you should treat a horse”. That means you HAVE to work with the mule in a way he
understands, whereas a horse will let you rush over some things and intimidate him into doing something. You
can get by with some holes in your horse training, but don’t do it when training a mule--the problems will crop
back up when you can least afford it
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of bad information out there about mules, just because it’s written in a book or
somebody charges a fee to espouse their advice doesn’t make it right. You’ve been around the horse world enough
to figure out whether it sounds like a sound idea for training, whether it be for horse or mule! The human is finally
learning to work with equines in a way that they can understand, taking into account their nature of flight, herd
instinct and self preservation. If someone gives you training advice that sounds more like it relies on force and
fear, it’s probably not going to work very well on the mule!
I think you’re going to do great with your mule--the people you mentioned learning from tell me you are on the
right track! There are several good horsemen offering clinics that I like in addition to the ones you mentioned:
Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman and Peter Campbell--these guys are the best--for myself, at this point
I don’t want to waste any more time learning anything other than the best. Bill Dorrance’s book True
Horsemanship Through Feel is the the best book I’ve ever seen at expressing the beautiful partnership that man
and horse (or mule) can attain (it’s available through Barnes & Noble in addition to select western stores). Bill,
Ray and Buck also have good books out but I think you need to attend one of their clinics before their words in
print will mean much to you (Ray, Buck and Peter Campbell each have a video series that you might find
interesting). Yes, these men mostly work with horses--but you’re not going to find anyone else in the horse or
mule world who understands how to work with the equine mind the way these men do. Their techniques work
exceptionally well on mules because its based on understanding rather than force and intimidation. But there are
other people out there you can learn from--even if it’s what not to do!
Let me know how it goes with putting your mule in a snaffle bit.
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