I'm looking for someone with teamster experience who can come to my farm in North Central Illinois (Grundy County) to help me work with some issues with one of my mules. I'll pay for someone's time of course. Long story short, more than once she's turned into a runaway when hitched.

My backstory is, I'm relatively new working with draft animals. Last year, I found someone who seemed to have a good reputation in the draft horse community, he said he'd tutor me, and found me a pair of "full broke and bomb proof" mules. After I paid him for the mules, he disappeared. Won't answer calls or emails.

So, without a teacher, I know it's not the best way to learn, but after reading all I could, I baby stepped into things. They harness beautifully (don't need to be tied and stand stock still) and hitch without issue (they go right into position on their own.) It's just once they are pulling, the lead mule will every so often, for some unknown reason, take off like a rocket dragging her poor teammate along. We almost wrecked once when one tried desperately to stop in response to my "whoa" while her partner charged forward.

I have tried returning to basics. On a lead in a pasture, she'll stop on a dime every time she hears "whoa" and follows verbal commands without any prompt. It's only when she's pulling that she'll flake out. So I feel diagnosing this is above my pay grade.

As an endnote, we do suspect they both came with some baggage from their previous home. We've worked through a lot of those things and they both are really sweet, loving mules. So I want to do whatever I can to let them be happy work partners.

Put a running W on her and stand her on her nose.

I'd work it single with a running W , but you may want some help to do this.

put a running W and stand her on her nose like dale said. If you don't have a running W make one you need 5 2" rings 10 ft of 3/4" rope 2 hame strap's 50' of soft 3/4" rope. put 1 ring on each hame strap put 3 ring's on the 10' rope about 8" apart tie the rope in a overhand not with the ring in the knot. then just tie the rope over the mules back. now you have a running W. put a hame strap on both front ankles tie one end of the 50' rope to a ring on the belly rope then down to an ankle ring up to the belly rope down to the ankle ring then up to the belly ring and back to where your driving from. presto next time he runs away pull that rope and say whoa don't pull on the lines, if you pull enough rope he will go down if you dont pull enough rope he will just stumble around what ever you want I would put him down the first time and not let him up real quick. you might break one or two quarter straps doing this. when you let him up then drive him and show him that you can stop him any time you say whoa. GOOD LUCK that is what I do when I have a runaway, I have had mules & horses that carried a running W for 3 months feeding cows every day. It works

You are close to Lisa Howe. There isn't much she can't drive. I don't know if she does mules but she is good.

I recently dealt with a pair of Mules like this for a guy in southern Iowa. Guy is 70 years old hitches them to a forecart with a sled and a tractor tiregets in goes for ride till they wear out they will stop on command but leave whenever they decide to. So I put aleg rope on each one I prefer aleg rope over the Ws because I've seen to many daaged knees from improper usage.anyhow long story short they got the picture fast butas soon as I handed him the lines right back to same old stuff. Told him I would take them for 2 weeks but he didn't want to spend the money. Wished him well. I believe you could solve this with aleg rope on the runner and so steady work. The problem here

I don't claim to be an expert, but putting on her nose doesn't seem a great solution. I'm afraid that could make matters worse. I suspect something else is at play. This is pure speculation, but I think something spooks her when she loses sight of her teammate and me. (Which might explain why she follows commands perfectly when I'm walking beside her.) Like I said, she and her half-sister came with baggage and I don't think were treated very well before I got them. I noticed that the times she's bolted, her teammate has lagged behind. (The runaway is team leader and the strong one.) So that may be part of the problem.

Like I said, I'm no expert and not clairvoyant enough to know what she's thinking, but my instinct tells me she's not running to be ornery. It's some other trigger.

Anyways, I probably do need to find someone who knows more than me. (Not too hard!) How do I find Lisa Howe?

Probably the advice given will work, but I wonder if possibly the collar or another piece of harness or an injured shoulder that gives her pain is causing the problem.

If the mule acts ok in all respect except this, I would think that it is more than an acquired habit.

I think I would have a good thoro vet check before proceeding with more drastic measures and also check over the pad and collar. Mules are funny creatures. Everything has to be pretty much perfect in terms of harness and adjustment before they are happy.

Sounds as though the mule may have gotten hard mouthed from dragging on the bit.
She needs to correct herself or she will always be a potential runaway. You need to put her in the position to do so.
This is what I have done. It works well.
Mules don't like to have their nose hurt. I mean really don't like it hurt.
Build a loop with a couple of loose wraps of #9 wire. Buckle it in along with the bit ring, on each side of the bridle so its down low on the nose. Tie a rope to it under the chin. Get a bull snap and snap it down low on the wagon somewhere that's solid. Preferably down by the tongue. Run the rope through the ring on the bull snap then up to where you can get to it. The rope needs to be long enough to tie it off up high with a small amount of slack.
Make sure that your wagon is loaded with at least a couple of ton. When she takes off, say whoa real soft, once, and reach down low and pull up on that rope and hold it. The key to the correction is to release quickly when she backs out of the traces. She will be pulling the load with her nose and will find out very quickly that it hurts. She won't go very far.
Another key part is to let her stand and think about what has happened. Just a couple of minutes. Then do it again. It usually only takes 2 or 3 times.
Let her wear it every time you hitch for the next few months. Call it your emergency brake.
I have seen this done by connecting the bull snap to the teammates single tree. That didn't work well for me.
I would still get an experienced local teamster involved.

Brian, if you write me at

I will get you contact information for Liza.

Joe

Dave made the commment about sometimes you damange the knees. What differnce does it make as this mule belongs in the dog food can unless she quits running.

I would like to work this but I'm 700 miles away from you. you can try to drive her and get Killed or worse hurt real bad, one Dr bill will buy a better mule to replace her. if you want to talk to me call 308-547-2339 8-12pm if not Good Luck with what ever you decide to do. GOD BLESS you in what ever you decide to do. I will not post any more on this.

Brian
I agree with the fact you could make matters worse with a strong arm tactics. I have saddle mules and find that the sweeter I treat them the better they are. Kind of like a girl friends reaction. The saying in our are is if you mistreat a mule they get even, may take awhile but they will. You may be faced with baggage that needs to be worked out.
I had a situation where my mule would buck in certain situations. I looked over the saddle pad and other equipment and all look OK. The next time she bucked I rubbed the pad hard with my hand and found a small wire. She was great after that, could be something bothered her from before.
W's and rough means only works when the fear of punishment is greater than the problem. I would say to use kindness and check out everything. If it acted that way all the time on any use I would say it belongs in an Alpo can.
Good Luck and work on respect for both of you.
Ike

Be sure to take a hold of them lines i see a lot of newbies driving with a foot of slack in there lines.

Good advice form Ike. Any time you go to forcing or trying to train a mule by restraints, you lose in the end.

Thanks Ike. I don't know what the problem is (yet), but there's something triggering her reaction and she's not doing it to misbehave. That much I know. She likes me. She trusts me. I'm not going to jeopardize that simply because a dumb human (i.e. me) doesn't understand when she's telling me something is wrong. I just need to figure it out.

You're right though. Mules do get revenge. My other mule is shy and quiet. When the farrier was working on her, being a big mule she has a tough time standing on three legs so she stumbled. Farrier didn't like it and punched her hard in the rump. (I didn't like it, but bit my lip.) To keep my girls calm when they're having their hooves done, I stand in front of them and maintain eye contract. It keeps them relaxed. (As I said, they trust me.) Then the most amazing thing happened. Without batting an eyelash, without moving a single muscle in the front half of her body, my sweet mule brought her rear leg up and forward and booted my farrier right in the rump and put her into the straw. No one was hurt. But message was sent.

I laughed really hard later though. Gotta love mules.

trip that mule it will work. have no pity.better her bleeding than you.love and petting wont help

Soft hands and kindness is always my first attempt. But a runaway is pretty serious business. I've seen a lot of mules test your skills and patience. If there's a weak link they will find it. , just being a mule.
It could be the collar or harness. but if she trying you, the more times she gets away with that kind of behavior, the harder it is going to be to correct it.
good luck.

had a team of mules a couple weeks to shape them up, they had been running in their wagon trains... I initially used the bits they came with and saw the whites of their eyes, so put in rubber bits. Had no problems from then on. Owner wouldn't believe rubber bits were safe and got another trainer, who was put in the hospital when the mules flipped his wagon going around the fairgrounds, "running it out of them".
Soft hands and drive the mule single under load is my recommendation, pay special attention to rigging and harness...Switch the mules side to side?