Casper - A journey with a Mule :)

[Zoe RA]

I had had the phone call from Lyn just before she posted this
ihdg.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=stolost&action=display&thread=105678

Not only was he a Mule, but he was an entire Mule at that

And this is what he was doing when I first met him.



He would let you get closeish if you had a bucket, but not close enough to even think about catching him, and when the owners came to take him home, they apparently used the "wrap the rope round the tree" method to stop him belting off again after the rugby tackle to catch him.

After two more incidents of him escaping and running back to Lyn and Ronald's field - trailing the chain that he was permanently tethered up to - they decided that he was meant to be with them

So, little by little, we have been allowing him to realise that, however scary some things may at first appear, and, however mixed the messages have been from people in his past have been, life is good with Lyn and Ronald.

After a few days for him to settle into a routine (consisting of Ronald calmly wandering round his paddock munching an apple and feeding the core to Casper), they could stroke him on the front of the face. If an attempt was made to go under the chin or on his neck, he was off like a shot, double barreling as he went.






He was happy to go into the little field shelter to have his bucket without any stress, so I decided it was going to be safest all round to work with him in there so that neither he nor I felt that we were in a position of potential danger. He has very obviously been manhandled big time in his past, and I know how accurately mules can hit the target if they DO decide to kick lol!.

I did the usual all over with the bamboo cane (yep, he had a very accurate kick on him!), and eventually got him to the point where I could clip on.



I continued to touch him all over with the cane and my false hand until he had settled, then called it a day.









You can see him visibly relaxing to wards the end of those photos

End of session one!

Lyn and Ronald continued the gently gently in the field with him with the aid of food (sharing Ronald's morning apple routine) and he then became a lot easier to clip on to in the field shelter.

To be continued once I have downloaded the next lot of pics ;D

[Zoe RA]

So, slowly, slowly we have been gaining Casper's trust.

I was able to undo his head collar and put it on higher up his nose. I tried a sheepskin nose band cover to avoid the risk of the head collar rubbing, but Ronald felt that he didn't like it, so he took it off. Major progress that he was able to!!

He has also been so good that Ronald and Lyn could slowly clip on outside the field shelter and gently lead him about, although his flight reflex was still very strong.

With his nose band on:



Pushing his boundaries out again by getting in the pen with him.




He was still very head shy and defensive of those gorgeous ears of his, so the day he let me finally hold them was a very emotional one for me



Gently gently, slowly, slowly Ronald and Lyn have worked on whatever I have done with him in his last session, then I have come along and pushed the boundaries a little further each session.

He is now a much more self confident chap and absolutely loves being brushed and fussed over






Isn't he the most gorgeous boy?!




He is still very cautious of sudden movements, and is not over happy with anything touching his off side, but his flight response has diminished enormously in the last couple of weeks. In fact he has come so far that we now think he will be fine for the vet to come and geld next week. Once that has happened and his hormones have subsided he can go out with the herd and learn to be a social Muletto ;D

[Zoe RA]

The deed is done.

Poor Casper had a bit of a time of it as he had listened too well to his Mummy when she had told him to "Just Say No" to drugs !

He really REALLY didn't want to be sedated or anesthetized. His veins didn't want to play and neither did he. He had to have enough to put out several large herds of elephants and fought it all the way, but was eventually, successfully put out and gelded.

The good news is that he had a brilliant recovery from the anesthetic and was back on his feet and stable really fast.

He spent the next hour snorting really loudly whenever he heard a noise. I think his head woke up before his body did properly and he was trying to make himself sound big and scary so that any potential predators left him alone ........

Here he is not long after he had come round. Love this little Mule

[Zoe RA]

Casper has been doing very well physically after his gelding, and he has healed up very well.

Psychologically however, he has, understandable, taken a step back in the trust department since his traumatic gelding

Today Lyn and I thought he may like a little treat (seeing as he has been paying no "attention" to the mares since his op )

With everything set up as safely as was possible, we allowed him in to properly meet herd leader Tadla. The anticlimax of the year then ensued lol! Tadla just wandered round in a very soft manner, and Casper pottered about after her - all very calmly

He did push his luck just the once when they touched noses and he jumped up on her shoulder, but he didn't bother with that again after she told him - rather politely considering - that it was very much frowned upon to jump the Royal Personage without due invitation! In fact it all went so well that Emie was then brought in to meet him too

She was a little more demonstrative in her feelings for this small, white, interloper, but after getting too close to her teeth a couple of times he stayed well clear of her too, although they were all grazing farely closely considering they had never been in with each other before. There was no sign of the rampant little chap who used to run up and down the fence-line looking as if he could pole-vault over ;D

After an hour or so, he started to wander back to us and we decided he wanted to go back to his little paddock. Lyn was actually able to catch him, clip on, and lead him back, which was a seriously big achievement given that he has been so jumpy since the gelding. Progress!!