I want to preface this by saying I have always loved horses more than anything in the world, zebras, donkeys and mules never quite hit the mark for me. One, I had zero experience with them hands on, and two, they were significantly different than horses, enough so to deter me from getting up close and personal with them.

Until now.

Now that I’ve been working at Chaparral for a year I have come to know a lot of different mules & donkeys. Surprisingly I’m enjoying it too.

In Woodside we had Hammer, a gaited liver chestnut john mule who lived with Ajax and Ollie. For a time we had Major and Brisbee, who later moved to Milpitas, and now Camp Mather (Yosemite). They were your standard bay mules with mule-ish personalities. Meaning we weren’t close. We acquired 4 mules specifically for Yosemite; Fable, Penelope (temporarily called Piñata), Harley and Hannah. Fable must be half thoroughbred we think, she’s huge, she’s a fleabitten grey and she has a long body for a mule. We have a Haflinger (Avelignese) mule and another small grey mule in our top pasture. And finally we have our adorable Maroo. He’s a pure donkey, even though I call them all donkeys.

Above, we have Ms Kahlua resource guardian supreme. She was blocking Major from being able to get to me. One because he’s quite literally an ass (at least half), and two because she started to really like me by the end of our spring/summer together. While it’s not a behavior I’m keen on reinforcing it was temporarily cute to be her “thing”, even if just for her daily scratches.

I joked with the team that I always get attached to something that gets rehomed, leaves, or passes away. Unfortunately for me, Kahlua is part of our Yosemite/Camp Mather group and she was only in Milpitas for 4 ish months. But, because she was so special, I wanted to share her with y’all.

She is a teenage, Appaloosa molly mule and she’s huge. She’s 15hh+ and built like a tank. She was the first mule I saw at this location, and I loved her from the start. She fits in a standard Circle Y saddle even despite her lack of withers as an equus mulus.

As far as I know she isn’t gaited, but she’s a lovely ride aside from a few spooks and looks. She has the most expressive ears and they became my favorite thing while getting to know her. She easily traded her love for ear scratches.

If it was in the cards when it comes time to move, I would take her with me in a heartbeat. But, unfortunately, I can’t. She is my dream mule, just based on our relationship and connection, spots aside. The spots are a major bonus for me, especially that speckled nose of hers above.

Her hair is the typical donkey hair, soft almost cashmere like under all the wiry hair. She would be really fun to bathe, and give all the biotin supplements since she falls into the mule and Appaloosa hair categories. Both breeds have or are bred to have no hair and she has nothing sadly. Her mane is pretty good for a half assed mane (I’m sorry I had to). It looks like a standard roach and her forelock is puffy enough it gives it some substance. Her tail however, is the saddest thing. It very much reminds me of a drafts tail, and we have the two Percherons for reference.

In a recent world she would be my trail go to, my arena gal, maybe we could try some gymkhanas for fun and maybe see how she did with formal dressage work on a low level. But otherwise, she would be a dry lot pasture puff as mules require a different diet than your average equine. She can guard her herd, she can run around and be an ass, and otherwise just enjoy life.

Maybe I’ll be able to have a mule like Lulu one day, until then, I’ll enjoy her and hope I don’t move before she gets back.