Here’s a charming video from reader Julia A.: “This is my ‘surprise’ mule, Tee Jay, when he was just a few days old. He’s all grown up now, bigger than his mother, strong, well-behaved and trained to saddle. I feel very blessed and couldn’t ask for a better or smarter equine companion.”
What a beautiful mule and full of youthful energy. My sister has had mules and they were great for riding and as barnyard pets.
*Looks out back window*
No cute baby mules 🙁
I went to an alpaca farm a few years ago and there was one baby that had been a surprise. The owner had no idea his mom was pregnant until they went out one morning to find a newborn mixed in with the herd. I wonder how big he is now… 🙂
I’ve risen ponies and horses but never a mule, actually I’ve never even met a mule ?
My experience with mule is confined to watching Francis the talking mule movies as a kid.
New legs…the wonderful wonky jump around new legs…yippee!!
I love mules. I fell in love with one named Festus when we were on a horse-packing trip in Wyoming. Everyone kept going off to fish (I can’t abide fishing) so I’d just stay behind and stroke Festus. He was huge and he would just put his big ol’ head on my shoulder and we’d have a little love-in. Ahhhh. Thanks, Julia A, for letting us see your lovely guy. He must be big – Mom looks to be fairly substantial!
Tee Jay was/is adorable! I love it when baby animals reach the “legs up to here” stage–though of course Tee Jay was born that way!
Baby TJ looks like one of those statuesque supermodels, but without the anorexia going on.
What a sweetie – congratulations! I can’t recall the last time I was surprised by a mule.
I would love to see more, like an adult photo, a dad photo…
In this Christmas photo from 2013, Tee Jay was exactly mimicking my body language. He does this all the time, and it makes him a great mule, always “listening” for cues from me and wanting to please. He is 14 hands as of January 2017 (3 1/2 years of age) and is still growing. His mother, seen in the video, is a 13.5 h mustang named Magdalena. She was a bit fat in the video (Who can blame her, she did just have a baby after all.) but with diet and exercise, I have her slimmed down to a proper athletic weight. Tee Jay’s father, “Donkey Otie” was (is) a 12 hand high grey dune donkey with very good conformation. I saw him when I adopted Magdalena but he was gelded at the time and I had no idea that I was destined to become a mule parent, hence the “surprise”.
Donkey Otie! I love it.
Tee Jay looks very snazzy in his hat. 🙂
So cute that he is copying your stance! 😀
Tee Jay at six months of age using his upper lip to feel the texture of a lead rope. He loves to pick up and carry all sorts of things in his mouth and swing things around in circles lasso style.
Was the ‘surprise’ that you didn’t know she was pregnant at all? Or just that the baby was a mule?
And I say good for Donkey Otie sowing his wild oats before it was too late!
I didn’t know that Magdalena was pregnant at all. She was snarky every three weeks just like any unbred mare might be. After about 5-6 months, I was afraid that she had “sand bloat” because her middle was so big. I bought her psyllium and mixed it into her feed but to no avail. After 8 months of ownership, I saw her flank move, little Tee Jay was kicking and I knew what was up. Soon, her teats began to grow larger and at 10 months of ownership (11 months gestation) Magdalena was a proud mama. I hear that Donkey Otie was adopted to someone who lives not so far away from me. I agree with you, Juno, that its great he got that one last fling before getting “fixed”.
Amazing and wonderful story – aren’t you lucky, to have gotten two for one!
This is awesome. Thanks for explaining and letting us see different facets of a cute furry friend.