# Gosh this looks scary!



## BigBenLoverforLife (Sep 19, 2012)

The jumping over logs and stuff isnt bad, just some of the things on the hills and cliff type things there are jumping down and such! I guess I'm no ruff rider! Most of the trails around here are flat as can be!


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## PurpleMonkeyWrench (Jun 12, 2012)

that's nuts lol I feel bad for the mules...the jumping off cliffs and stuff look painful


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## BigBenLoverforLife (Sep 19, 2012)

PurpleMonkeyWrench said:


> that's nuts lol I feel bad for the mules...the jumping off cliffs and stuff look painful



I do to. I read in the comments that they arnt shod either. If I was doing that I would at least put shoes on them..


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## PurpleMonkeyWrench (Jun 12, 2012)

BigBenLoverforLife said:


> I do to. I read in the comments that they arnt shod either. If I was doing that I would at least put shoes on them..


Oh man :shock:


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## Muppetgirl (Sep 16, 2012)

This might be just enough to convince my skeptical friend.....this is WHY I want a mule!!

Sure footed and brave.......although you wouldn't catch me doing what they're doing in the vid......only if my life depended on it!!


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## Copperhead (Jun 27, 2012)

Now I want a mule...


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## Iseul (Mar 8, 2010)

Watched this vid awhile ago..I was definitely amazed and wanted/still want a mule or four..they have to be finished though, I'm not sure I want to attempt the training myself, I'll stick to horses for that, lol.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

They don't need shoes often. And they were mostly landing in sand. But, HOLY bulging disks in your lower back get popped out! OUCH! no thanks.


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## Oldhorselady (Feb 7, 2012)

Very cool. While I appreciate the mules for their sure-footedness, I would still gladly take the more boring route.


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## Opal (Feb 17, 2013)

I agree that it's a little extreme and hard on the mules, but referring to BigBen's comment, a shod hoof loses 60 to 80% of the hoof's natural shock absorption, so it's much better that they aren't shod as long as their hooves are well taken care of.


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## BlooBabe (Jul 7, 2012)

Sometimes trails are rough like that. I'm pretty sure those riders aren't riding like that all the time. IT's just to show the versatility of mules and how well they do under situations like the ones pictured. It doesn't happen often but I've asked my horse to jump into a sheer walled ravine or down from rocks before. If it's safe we'll do it, if not we look for other ways to go, just like anyone would. Some trails require it in order to get where you're going.


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## QOS (Dec 8, 2008)

mules are pretty dang amazing. They say if you ride a great mule you will never again ride a horse! 

Shoeless would be better in this case. More shock absorption when they land. 

Thanks for sharing!


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## bbsmfg3 (Aug 12, 2010)

Mule or horse, it's more a matter of training. I see nothing difficult about anything they are doing. Many of the obstacles are encountered on a lot of trails. Very good idea to have them trained for it before they have to do it real life with no practice. As amazing as it might seem, once a horse or mule does a few of these, they seem to handle new, different ones the first time without any problems. These obstacles are a whole lot less scarey than some of the horse shows I've seen, where the horses were terrified of the surrounds, and acted out accordingly.


Shoes vs no shoes? Don't know how anyone would figure the concussion would be any different either way. Concussion is a result of weight on to a surface, a shoe in between the foot and the ground makes no difference. I'd prefer a drill tech shoe, to help with the slipping. 

What would be scarey, is having to do this and never practiced. Been there, done that. Not a good idea.


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## thenrie (Sep 10, 2012)

I haven't seen anything to fully convince me that mules are more sure-footed than a horse. I am convinced that mules tend to "think" a little more than a horse, but a horse that has been through that kind of country and been exposed to that kind of stuff can handle it pretty well. 

Until you actually _do_ some of that kind of riding, you simply have no concept of what a horse can really do. Problem with horses is that they panic when they get into a tight situation they can't see their way out of (a lot of that has to do with the rider, as well, in my opinion). Mules tend to stop and think and won't move until they see their way out. After a horse has been exposed to that kind of terrain and has had a rider who understands what a horse can and cannot do, they settle down and pick their steps very well.

I have also found that riding a horse barefoot on the trail during training teaches the horse to watch where it puts its feet. My mare will now watch where she puts every hoof in any king of rough terrain. She will walk through rocks, deadfalls, over logs, etc, watching very carefully where she places her hooves.

As for harm to the horses, in my experience, you see far fewer serious injuries to man/woman and beast doing stuff like this than you will in the show circuit performance competitions, western or English.

There used to be a video on the Extreme Mules youtube channel where they took horses along for the ride, doing all the same things. You can also look at the channel for Extreme Outlaw Rides. He does all that stuff with mustangs.


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## Painted Horse (Dec 29, 2006)

There is a group of guys here in Utah that do that stuff on their horses. Its the group Tony was talking about above. It doesn't take a mule. I keep saying I'm going to go down and join them for a ride. (I'll just go around the really big stuff). But I have gone off a lot of 3' ledges and the occasional 4'





 
I can't see that this has any more impact than show jumpers going over the high bars


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## Copperhead (Jun 27, 2012)

I would absoltely love to do those things. I think it'd be a lot of fun.

I got a little worried when that horse was swimming though. Seems like he wasn't the best swimmer and the guy wouldn't let go of his head.


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## FaydesMom (Mar 25, 2012)

At one time or other in my life I have taken my horses over everything those mules went over. We used to take 2 or 3 ten day hunting trips up into Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming's high country. You have to go where the big deer and big elk go. Although, on the really big dropoffs, we would dismount and allow the horse to go down by themselves and then mount up again.

Dang (edit to fix language) I hate Kentucky... :-(


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## FaydesMom (Mar 25, 2012)

And I won't think about the custom Bona Allen saddle I lost in the Willamette River because my horse leapt off a 15 foot embankment into the water half way through a formal trail ride. He swam into a bunch of scrub growing at the edge of the river and got the saddle hung up and couldn't swim away. I climbed down the bank and got into the river with him. I had gotten the rear girth and breast collar undone and just as I pulled the front girth loose he started to thrash and I had to get away from him. As he got free of the brush and swam out into the river I watched as my saddle...now completely ungirthed and just sitting on his back...slipped off into the current and disappear downstream as it sank under the surface...

Oh well, at least I was able to save Kyowa, he was a wonderful horse...the bonehead! :rofl::rofl::rofl:


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## thenrie (Sep 10, 2012)

The thing is, just like any athlete, you can't ask your horse to be doing stuff like this if he isn't in shape and if he hasn't worked up to it. These guys do this stuff all the time and their horses are in shape for it. Occasionally, when you're out on a trail you come up to an obstacle that you need your horse to get through and not hesitate or question it. There are times when you can't just turn around and go back. Those are the times when you thank the Lord, and your horse, that you did some of these obstacles in training and for fun when it really didn't matter.


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## thenrie (Sep 10, 2012)

Reminds me of a trip I took with my wife and another couple. We were on a steep mountainside coming down switchbacks, when we came up to a blowdown about 50-100 feet from the end of a switchback. The tree was about 3' in diameter and was laying at such an angle that it was impossible to cross. There was no way to go up around it and the only option was to go downhill to the trail below. I simply turned my horse down the hill and hit the trail about 75 feet below. The other riders were afraid to do it, despite the fact that their horses wanted to follow mine. It almost caused a big, bad wreck, because they were holding back their fidgeting horses on a narrow, steep trail.

They finally dismounted and did one of the most unsafe things you can do in a situation like that. They led their horse down the hill. And I mean _led_, as in, in front of and below the horse, down the very steep hillside. My wife dismounted and just let her horse make his own way down to the rest.

We got through it without a major mishap, but just by the skin of our teeth, and all because they would not ride their horse down a steep hill.


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## dashygirl (Nov 21, 2006)

Copperhead said:


> I would absoltely love to do those things. I think it'd be a lot of fun.


I totally agree. SIGN ME UP!


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

FaydesMom said:


> And I won't think about the custom Bona Allen saddle I lost in the Willamette River because my horse leapt off a 15 foot embankment into the water half way through a formal trail ride. He swam into a bunch of scrub growing at the edge of the river and got the saddle hung up and couldn't swim away. I climbed down the bank and got into the river with him. I had gotten the rear girth and breast collar undone and just as I pulled the front girth loose he started to thrash and I had to get away from him. As he got free of the brush and swam out into the river I watched as my saddle...now completely ungirthed and just sitting on his back...slipped off into the current and disappear downstream as it sank under the surface...
> 
> Oh well, at least I was able to save Kyowa, he was a wonderful horse...the bonehead! :rofl::rofl::rofl:


Good thing you didn't try to dive after the saddle. Willamette is full of undertows, not a good swimming river in a lot of areas.


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## BlooBabe (Jul 7, 2012)

I'd love to do all that rough riding stuff again but it's too much to ask of my old boy, and I moved to new england where it's pretty much all flat. The only thing I don't like is people holding their horses heads back. If you're asking it to jump/slide down a 5'+ drop you should give them there head so they can land it. You've got to have the balance of a gymnast too. If you shift when they're on the way down bad things can happen to both rider and horse. So in both videos the riders and the horses/mules are conditioned to ride on intense terrain.


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## Caili (Jun 7, 2011)

Mules are usually pretty hardy animals. Neopolian Bonaparte rode a mule when he was at war. (excuse any errors i have made with his name)


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## wild horses (Feb 11, 2011)

My weekend ride mustering horses....horses can go in some pretty steep trails to. But man alive some riders aren't up to it. Worst riders are the ones that can't let a horses head go...trust me a horse know best where to it his feet on steep country. I would love a mule to do this in tho!


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Yep, I have done that...though I didn't exactly do it by choice and my horse and I were traveling at a dead run at the time :?.

Yeah, not nearly as fun as it looks.


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## amberly (Dec 16, 2012)

Although it looks like a TON of fun, I'll stick to barrel racing, thank you!


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## cowgirl928 (Feb 4, 2012)

I went on a riding trip to the Killdeer Mountains two years ago with some friends and if our horses didn't trust us we never would have made it. SOme of the trails were more precarious than the ranger told us and we ended up doing a bit of climbing like this. I thank the Lord that my horse is confident and sure footed because I was nervous as crap on some of the trails! ...And now I want to go do it again :lol:


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## Wheatermay (Aug 22, 2011)

You'd be surprised how good their feet look. You dont NEED shoes. You need to know how to do a barefoot, but without a shoe the foot flexes more easily and the foot is overall stronger and healthier IF you have a farrier that can built that foot. Check out Pete Ramey for starters. 

Not trying to get yelled at or start a debate. Just pointing out that they arent torturing the mules.


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## Gaited07 (Jul 25, 2008)

Here is some of our rides we do in the west. I do some extreme rides and travel trails no man has covered but that is the thrill of the ride. 

I never do anything that I feel is too dangerous (within my reason LOL) but our horses are troopers to the end.

I couldn't find all my whacky pics but will dig them out if someone is interested. 

Oh there is one picture with wild mustangs


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## FlyGap (Sep 25, 2011)

Cool vid, thanks for posting! I've done equally or even crazier stuff when I was younger, not so much now!

My mare back in the day was barefoot and I rode her at least 10/20 miles at a time 6 days a week. There is no way we could have done the things we did with shoes on. We climbed almost sheer rock cliffs, jumped off 15 foot cliffs into rivers, hopped boulders, long trots on roads, rode stream beds for miles to get to trails... She was never lame a day in her life, and only once did she lose her footing and that was completely my fault!

Almost everyone around here rides mules, we get to rib poking at the local gossip stop and when I go out with my mule skinnin friends. I tell them there is no way on earth I'm gonna ride a ugly donkey, LOL! My horses are just about as surefooted as they come, but if I go riding with my friends and they bust out some of those crazy moves... Well I might get one to have around, not gonna replace my horses though!


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