People love to compete. Who is better? Whose car or horse is faster. The mule jumping competition tries to determine which mule can jump higher.
Missouri Mules
A mule is a cross of a male donkey and a mare. They vary a lot in size from miniatures to big and tall. Height is measured in hands (four inches) to the withers or top of the shoulders.
Mules were popular for work in pioneer days. They were strong and didn’t need as much care and feed as a horse. Missouri bred many of the finest mules.
Stubborn as a mule is quite true. If a mule decides to not do something, it doesn’t do it. But this is also a bit of temper on the part of the owners as mules are smart and many of the refusals were because the mule thought a path was too dangerous or had another good reason.
Mule Jumping Competition
Horses have riders as they race to a jump and over it. Steeplechases are popular races around a jumping course.
Jumping mules are not ridden. The owner walks them to the jump and urges them to jump over it.
There are several classes for the mules. One is for little mules. Another is for those thirteen hands (52 inches) and under. The third is for the tall mules.
The Set Up
Two poles are set up, each with a moveable bracket. A third pole is wet in the brackets. A cover is over this pole making it look like a solid barrier.
If a mule doesn’t clear the cross pole, it will fall down. This way the mule isn’t hurt.
Watching the Competition
A crowd gathered at the Rendezvous at the River to watch the mules jumping. We sat around on hay bales or in chairs set up in the shade.
A mule was led over to the jump. It stopped and looked at the barrier. Then it jumped over this two-foot high pole. When all the mules in the class had jumped, the bar was raised two inches and the mules jumped it again.
As the barrier got higher, one by one the mules refused to jump it. The winner was the last mule that would and did jump over the pole.
One little mule was fun to watch even though the owner was very frustrated. It decided not to jump that day. However, it needed to go over the barrier to make the owner happy. It walked up to the pole, knocked it over and walked over.
There are only a few of these mule jumping competition events. The next big one will be at the Missouri State Fair.
