Meredith Hodges

Stretch Your Mule’s Potential with Proper Conditioning

By Helen T. Hertz

For many of us warmer, longer days mean it’s time to get out and ride. It’s time to work out the kinks, limber up and get in shape for some fun, and that goes for both you and your mule.

At Lucky Three Ranch in Loveland, Colo., Meredith Hodges makes athletic conditioning an integral part of the training routine for her mules. Her older champions as well as her younger animals all benefit from a conditioning program that comprises exercise, stretching and diet. Each component helps ensure that the animals are comfortable, healthy and able to safely do what she asks of them.

Whether you’re training for show or for pleasure, athletic conditioning is key to a long happy relationship with your equine. Like any athlete, equines need “workouts” designed to prepare them for “competition.” You wouldn’t send a football player out on the field without first sending him to the gym, to properly build the muscles he needs to play the game. For an equine, the work to develop muscles, tendons and ligaments over a good frame doesn’t start in the round pen; it begins on the lead line. Showmanship work on the lead line helps develop strength and balance on the flat, in a controlled situation. Leading over obstacles adds coordination to strength and balance. Physical loss of balance is the biggest problem in underdeveloped animals and the biggest cause of bad behavior. When you pace your training to fully develop muscles, tendons and ligaments over an aligned frame, your mule will feel good all over and be more willing to comply.

Stretching is also important for the conditioned athlete—young or old. Your mule’s muscles should be warm before you stretch. Stretching after a short warm-up and before exercises will help tone the muscles, give joints a wider range of motion and help prevent injury. Stretching again after exercise will help muscles lengthen and relax, helping to avoid soreness.

Muscles that haven’t been stretched can develop in a shortened, contracted state limiting range of motion. Long, supple muscles support movement and give the animal an easier way of going—a sensation of floating over the ground rather than pounding into it.

Keep in mind that stretching exercises can be passive: Exercises in which you manipulate the animal’s muscles; or active: Exercises in which the animal moves himself over an elongated frame, lengthening muscles in the process. Both will give your mule’s muscles more strength and elasticity and help improve his performance and likely his temperament as well. Additionally, equines, like humans, have a dominant side. Correct combinations of stretching and exercise will help balance the body and make your mule even and solid.

Of course diet comes into play as well. We could log any number of hours on the treadmill or bike, but if we top off every workout with a cheeseburger and fries, our progress undoubtedly suffers. Opinions about the ideal diet for longears vary, but there are a few points on which most agree: Mules eat less than horses, and the wrong kind of diet can severely affect performance.

For average-size mules Meredith recommends:

•    1 lb crimped oats
•    1 oz of a vitamin concentrate such as Sho Glo or Clovite
•    1 oz Mazola corn oil (for hooves, coat and digestion)

Feed this once a day in the evenings and grass hay twice a day. Miniatures get half as much grain mix and draft animals twice as much. Avoid pre-mixed sweet feeds and alfalfa products and monitor weight gain by adjusting hay and pasture intake.

Before they were domesticated, equines took care of their own conditioning, exercising as necessary, stretching through motion, eating what was available. But today we run the show. We demand amazing feats of strength and endurance, restrict their space and subject them to unnatural environments. These animals are our responsibility now and when we provide adequate nutrition, exercise and care, they respond by doing their very best for us.

We know more now than ever before; even older, injured or abused animals can be rehabilitated, recover and thrive given proper care and conditioning. But it takes years for an equine to grow and develop properly. Consistency, patience and kindness will always pay off. So as you prepare to enjoy the summer months with your long-eared friend, be sure to evaluate your athletic conditioning program and give him everything he needs to do his best.

All Mule photos are courtesy of Meredith Hodges. Thanks Meredith!

Meredith can help. Her series Training Mules and Donkeys is a one-of-a-kind correspondence training program that offers sequential, reward-based instruction. For more information please visit www.luckythreeranch.com or call 800-816-7566.

Also watch Training Mules and Donkeys with Meredith Hodges on RFD-TV. Coming this summer, a special two-part program, Athletic Conditioning…

Meredith Hodges has used her resistance-free training program to prepare her animals for success in several disciplines including dressage and jumping. In her correspondence training series Training Mules and Donkeys, Meredith stresses the importance of bonding. Mules and donkeys have a strong instinct for self-preservation. To win their trust and cooperation, you must be the one to work most closely with your animal and demonstrate that you have his best interest at heart. Comprehensive athletic conditioning, beginning with basic groundwork, is essential for developing muscles over a proper frame. Proper diet and maintenance are equally critical in a well-rounded training program. Mules can do anything a good horse can do. With proper training, care and attention they can become champion performers and treasured companions. For more about Meredith Hodges and Training Mules and Donkeys, please visit www.luckythreeranch.com or call 800-816-7566.