Mule trainer brings expertise to local clinic

In 1981, Steve Edwards got thrown by a mule named Casper, and the owner said, “Well, I guess you don’t want to buy this mule.”

Edwards answered, “I’m going to buy this mule and get even with him,” and this started the journey.

Queen Valley Mule Ranch, Inc. in Arizona is home to Steve and Susan Edwards where they work their 20 acres and have lots of four-legged critters. Steve learned from hard knocks, literally, the mule business, and has been teaching clinics all over the world for years.

He and Ron Denn met each other in 2006 and did a lot of clinics together.

“Then he’d come and do clinics when I was a fair director in Wisconsin. My daughter was an apprentice of his and we’ve just become friends over the years,” said Denn.

Edwards held a clinic at Denn’s Mules Roost Ranch near Lozeau in Mineral County last year, and held another one last week, with future clinics on the table as long as the two of them can still hobble around the corrals.

When teaching clinics, Edwards demonstrates what equipment he uses which is usually his own mixture of a tried and proven product that he has tweaked over years from experience, but he doesn’t bring anything to sell. His classes are to teach. His products and training CDs are at steveedwards.com because he is on site to educate and help people with their livestock, especially for those interested in making their mules ridable.

Edwards stresses that to build your animal into a trustworthy equine partner that understands their responsibility to the rider, that the foundation must be established first.

“And this comes from steady training. For an older mule with good and bad habits, in about six months working four to six hours a week being trained consistently building the foundation, a person can have a totally different mule,” he said to the class of about 20 people.

Is an animal too old at any age to start an entirely new method of communication?

“No. Any age, I don’t care how old they are or how bad they are, building the foundation is something that is easy for them to pick up because it’s different than what most people are doing.”

He informs the students that two things happen when a mule wants to disagree with you.

“First, the nose sticks out. Then the head elevates. When the mule does this, he then can control you,” he said.

As you watch Edwards' technique, you’ll see he is gentle. When he wants the mule’s attention, he calls them bumps, which is a very light tug on either rein. Nothing jarring, just to bring to their attention back that they don’t need to be gawking at other animals or trying to grab a mouthful of grass but to keep their focus on what they are to be doing at all times.

“We’ve had stock for about 30 years but when I got to Black Rock Ranger Station (Wyoming) in 2016 is when I really started using mules because of all of the wilderness up there, said Martina Keil, who works for the Forest Service. She was attending this class for a few reasons.

“Safety, for myself and for the animals. A better relationship with them so we can get the work done in a more efficient and enjoyable manner. And to just have fun,” she smiles.

She said that they have one riding mule and two that they plan on training to become riders at the ranger station so this will give her a head start in the training.

“And to fix all of the mistakes we’ve made on the one we are riding,” she said.

From Fairfax, Minnesota, Dan Rettmann drove over to attend as he’s a friend of Denn’s and this is something he was waiting for.

“I’m a horse trainer and farrier and I’m starting to get more and more mules in my business so I’m just here to broaden my horizons,” he said.

“You gotta remember that with a mule, you’re looking at a combination of a donkey and a horse. Those characteristics combined bring you an animal with the best, and worse qualities, one can find in a riding partner,” Edward shares. “These mules are extremely intelligent. They are easy to train as long as you don’t think like a horseman and think more of what you would do if a donkey did this or that. There are times when the mule says, ‘I ain’t going!’ That’s the donkey side. He’s thinking about it (the command) wondering if he’s going to be comfortable or uncomfortable. He’s thinking it through. Now when the mule decides to take off running and not be controllable, that’s the horse-side. Fight or Flight is very prevalent in the horse. But when you have the donkey and the horse sides come together, that’s poetry,” he grinned.

Diane "Di" and David Scholl live about an hour inland from the coast in Queensland, Australia and breed mules and run cattle.

“There is a total of 50 mules in Australia. Because Australia was European developed, mules are American influenced and they haven’t taken off, yet,” said David.

He saw his first mule saddle in 1984.

“I had never seen a saddle with a horn on the front until then. England and Australia designed their own (saddles) with what we call ‘ears’ on them,” he explained.

The Scholl’s had cutting horses but were dairy farmers working seven days a week milking twice a day 24/7.

“Because I didn’t have one!” chuckles David when asked why he bought a mule in the first place.

He was a bit disappointed in it though, because it was smaller than he thought it would be and difficult to train.

“I went on Google and found Steve Edwards and bought one of his saddles and it changed the little mule into a V8. I didn’t have to get off and adjust the saddle every 10 minutes and his demeanor changed. He was a delight.”

Eventually, this changed everything for the Scholl’s selling off their dairy and purchasing steers for their 640 acres in 2013 and began a search for a mule that was 15 hands and athletic that they could use for the cattle operation.

“In the process, I ended up buying about 11 mules,” which eventually led into their breeding operation.

“Right now, I’m only interested in doing the necessary groundwork. Demonstrating and teaching the foundation in the order it needs to be done," Edwards said. “Most people don’t have an idea how to make them stand still on the ground, let alone being in the saddle. This will help them get their timing correct. Riding the mule is the icing on the cake.”