Lol
Im guessing that mare didn't want anything to do with that donkey.

Quote Trapset:
I’m a fan of the positive reinforcement except when it comes to kicking or biting. Best to negatively enforce correction immediately, with what ever is handy. Correction should be immediate and last no more than a second or two. Then move on like nothing happened.

That is a good book trapset ! I have gone through several . Mules are not all the same ,horses are not all the same .When you have have had many of each you will see this .

Exactly. I remember my uncle yelling at my cousin when we were packing up a string for Elk camp. “PAUL!, those mules names have meaning! You don’t pack eggs on Re-Bar, Lightning or Jumpy. Ya pack eggs on the mules named Flossy, Babe or Daisy!!” LMAO

Here’s a pic of the little guy. Picked him up Thursday. I tried unloading a pic of him standing broadside but it won’t load for whatever reason. He’s a 2yr old quarter horse cross. Halter trained-ish. Let’s me pick his front feet, workin on his back. It’s my first experience with a mule and it blows my mind how attentive he is compared to my horses. He picks up everything and keeps an eye on everything. My horses always seem to be in their own little world and then surprised and wanna blow up. This dude seems to be keeping tabs on his surroundings, then blows if something comes outta nowhere. I’m enjoying my first two days of him.

I know what you mean about an attentive mule. One day I was working on an old wooden hay manger in the corral. The horses, and one mule couldn’t care less. My little black mule, Pepper, was watching over my shoulder for over an hour. She would follow me to one end then back to the other. She watched me pound every nail, I had to watch my back stroke so I wouldn’t hit her nose with the hammer.

She was a great mule. Kids could ride her at home, stand on her back to pick apples etc. She didn’t need a lead rope when packing in the mountains. She’d just follow along. When she’d fall back a bit, all that was needed was a “come on Pepper, keep up” and she’d trot up to the rest of the string.

When the wood stove in the tent would melt off all the snow on the ground we would bring her in the tent and she’d eat the freshly exposed grass.

She lived to over 40 and only went to the vet for brand inspections when traveling. She laid down all curled up natural like one winter and my daughter found her dead that way in the morning. She was running and playing with the other critters just hours before. Easiest keeper I ever had.

From having packed, ridden and driven mules will say in my experience you won't find a smoother riding sure footed animal that will get your packs where they need to be without trying to rub them off on every tree, brush out cropping they come across. But will also say you treat them bad and expect the same in return. In packing mules the ones I worked with as long as you do your job of having both sides pretty close in weight tied on right they'll almost work to keep the packs in place. As far as riding no you're not going to compete in the derby or against horses for speed but the ride is smoother and you shouldn't need to worry about stumble foot tripping over everything. Personally I'd rather lead a string of 12 mules than a string of 4 horses.
Basically treat them right and you'll have a friend you can depend on, which is more than you can say about people.