One Heart Equestrian Therapy Blog

Hi Friends;
Are you with us today, MK?
When I talked to you about my trip to KC for the Human-Animal Bond meeting I mentioned seeing the mule team, Terry and Tim, representatives of the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine. This is the third generation of mule team mascots for Mizzou Vet Med. To the right is a picture of the original mascot team, Hilda and Louise. I'm up in the box! I was one of the first muleskinners, mule club members, teamsters at Mizzou.
The story of Hilda and Louise begins with the arrival of the new Vet Med Dean of that era (1980's....a former life :) Dean Kahrs. Dean Kahrs had just visited the Vet school in Pennsylvania where he was given a campus tour in a buggy pulled by a standardbred. Dean Kahrs felt that would be an appropriate way to promote Mizzou Vet Med so actively sought the support to make that happen. Missouri is noted for mule production, especially noted for exporting more mules to Europe to support war efforts during WW1 than anywhere else. This reputation for producing good mules still lingers. Dean Kahrs solicited input from local mule experts and located a young team in Fayette, Mo. An 80-something year old man had broken them to drive. The were broke well. I know, because when Dr. Kahrs put out the word for pre-vet and vet students to come be the crew, I showed up. I was an active member of the pre-vet club even though I was not enrolled at Mizzou at the time. Rather, I was the "scholarship committee" supporting my husband while he became eligible to apply to Vet school and later be accepted. Since I knew nobody in our new town, I paid my dues to the pre-vet club to get to know the gang.

I drove Hilda and Louise places I wouldn't take my pet dog. They were that broke. I learned alot about driving a team during those years. I learned that one mule would be steady anytime we went out. The trick was learning which one it was going to be! They took turns. That didn't mean that the other was goofy or slacking that day. It meant that the driver depended on the steady one, knowing the other would go along.
Our first parade was in Rolla during a party weekend for the "Miners" at that college. That trip taught us to be prepared with people accompanying the mules through the entire parade route. Some kid staggered out into the parade route and slugged Louise on the neck pronouncing that she was a mule. It shook Louise but she held steady. It shook me and from that point we always had walkers should the mules need protection from their admirers. I don't remember other horses in the parade but I recall that the Budweiser company sent a flatbed trailer with a fiberglass Clydesdale being pulled as a float. My memories are vivid since Hilda took one look at the statue and fell in love with it. She pulled and yearned each time she caught a glance of it around her blinkers. She gave her enthusiastic and distinct mule-call trying to catch its attention. Louise and I maneuvered all through the hilly neighborhoods preparing for the parade route while trying to avoid the object of Hilda's affections.
Nothing will make you more proud of you team than giving alumni rides in the wagon. Many times, while up on the box, (the drivers seat on a farm wagon) I would overhear a granny voice pipe up explaining to the mule club member assisting her into the wagon that she hadn't had that much exercise since her hip was replaced. WHOA, mules!
The mule club teamsters became quite skilled while traveling with our mascot mule team. We never really knew what we would find or what the team would have to face. Hilda and Louise stood under an umbrella with Willard Scott broadcasting the weather on a national tv morning show. The Governor was handed the lines to drive them up to the front gate of the State Fair. We were well prepared and had several helping hands. We were told that the Governor would open the fair officially with the purchase of the first ticket and a symbolic trip through the turnstyle. Of course, we were advised, that's when the cannons would be fired. Cannon fire to signal the official opening. Our mules, as far as we knew, hadn't really been exposed to cannon fire. Neither had we. The mule club huddled and came up with a plan. We would allow the Governor to dismount the wagon and then discreetly unhook the trace chains and drop the yoke clip - the combination of adjustments would effectively release the mule team from the wagon. We kept our positions and the team appeared hooked up. Our plan was to allow the mules to romp through the fairgrounds if they took off, but without dragging the wagon - painted on both sides- advertising that we were from Mizzou Vet Med. The mules stood steady, not an ear moved.
The mule club members who came to KC with Tim and Terry rolled their eyes and tolerated the tales from a former muleskinner. They were well turned out with new harness, greatly improved wagon designed to carry people, not corn, and a fancy truck and trailer. They told me Hilda and Louise were still alive and retired at Mizzou, still cared for by Vet Med.
I can just imagine them dozing in their paddock thinking back to the days of homecoming parades, dashing into the football field following the Missouri Tiger football team...with a marching band too, trips all over the state for parades and appearances. I bet Hilda still recognizes the sudden pop of a balloon. It came as quite a suprise that hot afternoon clomping around the State Fair. The tarmac was hot, the sun was hot, even the breeze was hot. We were rounding the livestock pavillion once more at a very slow pace. Never mind the stock cars zooming around the grandstand to our left or the stoller complete with bobbing balloon attached to its handle directly in front of the team. The tractor-drawn shuttle was delivering a tandom wagon train packed with people from the parking lot. As it approached, the crowd parted for the tractor and pressed all sides of the mule route. At the most crowded, noisy, and breathless moment a balloon suddenly popped at the vendor's stand to Hilda's right. She arched her head to the right, ears at full mast and her eyes popping trying to peek around the blinkers. As Hilda lurched away from the alarming sound her left shoulder crashed into Louise. There was really no area to accomodate any adjustment by Louise. Not even hoof-sized. Louise stayed steady. Hilda flinched at the same corner the next four times around. After that she smoothed out.
Those are the thoughts shared by a retired mule team and their retired muleskinner.
I will be in and out during the next week preparing for Thanksgiving. Until next time, Walk-on!
Kris