WEBVTT - Ep. 318: Mule Revival - The Ada Oklahoma Mule Sale 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:08.799 You take a leggy mule like that that will let 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:11.000 down and walk in the mirrors of rolling, they'll probably 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.040 walked three and a half four miles an hour. Who 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:15.440 covered a lot of ground like that. And that's what 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:17.760 I was saying earlier about me get a more general 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.160 diverse five. I mean it. No, those horses are out there. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:22.840 I mean, don't get me wrong, they're out there. But 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:25.119 I promise you, I promise you we go to the 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.520 mountains and go riding that mule. Little step out and walk. 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:31.200 You may keep up with me, but I'm gonna kill 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:32.919 your horse and your back's gonna be hurting time more night. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:35.360 I mean, it's just a fact. 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:40.320 Yeah, we're in Oklahoma at the thirty third annual Ada 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:45.080 Oklahoma Mules Sell to learn about mules, the Kelso family 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:48.919 who runs it, and to get some insight into rural America. 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.960 This auction is a rare jewel in today's time, full 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.880 of showmanship and tradition and a heck of a place 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.640 to pick up a good mule. And I really doubt 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.520 that you're gonna want to miss this one. And hey, 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:06.039 if you enjoy episodes like this, please share our podcast 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:09.120 on social media and leave us a review on iTunes. 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.880 We truly appreciate all of you listening, and I think 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:14.600 that we're about to learn some stuff. 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:19.960 It's hard to explain to your horse people. But if 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:22.680 your horse people ever get bit by the bug and 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.800 they get them a mule, then they can't explain it 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:29.319 to their buddies either. It's just a mule thing. We've 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.000 thought about getting some T shirt. Sometimes you know, it's 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:32.880 just a mule thing. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.000 My name is Klay Nukem and this is the Bear 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:50.040 Grease Podcast where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:53.760 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.919 story of Americans who live their lives close to the land. 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:03.680 Presented by f h F Gear, American made, purpose built 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:07.440 hunting and fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:09.080 as the place as we explore. 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:20.200 So the kids around here on Fridays, every Friday, they 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:22.640 ride a Chick fil A. It's a big deal. They 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:24.639 go through the drive through on their mules. They've been 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:27.760 on Oklahoma City News with it. It's been all over Facebook. 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:31.360 It's fun deal. Not time comes around. They're allowing to 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.359 go ride to town down the world. On the edge 0:02:33.360 --> 0:02:35.000 of town we're on right here in Antion Town, right 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.720 here and there they're right downtown doing what kids do, 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.079 I mean, having a big town whatever. We didn't know 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:42.920 this was going on. Our kids used out riding all 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:44.959 we know, and I'm We're in the office up to 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:46.920 the front of the river and I see bloot. I said, well, 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:48.920 what's going on across the road? Over blue lights all over? 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:51.560 By the time my phone rings, it's my son. 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:56.000 Answer. He said, Dad, what's my social Curity number? Said why, 0:02:56.440 --> 0:03:00.720 he's with the cops. Needed I said, do what I said, 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:01.720 Are you under arrest? 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.280 This is kind of the way things roll when the 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.639 mule sell is in town. This is fifty one year 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.560 old Justin Kelso. He's the seventh generation muleman and his 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:15.480 family has been involved in the ad to Oklahoma mules 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.079 sale since the first auction in nineteen ninety two. Today 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.000 they run the whole thing. But this story is about 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:23.320 his son, Jack Kelso. 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:25.919 Are you under arrest? 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:27.040 He said? 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.360 He said, hey, mind trouble. They said, no, he's no, 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.520 I'm not trouble. I said, are you under arrest or anything? 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:33.760 No, No, he won't. 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:36.400 I said, your mother will be over in just a minute. Well, 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.160 This is on Friday night. They were cross the road 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.880 here on Broadway south south of where we're at, and 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:45.440 they'd rolled downtown. But if young lady stuck her head 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.000 out of this apartment complex, this y'all helped me throw me. 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.400 My man has thrown me out, and he had he 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:52.760 had throwed her all her close out the house there 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:54.360 and there. So they go over there. I don't know 0:03:54.400 --> 0:03:56.320 that demand hitter. I'm not accusing him. I have no 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:00.880 idea what he done. So somehow or not, they're gonna help. 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:02.920 They go to her. They go to the front door. Now, 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.760 I mean, she's begging for help. So boys being good 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.840 boys that maybe little rambus just but good boys. 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:10.360 The lady needs help. You help. I raise my son. 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.240 You take care of people, you know, if you can. 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.480 And so they get this guy from porks and pretty 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.120 good scuffle and sues and the boy, my son was 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:22.320 probably fifteen sixteenth the time. The other boy's twenty twenty one. 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:24.880 And they get in a fight with this guy. They 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.160 get my son. I think he might have helped a 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.400 little bit, but he gets it broke up because his 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:32.880 buddy's pooping on this guy pretty good. And it's getting 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.200 almost out of hand. So Jack gets and broke up. 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:38.760 The guy goes back in the house, grabs his knife 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:41.640 and comes back out after that boy and Jack, by 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:43.000 this time he got back on his k meew when 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:44.880 he had alert rope. He just freaks out and ropes 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.200 this boy and drags him off by his feet, thumped 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.039 him down pretty good. And my wife Candy gets over there, 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:54.520 and these cops are just in stitches laughing. They're saying 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:55.960 this is the gratty saint's ever happened here to a 0:04:56.000 --> 0:05:00.000 clumber and said, we've never seen so it turned out 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.120 he turned out he wrote the guy and drinking down. 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:04.400 I mean, I'm not the greatest rope in the world. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:05.760 My son, he was five. 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:07.200 Years old, sadad. He teached me how rope. This win 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:08.839 not a very good rope. I said, I'd give a 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.719 little play rope. That's here rope everything you see. So 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:13.640 the kids play with ropes and s's five years old 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.000 and he can usually really well. And he just reached 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.280 up jerk this guy. Now it's wondered he didn't hurt him, 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:20.360 Jersey because he wrote him and the loop dropped around 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:21.760 his legs and I mean he took his feet out 0:05:21.800 --> 0:05:23.279 from So did. 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:24.760 The guy get a racetrat? 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:26.480 I think yeah, as far as I know, I didn't ask. 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.279 I'm just glad my son would into a white you know, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:28.840 That's all I needed. 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:31.120 Was in court dating eight Oklahoma two. 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:32.839 Welcome to aight Oklahoma. 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:37.360 Yeah boy. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.839 The eight of Oklahoma mules sell was three days long 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.320 and the main event is the mule auction on Saturday, 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.080 where they'll sell between one hundred and fifty and two 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.359 hundred mules. A sorrel colored mule, a red one is 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:57.160 being loped around the arena exactly. 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:00.359 Honest. 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.760 I've ever read as far as you want, all day long, 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:07.599 multiple days in a row, and if you do this round. 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:20.000 Three years. 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:21.919 The owner of the mule has stood up in the 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:26.000 crowd to deliver a heartfelt sales pitch for this honest mule, 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:30.280 and the rider chimes into. The arena is surrounded by 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:35.440 bleachers filled with potential buyers, tire kickers, and onlookers. Everyone 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.080 is kind of here to see what the high selling 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:50.920 mule goes for. The mule sold for fifteen thousand dollars 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.520 to an online bidder from Idaho. Yeah, this place is 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:58.200 pretty high tech, but that wasn't the high selling mule. 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.360 The way this works is that one by one, each 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:04.520 mule that's up for sale is ridden through the arena 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.599 while the auctioneer and the owners seeing its praises. The 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:11.679 rider has the crowd's attention for just a few minutes, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.640 and he's got to show the years of work that's 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.160 gone into this animal. People in the crowd bid by 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.800 raising their hand or yelling to the auctioneer. But the 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.120 thing about an auction is that this is a spectator sport. 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:28.880 Will there be a lot of people here that are 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.920 just spectators just come to watch. 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:33.560 Come see the big deal. Yeah, you know. 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:35.800 And there's people here come here to vacation. They just 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.680 want to see what the mules bring. Yeah, I hate 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.200 you here with that mule brought eighty Yeah is there 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.200 and I seen it. They talk, you know, coffee shop 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:42.960 talks like going to a ball game. Some ways, a 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:45.560 lot of the spectator and you'll see the tricks and 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.360 the shows. I mean in a way, horse and mule 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.280 seals are almost entertainers in a way too. Yeah, there 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.040 are show offs. I mean because you're showing the mule. 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:56.120 That's the reason the mule and horses are sold. In 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:58.520 my opinion, I've sold stuff all my life. I sold equipment, 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:01.480 sold cattle. Mules and horses are the most fun to 0:08:01.520 --> 0:08:04.080 sell because you can do the tricks, you can show 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:04.520 off in you. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.120 There's some showman, there's some showmanships. So I have been 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:08.720 selling at a live. 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:12.120 Auction, and there's disbandaged that showmanship. The reason my Hilberts 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:16.080 was here ten fifteen years ago. This mule but somebody off. 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:18.680 I wrotehim with the house a little. He rode fine more. 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:20.120 I wrote this mule Barry got I mean he got 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.920 to ride well, I mean really was going to show good. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.120 And I think we had at nineteen hundred bed on 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:28.360 this mule, which was more than we thought he'd bring 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.160 because we weren't bragging on you know, we didn't bring 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:32.839 on how gentle he was. I just showed him what 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.640 he would do. Guaranteed him sound. Didn't guarantee him be 0:08:35.720 --> 0:08:37.679 gentle because we knew he butt somebody off. I'm not 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.680 gonna guarantee that when I know that. And uh Dad 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:43.240 had his back turned trying to catch bed somewhere. I 0:08:43.280 --> 0:08:46.880 stood up my saddle and I fell teen bunch. I 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:48.920 knew he was gonna I didn't think he but I 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:50.520 thought he might kind of try to jump out from 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.599 under me or something done unto a thousand times. Just 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:55.440 step off. That's a five foot drop to step off. 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.040 He was a turn he could. He knew he could 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:00.440 take advantage of me in that point because I have 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:01.160 no control that. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:01.960 Morning, I'm trusting you. 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:02.600 You've lost. 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:04.719 Yeah, But I mean I've been doing this kind of 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:06.280 stuff since I was seven eight years old. 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:07.720 Just jump off. 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:09.719 And when I did, I had both feet and the 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:11.440 seat of my saddle, my spurs I had. I used 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.400 to write center high school and college. When I stepped 0:09:14.400 --> 0:09:17.640 off my left foot leading, I hung my right spur 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.240 and fell off this thing like a sack of potatoes 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:21.400 from a turnip truck. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:23.840 And all my weight landing on my left hip. Standing on. 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:26.120 He went out from under you, and that spur caught. 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:26.440 Yeah. 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.040 When I would step now I went. I lay on 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:29.959 my right hip and it hurt so bad I couldn't breathe. 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:31.880 And my dad come over. He said, what is wrong 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:32.920 with them? Because he didn't see it. 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:34.400 He just turned around. I'm on the ground. 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.880 Something else has caught my mule stepped on it finished 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:38.439 right by the way. We got no more bids on 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.040 he so, anyway, Dad's over to me, and I just 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:44.480 hold my hand a butt. I love my dad. I 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:47.400 maybe talked back to my dad twice in my life. 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.400 I mean, I'm mortified as a kid. I mean, it's dad, 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.320 you know. And I just held my handle. Lot shut up, 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:55.320 I keep talk. I'm not going to talk for me. 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:58.400 And I finally I said, he said, what happened? I said, well, 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:59.080 I stood up on. 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:02.160 Him, and he said, on that sign of a blank 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:03.400 is what were you thinking? 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:05.120 I said, said my good idea at the time. 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:10.000 So there's some there's some showmanship in, yes, in. 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:12.280 Selling these mules, and that's that's what makes it fun. 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:15.040 To watch, yeah, exactly, and in which we get animated 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.360 taking bids. I mean, when I was younger, I can't 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:19.000 do it now. I'd be selling them you and have 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:20.560 a bit on each side of the auction ring. I'd 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.360 rope from one side, jump off, catch bid, jump back on, go, 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:25.720 get the guy back in the backup bit on another side. 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:27.679 And I know there were some people that done that 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:29.400 just to see me do it. I mean they thought 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.880 it was funny. You know, the emotions go running. Yes, 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.360 you can get mules or horses sold higher as high 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.800 or higher at home. There's certain scenarios. You got that 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:41.839 that one customer that always comes to you, or whatever 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:43.560 you can get. I'm not saying you get more at 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:48.600 auction every time. However, every time somebody bids, you're taking 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.000 ownership of that animal or that car, whatever you're buying 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.319 an auction, when you bid, you just took ownership. It 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:58.280 may be for one second, maybe thirty second, but it's yours. 0:10:58.000 --> 0:10:58.560 At that moment. 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.040 Well, if you want it enough, Why don't think I 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:02.719 got to have my mule, that's my mual. Why's he 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.800 bidding against my bed again? And so I think that's 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.080 the reason auctions work well for a lot of things 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.880 is and I think sometimes you get more for one 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.679 and sometimes we've gotten I mean, I've sold mules and 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:15.080 horses that at auction. 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:16.559 I wouldn't ask you that much for it. 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:21.679 Hot a live auction can be a seller's market. But 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.240 the benefit to the buyer is how many mules they 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.000 get to look at all in the same place. And 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.959 what I've learned is that meal trainers or the people 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.400 selling these mules who come year after year can get 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:38.160 reputations good and bad, and buyers tend to know what 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:41.959 they're getting just because of whose mule it is. This 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:52.000 can be good or bad. How many on average mules 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.040 would you sell at the aid of mule. 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.280 Sell, it's always average around one hundred and fifty seventy five. 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.880 Since we moved here properly year, you're gonna have close 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:01.720 to I'd say. 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:02.240 We have two hundred. 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:04.800 We got nearly one hundred in the catalog, so we 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:06.200 usually get it varies. 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.200 You just don't know. More people are putting their muals 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:08.800 in the catalog. 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.760 The catalog sale is where you can sign the mule, 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.439 you pay a consignment fee, You get the information and 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:17.760 pictures videos to us ahead of. 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.600 Time, so it's a it's a you're coming to consignment sale. 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:22.160 Would be a better way for a lot of people 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:23.559 to under people know what they're getting. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:23.920 That's right. 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:26.520 A catalog mule is going to go through the trail course. 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:27.920 Go through a trail course. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.280 So at this cell there's going to be two categories 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:33.400 of meals. There's the catalog mules, which are vetted in 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:35.520 some degree, they've gone through a trail course. 0:12:36.040 --> 0:12:37.880 They you know this mule's coming. 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:39.839 But then there's also people that are just going to 0:12:39.880 --> 0:12:42.800 show up that on Saturday, and they're gonna say, I 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:43.600 want I want. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:44.199 This mule sold. 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:46.640 Who is buying mules at this cell? 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:49.319 Is it the individual guy that just is like, Hey, 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:50.880 I want to go buy a meals so that I 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.560 can you know, ride and trail, ride and hunt. Or 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.760 is it mule buyers and mule traders. Is it people 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:00.400 from all over the country. Is it regional? Like who 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:01.160 are these people? 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.040 Yes to all those, it's we got sero individuals that 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.040 you know, they trail right, maybe their mule died, maybe 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.200 got older, maybe they remarried and they lost their last 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:12.000 mule and divorce and everyone. 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:13.160 Sounds like a tough situation. 0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.440 She could be. But then the outfitters, mule traders or sellers. 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:18.160 One guy I know, he called me he's got a 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:19.679 couple of customers that, you know. 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.640 Somebody might be here that that is representing such back home. 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:25.960 And that's I know, we got a couple of outfitters 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:27.800 going to be here in the fall of the internet. 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:30.440 We have one outfitter in a Wyomi that bought seat 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:33.800 so online. So yeah, we kind of get all of it, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.959 you know. So so it's got several benefits stoning for 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.400 the seller. But asso for the buyer and that they 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:41.880 can look and uh yeah, there's four in the cattle 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:43.920 and everybody like I think I'm gonna go, or they 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:45.840 don't have one I'm looking for I'm yeah, you know, 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:46.640 I'll stay at home. 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.240 What are some of the things that people are wanting 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.640 to see in that ring? Like if I could go 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:55.160 in there right now and make my mule lay down 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:56.920 and I can get on. 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:58.679 And off of it, I mean, that's kind of kind 0:13:58.679 --> 0:13:59.120 of lashy. 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.080 One thing does show with some willingness to please. 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.400 Yeah, it's indicator. It's like he'll lay down, lets you 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:08.560 get on off of him. There's probably other stuff he's doing. 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:10.079 Right, but but you don't need to buy him just 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:11.679 because it's kind of like that stock live mu or 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:13.880 a grave mule when we're talking about earlier. It's okay, 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:15.920 they got that, But you don't need to buy him 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:17.760 just because he's got that. Yeah, that needs to be 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.200 an added bonus. That sorrow or baby mule has no 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:21.960 light on him might take. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:24.280 Care of you just as good or better, you know. 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.360 So, so what impresses you in the ring when you 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:27.760 see him? 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.240 When that mule comes in slow lope, you don't have 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:33.240 to have that real short lope, just a nice, comfortable slow, 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:37.840 not not charging head down, loping on a loose rain 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:39.800 in a circle. If you can get a mut or 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.400 horse to lope a circle in a square pin on 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.280 a loose rain, it shows me you've done your work 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:46.760 and that mule has got a lot of potential, has 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:48.560 got a good mind on it. It's not it's not 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.120 looking for now that mule knows at least. Look, you're 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:52.720 asking a lot of circle. That's what that mule is 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:54.880 going to do it. It's not trying to do what 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:56.160 it wants to do, it's what you want to. 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.880 Max Bishop is a longtime muleman and buyer. He makes 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.760 this complete living buying and selling mules. So he has 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:14.520 a lot of experience and has been to a lot 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:18.040 of sales. Here's what he has to say about this 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.560 eight of sale. 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:22.560 There's a lot of good mules here. 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.480 There's gonna be some more average type mules here, so 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.800 different different budgets. You're gonna have some hot sellers here 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:30.880 that are probably a loss as any of the mules 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:32.640 that are in the big cells like the J. Clark 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.520 cell or crom in the canyon. But in those cells 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:37.560 they're almost for sure, all the mules are super high, 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.320 so it's kind of limited for who can buy them. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:41.840 Or this is going to have some mules that are 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.360 going to go really really cheap, when some are going 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.600 to go pretty high. So I'd say this is more 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:47.800 of a sell for everybody. 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:52.520 Yeah, Max is about to mention these Saturday night sales, 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:57.400 which refers to a small scale local livestock auction, and 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.680 he compares buying there to buying catalog mule or a 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.920 vetted meal that's gone through the trail course. 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:05.120 At a sale like. 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.280 This the Saturday night cells, you know, they're gonna have 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.120 some cheap mules there, but they're generally there for a reason. 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.160 They got problems and stuff like that. So those are 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.080 you know, that's that's the danger of going to a 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.040 regular cell cell. These are a lot of these are 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.880 catalog mules. And so these mules are booked, you know, 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.080 a month or two in advance, probably two three months 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:25.440 in advance, and uh, you know, people believe they're good mules. 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:26.920 They're trying to get a top dollar for them, and 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:28.160 they have to come out here in the open and 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:29.520 compete in a course, you know, you take it to 0:16:29.560 --> 0:16:31.920 a cell barn. You got that little bitty arena and 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:33.480 get away with a lot of stuff, and you can 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.840 drug them up and get away with things a lot better. Here, 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:37.160 they're gonna have to be out and open. They gotta 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.480 go through this course. They're gonna have to back up. 0:16:39.520 --> 0:16:41.480 They're gonna have to lope. They're gotta walk trot. The 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:43.440 trot's gonna show if they're lame or not lame. If 0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:46.120 they're off, you know, you can kind of see. They 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.200 gotta go over a bridge. They gotta go through, uh 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.200 some pull noodles and things that would spook or book 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.800 or some they have before that you don't see here, 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:55.400 but they've already done it before they're allowed to come 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:56.400 in here. They have to go there and take a 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:58.440 bridle on and off. See if they're earshi or not earshot. 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:00.160 It could buy their feeds if they're gonna kick her. 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:03.560 So those things ought to be preapproved in the catalog mules. 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:07.240 If it's a catalog mule and you buy it and 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.119 you go and you check it after the cell and 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:11.880 there's something wrong with it, mister Johnny, and then we'll 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:13.919 make you take it back. You have to pay it, 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.520 so you kind of have a not a long time guarantee, 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.119 but you have a guarantee if something happens, like in 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:20.080 the next day or two. 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.160 I'm still trying to figure out who's here at this cell. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.199 I step outside and I see some young fellas riding 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:29.720 mules through the parking lot. 0:17:30.320 --> 0:17:33.840 I stop and talk to them. Where are you from? 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:35.200 Are at City, Oklahoma? 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:36.879 Why are y'all selling these mules? 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:37.240 Yes? 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:38.440 Are they? Are they? 0:17:38.560 --> 0:17:39.520 Is this mule yours? 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:39.840 Yes? 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:43.000 Or she is? She's eight years old and been hogging 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.679 it off of and drove kids and been everywhere you 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:47.400 can really put a mule pretty much. 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:51.280 So when you sell this mule for the high high 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:54.680 selling mule and you make twenty grand, what are you 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:55.360 gonna do with it? 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:57.400 Probably go buy me a trick. 0:17:58.440 --> 0:17:59.440 He's full of it, isn't he. 0:17:59.600 --> 0:17:59.800 Yeah? 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.679 Now, y'all, are all these mules y'all worked? 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:05.040 Yes? 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.159 Yeah? Have you done this before? Have you raised up 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:09.280 a mule and sold them? Yes, sir? 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:11.640 I got two more in the sale, and I've bring 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:13.880 one up here almost every year and I sell them. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:15.399 How old are you? 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:16.360 I'm fifteen. 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:21.000 How long you've been doing that for about five years? 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:23.439 What do you hope to get for this meal that 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.680 you're on right now, hopefully nine thousand old. For real, 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:28.600 you think it's worth nine thousand? I hope she is. 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:30.320 I think she is. 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:30.639 Really. 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:33.560 You can learn a lot about a group of people 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:36.760 by talking to their young folks. And I'd say that 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.720 these boys are probably bucking the American trend of living 0:18:39.760 --> 0:18:43.159 their lives behind a screen. This boy's been training and 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:46.080 selling mules since he was ten years old. And what's 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.800 unique about a mule is that the more you ride it, 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:50.840 the more you take it places and get it into 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.320 binds and see how it responds, the more money it's worth. 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:59.200 So time in the saddle equals money. But you've got 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.720 to be able to prove that to the crowd in 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.040 a really short time. I hope this boy gets his 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:06.520 nine grand for that mule. 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:13.120 What's the like? Prim prim mule? For age? 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:14.199 Color? 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:15.920 Size? 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:16.439 Like? 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:17.960 What the mule? 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:21.119 That is the top sailing mule on Saturday? What do 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:22.679 you predict it's gonna be? 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.919 The age has crept up over the years, but I 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:31.400 predicted to be over five or older, probably not over 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.359 ten or twelve. As a rule, the mule is gonna 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.040 stand fourteen three to fifteen one weigh one thousand pounds 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:41.080 and ask it. You ask it to do it, it does it. 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.000 It's gonna loap off right over its tracks if you 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:46.320 want it to. It's gonna ride, maybe not exactly pretty 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.600 one handed, graining ride, but it's gonna ride between the 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:50.600 bright rangs. For what I mean by that is for them, 0:19:50.800 --> 0:19:52.880 it's gonna stay neck, is gonna stay between your bright 0:19:52.960 --> 0:19:55.600 rings where it's at, and it's gonna work off your legs. 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.280 Look to some degree, be a gentle, very kind eye 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:01.680 on it. Just a nice meal. 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.040 I mean, what about the colors? Color means anything? 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:08.439 No, it means absolutely nothing to me. It's us to 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:10.760 some people. It does to some people, and I get it, 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.520 I understand it. My thing is in My older brother 0:20:13.560 --> 0:20:15.520 taught me this one. He said, look at one with 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:18.040 color as if it had no color, and would you 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:18.480 still buy? 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:23.080 Color doesn't mean much? And some even think that solid 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:25.800 mules you're better. But it's kind of like the vanity 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.920 of picking a car color. But if you're buying a mule, 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.320 you know, why not get one you like? And flashy mules, 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:35.439 which are ones that aren't solid but are multi colored, 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:39.240 often having some wide add on, often sell better at auction. 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.400 Mules are measured in hands, and one hand is equivalent 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.359 to four inches, so a fifteen hand mule is sixty 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:49.080 inches at the top of the shoulder. A mule can 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:51.159 be ridden at two or three years old, but it 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:55.000 reaches its prime often around eight years old, and has 0:20:55.040 --> 0:20:58.679 a long working life, stretching to over twenty five years. 0:20:59.400 --> 0:21:01.120 Mules can live longer than horses. 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.280 I once asking old coon hunter in Arkansas how long 0:21:04.320 --> 0:21:09.120 he'd been married. He paused for a minute and he said, well, 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.800 I got my mule the year that we got married, 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:14.680 and that mule died just a couple of years ago, 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:18.120 when it was fifty four years old. Yeah, so I've 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:22.600 been married fifty seven years. That's a long time for 0:21:22.600 --> 0:21:25.399 a mule to live and a long time to be married. 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:29.000 But I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Do 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:33.720 you even know what a mule is? This is Johnny Kelso, 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.760 Justin's father. He's kind of a legend in the mule community, 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:39.840 and he's been at this for a long time. 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:46.600 Well, a mule is a cross between a female horse 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:51.119 and a male donkey, and that gets the best of 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:55.760 both worlds. I would say, I don't care about a 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.919 donkey or a horse. But when you blind them together, 0:21:59.000 --> 0:22:02.840 I like it real good. They've been used and known 0:22:03.000 --> 0:22:06.239 for years. As far as a kindergarten knowing about it, 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:09.560 I'm not sure most of them think. If you drive 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:11.480 a pair of mules in a parade, they think. 0:22:11.320 --> 0:22:12.280 They're all horses. 0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:14.800 And I will tell them to look at the ears. 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:18.359 The ears are longer. The first thing you notice the 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:21.520 unique characteristics of a meal is to what you can 0:22:21.560 --> 0:22:25.840 do with one. You can get the job done with ease, 0:22:26.480 --> 0:22:32.120 with less feed, with less vet bills, They live longer, 0:22:32.800 --> 0:22:36.639 and the list goes on. It's the economics that makes 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:37.040 a mule. 0:22:41.320 --> 0:22:43.520 But that same year you get a let's say, a 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.800 fifteen hundred pound horse in the field working a mule 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:49.520 weigh twelve fifty or thirteen hundred to do the same 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:54.040 work well. Gas consumption of flat better term on a 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:57.240 mule or a horse is not based on how efficient 0:22:57.280 --> 0:22:58.960 the engine is. It's based on a body. Where you 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:02.159 feed an animal a percentage of your body weight. So 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:04.159 if this mule weighs less than that horse does, I 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:06.400 got to feed them less, get less of a here 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:09.480 to haul off. It's just it's less work in the 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:11.320 grant skip and he's in the same amount of same 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.399 amount of work, so more more work per pound of 0:23:14.600 --> 0:23:15.000 that trap. 0:23:15.080 --> 0:23:16.280 Ecline flesh that trap. 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:22.240 I wanted to ask Max Bishop how mules compared to horses. 0:23:25.560 --> 0:23:26.680 They've got stronger feet. 0:23:26.840 --> 0:23:28.440 You know, if you're out in the rockies, in the 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:30.680 high country, you're after sheep hunting or all cutting or something. 0:23:30.800 --> 0:23:32.439 You throw a shoe on a horse that might go 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:34.760 bad lane before you get back in. The mule probably 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:38.080 never notice. They eat less, They live and work probably 0:23:38.240 --> 0:23:42.400 ten years longer than a horse. Their cardio is insane. 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:44.879 So you take two of the best horses you can 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:47.080 find out on a ranch and I'm gonna wear them out, 0:23:47.240 --> 0:23:49.200 you know, just cardio. 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:49.560 Was I think. 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:52.120 I think they get more of their skeletal structure from 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:54.520 the horse, but they get the muscle structure more. 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:56.480 For the donkey on average musto them. 0:23:56.600 --> 0:23:58.720 If you're up in the mountains, you're climbing, you're climbing 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:04.280 hills or something, and let's say it's real sketchy, the horse's. 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:05.399 Answer is gonna be I'm gonna throw the gas to it. 0:24:05.440 --> 0:24:06.680 I'm gonna try to get to the top, and it's 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.720 either gonna look really good, or it's gonna flip over. 0:24:10.240 --> 0:24:12.639 The mule is gonna want to downshift and pick its feet, 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:15.320 climb up, spear end, get on its knees if it 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:15.639 has to. 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:18.000 And they're more full of drop. 0:24:17.920 --> 0:24:20.679 Minded on the average. And then a mule, if you look. 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:22.440 At its eyes, it's set out more on the side 0:24:22.680 --> 0:24:26.200 like a donkey instead of more forward. So the horse 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:28.760 sees two feet at a time. It seize the left 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:30.200 side of the right side of the mule can see 0:24:30.240 --> 0:24:32.680 all four feet at the same time. So it gives 0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:34.880 them an advantage of a little where they see when 0:24:34.880 --> 0:24:36.520 they know they can see where they're putting. 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:36.879 The foot. 0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:41.320 There. 0:24:41.480 --> 0:24:42.600 And they endure too. 0:24:42.760 --> 0:24:46.600 I mean they're just a hybrid between the dulky and 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:48.359 the horse, and they're and they endure. 0:24:49.080 --> 0:24:49.720 They just do. 0:24:50.400 --> 0:24:53.480 They take care of drought situations. They can stand the 0:24:53.560 --> 0:24:57.400 heat better. They were used all through the South through 0:24:57.440 --> 0:25:00.359 the years, and more horses than the noise, and that 0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:01.960 had something to do with a climate. 0:25:02.040 --> 0:25:02.760 Duck guess. 0:25:02.800 --> 0:25:05.919 But the meals have been used in the United States 0:25:05.920 --> 0:25:06.680 for a long time. 0:25:09.840 --> 0:25:12.520 The common Knowledgy, the first Jack's brought to America, was 0:25:12.880 --> 0:25:15.280 gifted to George Washington by the King of Spain. He 0:25:15.359 --> 0:25:18.560 was gifted too. They weren't mammoth donkeys, they were mammo sized. 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:21.320 It's a different breed, the longer hair, I think curlier is. 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:23.400 It's a Spanish type donkey. 0:25:24.160 --> 0:25:27.560 It's believed that the first jack donkeys arrived in America 0:25:27.640 --> 0:25:30.760 in seventeen eighty five to produce our first mules. 0:25:31.359 --> 0:25:33.680 But why mules? There's more. 0:25:35.080 --> 0:25:37.800 Part of it is their temperament both ways. One is 0:25:37.880 --> 0:25:40.280 the safety of it. If you're going to the mountains, 0:25:40.520 --> 0:25:42.680 they're more sure fitted like their daddy was. You can't 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:45.320 hardly knock a donkey down. So they get their shere 0:25:45.359 --> 0:25:47.280 food and it's from daddy. Because like we was talking earlier, 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:49.160 their shoulders are more in narrow, so you got less 0:25:49.240 --> 0:25:51.639 replacement for their feet, and they walk more in the 0:25:51.680 --> 0:25:54.080 lateral motions, so they can go where a goat goes 0:25:54.119 --> 0:25:56.280 almost you know, because there where a horse stays out 0:25:56.280 --> 0:25:59.200 square on the corners, which makes a horse in a 0:25:59.280 --> 0:26:03.240 way more stable in some ways. For for opening performance 0:26:03.240 --> 0:26:05.560 SAT kinds, they got more muscle and more masks to them. 0:26:05.880 --> 0:26:10.480 The mule is leaner by comparison, my opinion, they're more 0:26:10.560 --> 0:26:13.199 comfortable to ride as far as just the way the 0:26:13.240 --> 0:26:16.200 saddle feels moving underneath you going trail riding, especially in 0:26:16.200 --> 0:26:19.240 the rough country, is more comfortable on your whole body, 0:26:19.760 --> 0:26:21.359 just based on the way a mule moves versus the 0:26:21.359 --> 0:26:24.400 way horse moves. But some people don't want the mule 0:26:24.440 --> 0:26:28.520 because they don't like the quote unquote stubborness. You almost 0:26:28.560 --> 0:26:31.560 got to think a little harder sometimes riding that proper mule. 0:26:31.840 --> 0:26:34.800 But people in the mountains on them for safety and endurance, 0:26:35.200 --> 0:26:36.679 buy and large. You can get a little more out 0:26:36.680 --> 0:26:39.080 of the mule without killing it. You can kill a 0:26:39.080 --> 0:26:41.159 horse by you can run a horse to death. You 0:26:41.200 --> 0:26:43.359 can't hardly kill them. I mean it's really hard to 0:26:43.440 --> 0:26:44.120 ride them hard. 0:26:44.040 --> 0:26:48.080 Enough to kill it. Yeah, go away mechanisms inside of them. 0:26:48.119 --> 0:26:50.000 And it's the same with a feed. We keep a 0:26:50.000 --> 0:26:51.960 lot of mules on feed in the wintertime. We sell 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:54.760 mules Lamish sell probably one hundred and fifty head a 0:26:54.840 --> 0:26:56.480 year up there, So we go through a lot of 0:26:56.480 --> 0:26:58.840 feeding on and we're gonna try off out for one 0:26:58.880 --> 0:27:02.439 though we bought to be but three eight bells the mules. 0:27:02.480 --> 0:27:05.600 We couldn't keep bedding to them because the protein so 0:27:05.680 --> 0:27:08.440 much in an alfalfa. They knew they didn't need that much. 0:27:08.640 --> 0:27:10.560 They eat the straw we bed them with, and the 0:27:10.600 --> 0:27:13.760 hay lasted probably fifty percent longer than a normal grass 0:27:13.880 --> 0:27:17.000 mail would, But they knew they had to absorb some 0:27:17.000 --> 0:27:18.960 of that protein with something else for a horse or 0:27:19.040 --> 0:27:22.280 the gorse itself on the alfalfa them. If I'm gonna 0:27:22.280 --> 0:27:24.920 go cowboy all day, no, I know I probably need 0:27:24.920 --> 0:27:27.480 that good bread cow horse that knows what he's done, 0:27:27.640 --> 0:27:29.560 knows how to work a rope and all that. Can 0:27:29.560 --> 0:27:31.800 I do it on my mule, yes I can. But 0:27:31.840 --> 0:27:34.479 if you say we're gonna go hunting now with this fall, 0:27:35.160 --> 0:27:37.439 I'm you're probably gonna get me on that horse. It's 0:27:37.440 --> 0:27:38.840 fall gonna cost you money to make me ride a 0:27:38.840 --> 0:27:40.399 horse up in the mountains. Sure, it's gonna take that 0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:43.800 good bread cow horse up there. But my mule, yeah, 0:27:44.320 --> 0:27:48.160 it's it's bred into him genetically to handle that brofer train. 0:27:48.680 --> 0:27:51.200 And one another difference on a mule and horse. And 0:27:51.240 --> 0:27:53.280 that's why I tell a lot of people. They'll ask 0:27:53.359 --> 0:27:56.520 me what's the difference, I said, riding them wise, I said, 0:27:56.560 --> 0:27:59.320 you could have mew and horse, start them the same way, 0:27:59.400 --> 0:28:01.600 have the same I ride both of them and they 0:28:01.720 --> 0:28:04.280 respond to everything just a lot. That's the difference, says 0:28:04.320 --> 0:28:06.760 I said. If that trash bag that's one hundred yards 0:28:06.800 --> 0:28:09.760 out there, that horse might not seeckly gets ten yards away. 0:28:09.760 --> 0:28:11.280 That mule said it when he stepped down even one 0:28:11.359 --> 0:28:12.960 hundred yards. He's watching. 0:28:13.080 --> 0:28:13.439 He knows what. 0:28:13.560 --> 0:28:15.080 He may not. He might not spook at it, but 0:28:15.119 --> 0:28:17.359 he's already seen it. Yeah, and that's a that's a 0:28:17.359 --> 0:28:19.320 bear out there. I'm confident that's a grizzly bear and 0:28:19.359 --> 0:28:21.199 he's gonna eat me, you know what I mean. So 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:23.320 he may not be scared to get eaten. He may 0:28:23.359 --> 0:28:25.320 walk right by it, but he's seen it, he knows 0:28:25.320 --> 0:28:25.840 where it's at. 0:28:26.160 --> 0:28:26.600 Yeah. 0:28:26.680 --> 0:28:30.040 But mules are more of a there by far more 0:28:30.080 --> 0:28:33.240 of a one person type animal versus a horse. And 0:28:33.240 --> 0:28:35.760 it's almost a mental thing there there more apt to 0:28:35.800 --> 0:28:40.560 be just more have to be yours where a horse 0:28:40.800 --> 0:28:43.400 to be years is. I mean you, yes, you get 0:28:43.400 --> 0:28:46.000 that one horse special might do that little extra for you, 0:28:46.320 --> 0:28:48.280 but we'll still do everything very except meal is more 0:28:48.320 --> 0:28:51.040 apt to do something for the person they like the most. Yeah, 0:28:51.600 --> 0:28:54.920 I step on a mule that's broke, and when I 0:28:54.960 --> 0:28:57.760 step on it with a you say authority confidence, whatever 0:28:57.920 --> 0:29:00.320 whatever term you want to use it. They may not 0:29:00.600 --> 0:29:02.680 check me very hard that my chick may be well, 0:29:02.720 --> 0:29:04.640 I gotta, you know, encourage a little more to leave 0:29:04.640 --> 0:29:07.160 the barn. Whatever the case is. You put an office 0:29:07.160 --> 0:29:08.720 on it, don't eith Maybe get a little fear in 0:29:08.760 --> 0:29:10.800 them because they don't know the mule. That mean wan 0:29:10.880 --> 0:29:13.400 my buck with them, whereas a horse you're not gonna 0:29:13.400 --> 0:29:15.440 have that. That horse gonna buck with me too, It's 0:29:15.480 --> 0:29:16.200 not gonna Just so. 0:29:16.240 --> 0:29:19.760 There's there's more predictability in a horse. 0:29:19.800 --> 0:29:21.960 I think so. And he goes back to that quote 0:29:22.040 --> 0:29:25.680 unquote stubborness of that mule's self preservation that if I 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:27.200 book him off, I don't have to do this. 0:29:27.640 --> 0:29:28.320 Yeah, you know what I mean. 0:29:28.560 --> 0:29:31.080 But me was also smart enough. No, Hey, this guy here, 0:29:31.600 --> 0:29:33.240 he's sitting pretty firm in that saddle. I bet I 0:29:33.280 --> 0:29:33.960 can't shake him. 0:29:34.400 --> 0:29:37.760 So, just to summarize what you're saying, because it's really interesting, 0:29:38.360 --> 0:29:38.640 if you. 0:29:38.680 --> 0:29:42.720 Have a good broke horse, you could put a kid 0:29:42.840 --> 0:29:46.240 on there, or your grandma or the best cowboy in 0:29:46.320 --> 0:29:48.840 the country, and that horse is probably gonna treat them 0:29:48.920 --> 0:29:49.280 the same. 0:29:49.560 --> 0:29:49.760 Same. 0:29:50.200 --> 0:29:52.800 If you take a twenty thousand dollars mule. 0:29:53.000 --> 0:29:55.160 Yep, that twenty thousand dollars mule be just like that 0:29:55.240 --> 0:29:57.640 horse is well, okay, so that's why I'm saying that 0:29:57.760 --> 0:29:58.479 mule all right. 0:29:58.520 --> 0:30:01.640 So maybe my, my, my, my example is not the best. 0:30:01.760 --> 0:30:03.560 No, it is because it's kind of the point. 0:30:05.760 --> 0:30:08.760 It's not a straightforward answer on which is better a 0:30:08.880 --> 0:30:11.600 mule or a horse. It really matters what you're doing 0:30:11.880 --> 0:30:15.360 and your experience level. What makes a mule special is 0:30:15.440 --> 0:30:18.080 also the thing that can make them more difficult than 0:30:18.120 --> 0:30:20.640 a horse. And going back to the question of why 0:30:20.760 --> 0:30:23.560 there are probably twenty times as many horses as mules, 0:30:24.120 --> 0:30:27.200 it's partly because horses are just easier to get along with, 0:30:27.880 --> 0:30:31.320 but it's also because mules are sterile, meaning they can't 0:30:31.440 --> 0:30:35.240 have offspring, so they're just harder to make. But to 0:30:35.320 --> 0:30:39.000 summarize why people love mules, it's that a good one 0:30:39.560 --> 0:30:43.600 is the safest, most comfortable ride in rough country period. 0:30:44.160 --> 0:30:45.880 I've heard it said that you can train a horse 0:30:45.920 --> 0:30:48.320 to run off a cliff, but a mule has so 0:30:48.440 --> 0:30:52.400 much self protection in it often viewed as stubbornness, and 0:30:52.520 --> 0:30:55.560 he ain't running off no cliff. So the safest place 0:30:55.640 --> 0:30:59.000 to be is ride in that saddle and just to 0:30:59.080 --> 0:31:01.840 be honest about it. A bad mule can be a 0:31:02.000 --> 0:31:06.520 much bigger outlaw than a bad horse. It's complicated, but 0:31:06.640 --> 0:31:09.600 I think Johnny probably sums it up best right here. 0:31:11.080 --> 0:31:15.200 If you're a mule person and you enjoy mules, you're 0:31:15.280 --> 0:31:18.480 going to know that feeling and all those answers. But 0:31:18.720 --> 0:31:21.600 it's hard to explain to your horse people. 0:31:22.320 --> 0:31:23.800 But if your horse people. 0:31:23.840 --> 0:31:25.960 Ever get bit by the bug and they get them 0:31:26.000 --> 0:31:29.440 a mule, then they can't explain it to their buddies either. 0:31:30.520 --> 0:31:32.960 It's just a mule fame. We've thought about getting some 0:31:33.120 --> 0:31:35.560 T shirt sometimes, you know, it's just a mule fan. 0:31:44.960 --> 0:31:48.120 Insurance is high in today's world, my one. 0:31:48.200 --> 0:31:50.440 You can ride tomorrow with confidence. Right there. 0:32:00.000 --> 0:32:07.040 The Kelsos have had a lot of time to develop 0:32:07.120 --> 0:32:10.520 their opinions on mules. Here's some family history. 0:32:12.200 --> 0:32:16.680 Kelso's come from Scotland through Ireland Appalachians. To our knowledge, 0:32:16.720 --> 0:32:18.640 they didn't stay in the Carolina's long. They come straight 0:32:18.680 --> 0:32:21.280 to West Kentucky because they got here right around the 0:32:21.360 --> 0:32:23.760 Jackson purchase time, which has been the eighteen twenties during 0:32:23.760 --> 0:32:26.680 the New Indian Removal Act, when Andrew Jackson bought. 0:32:26.800 --> 0:32:29.240 The typical western tip of Kentucky. JB. 0:32:29.400 --> 0:32:31.760 Kelse and his dad moved back there. JB fought the 0:32:31.800 --> 0:32:34.800 Civil War and I sent you a picture through texts 0:32:34.960 --> 0:32:37.600 of him holding a big black, white nose jack. He 0:32:37.880 --> 0:32:40.720 finished the Civil War on top of Lookout Mountain. Come back, 0:32:40.960 --> 0:32:43.240 and a lot of dark fire to back that was grown. 0:32:43.560 --> 0:32:46.080 It still is grown right there where we're out. In 0:32:46.160 --> 0:32:48.880 the winter time. He would haul he drive six mules 0:32:48.960 --> 0:32:51.200 go to Banuka to the river front, hauling back up there, 0:32:51.200 --> 0:32:52.760 and they bring dry goods back to all the little 0:32:52.840 --> 0:32:54.720 country stores that were three or four. 0:32:54.600 --> 0:32:55.520 Miles apart in the area. 0:32:56.120 --> 0:32:58.760 So mules has been our family since and ever since 0:32:58.840 --> 0:33:01.840 we've always had mules. By great grandaddy traded a little bit. 0:33:01.920 --> 0:33:05.440 He raised family. My great grandmother died very young, so 0:33:05.560 --> 0:33:08.360 he raised four kids and he would borro and trade. 0:33:08.720 --> 0:33:09.840 But he would trade mules. 0:33:10.280 --> 0:33:13.480 And back then you had you know, this is even 0:33:13.560 --> 0:33:15.240 up to the sixties, you had a lot of people, 0:33:15.280 --> 0:33:18.320 especially our country in the back country, still using mules 0:33:18.400 --> 0:33:22.720 for agriculture purposes. So you had a lot of undesirable mules, 0:33:22.760 --> 0:33:26.080 horses that would the slaughter. He would buy slaughter mules 0:33:26.440 --> 0:33:28.680 to feed hogs with. And he had a mule that 0:33:28.720 --> 0:33:30.680 he would use to skin those mules with. He would 0:33:30.720 --> 0:33:33.520 hook that single tree to the hide, and she was 0:33:33.560 --> 0:33:34.560 broken enough he could tell her. 0:33:34.520 --> 0:33:36.680 To buy mules to feed his hogs. 0:33:37.120 --> 0:33:39.120 Yeah, because he could give three to four dollars for 0:33:39.160 --> 0:33:41.880 the meal skin the mew once he needed hog feed, 0:33:42.200 --> 0:33:44.480 because that's the feed that holds itself. It won't go 0:33:44.720 --> 0:33:47.920 bad laws it's living, so it's fresh meat for the hogs. 0:33:47.920 --> 0:33:49.520 And people that don't know hogs, I mean, you've been 0:33:49.520 --> 0:33:52.080 around enough. Wht holes don't eat anything. I mean they're 0:33:52.080 --> 0:33:53.920 worse than the goat. I mean they're gonna eat anything. 0:33:54.640 --> 0:33:56.880 And he would hook that single tree in that hide 0:33:56.880 --> 0:33:59.080 as he's skinning this mule, and he would tell her 0:33:59.120 --> 0:34:00.800 to ease up, and she would lean in the collar, 0:34:00.960 --> 0:34:03.560 not step lean and keep pressure. 0:34:03.280 --> 0:34:05.200 On that on that hide. So he cut it away. 0:34:05.720 --> 0:34:08.480 But anyway, so my granddaddy grew up. When he was 0:34:08.480 --> 0:34:10.439 a little boy and his daddy brought the first car home. 0:34:10.680 --> 0:34:13.400 He was mad, he's, daddy, how in the world we're 0:34:13.400 --> 0:34:15.279 gonna hook a horse up to this thing. I mean, 0:34:16.040 --> 0:34:17.919 we just had that ingrained in us all our life, 0:34:17.920 --> 0:34:21.239 you know. And then dad always traded livestock, farmed grew 0:34:21.320 --> 0:34:25.640 hay grew tobacco, worked local sail bar and traded whatever anything. 0:34:26.120 --> 0:34:29.560 And this had been seventy nine. My granddad was visiting 0:34:29.560 --> 0:34:32.400 the army buddy in Montana and they were out somewhere. 0:34:32.440 --> 0:34:34.719 I don't know how they come back. This guy got 0:34:34.840 --> 0:34:36.799 talked to him. Back then, if you wanted a mule, 0:34:36.880 --> 0:34:40.319 you had to get at least to Missouri East to find. 0:34:40.320 --> 0:34:42.560 I mean that's not Center wasn't out layer of breeders, 0:34:42.760 --> 0:34:44.680 but for the most part, all the mules were in 0:34:44.800 --> 0:34:48.719 the East. And he said, I need these mules. You know, 0:34:48.880 --> 0:34:51.279 may get them. So yeah, my son can, dude, and 0:34:52.200 --> 0:34:54.760 he backed out. Dad ended up going to Bishop, California 0:34:54.760 --> 0:34:57.200 in nineteen seventy nine the first time, and it just 0:34:57.239 --> 0:34:59.960 steam rolled from there, you know. Just we were trade 0:35:00.120 --> 0:35:02.560 horses and cattle. Dad was there all through the eighties 0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:04.920 and I mean I still remember him trading cattle through 0:35:04.920 --> 0:35:07.840 the late eighties. But as time went on, it was 0:35:07.880 --> 0:35:10.680 specialized more mules, and it was a niche market, but 0:35:11.520 --> 0:35:14.520 it's what we pursued because you didn't have a lot 0:35:14.520 --> 0:35:16.160 of guys trading just mules. 0:35:16.400 --> 0:35:17.880 See, y'all became known for mules. 0:35:18.000 --> 0:35:20.759 Yes, Counsel yes, sir, me and my granddaddy's a great 0:35:20.760 --> 0:35:23.560 granddaddy was J. B. Kelso, James bethdon Kelso, but he 0:35:23.640 --> 0:35:26.680 was the first Kelso. We know they had mules, and 0:35:26.800 --> 0:35:29.640 every generation since sins had mules, just something either made 0:35:29.640 --> 0:35:31.160 a living farming with him or made to live in 0:35:31.200 --> 0:35:34.000 trade them one or two. And I'm the seventh generation 0:35:34.760 --> 0:35:38.200 So and my kids they messed with mules. Son, but 0:35:38.360 --> 0:35:39.400 not Jodie's boy. 0:35:39.440 --> 0:35:40.000 He'll be the eight. 0:35:40.000 --> 0:35:43.319 Generation right now that he's graduated college with a business act, 0:35:43.400 --> 0:35:44.840 business career and he's trading mules. 0:35:45.080 --> 0:35:48.520 So he's eighth generation and out. 0:35:48.360 --> 0:35:48.960 Lie far Ago. 0:35:51.320 --> 0:35:54.759 I think Justin is underselling his kids. You remember the 0:35:54.840 --> 0:35:57.480 story of his son, Jack Rope and that guy. But 0:35:57.640 --> 0:36:00.120 his daughter is a heck of a rider and as 0:36:00.160 --> 0:36:02.960 tough as nails too. I heard a story where a 0:36:03.040 --> 0:36:05.560 few years ago that she got kicked by a mule 0:36:05.800 --> 0:36:09.120 just before the auction, but rode the mule in the 0:36:09.200 --> 0:36:12.200 arena that she was trying to sell and she sold it. 0:36:13.120 --> 0:36:15.839 After that, she finally went to the hospital and found 0:36:15.920 --> 0:36:19.960 that she had a lacerated liver. That's tough as nails, boys, 0:36:20.880 --> 0:36:24.040 But we still haven't really learned how the Kelso's got 0:36:24.160 --> 0:36:27.320 into this aid of mule sell. It's a very interesting 0:36:27.440 --> 0:36:31.120 story that involves selling mules into Old Mexico. 0:36:33.120 --> 0:36:36.200 There was a guy named George Wynn from this area. 0:36:36.680 --> 0:36:38.279 Hesh lived north here, I think, but he was an 0:36:38.280 --> 0:36:41.279 older guy and he dealt with the Mexicans that would 0:36:41.320 --> 0:36:44.320 come up and trade racehorses one time. This is a 0:36:44.440 --> 0:36:46.440 race coarter horse, racehorse capital the world, right or no 0:36:46.520 --> 0:36:48.040 calmut selling. You're going to have a track. You used 0:36:48.040 --> 0:36:49.520 to have a track of sell sow the tracks still there. 0:36:49.520 --> 0:36:51.680 I'm not even sure they racehorses there anymore, but a 0:36:51.719 --> 0:36:54.480 lot of those horses raised in this area, and they'd 0:36:54.520 --> 0:36:56.640 have a good quarter horse, sell in a shawne ol'cloma 0:36:56.680 --> 0:36:59.080 called the triangle sell three days sailing heat up his 0:36:59.160 --> 0:37:02.399 buddies get their horse sold to these Mexicans. I don't 0:37:02.480 --> 0:37:05.480 know this for a fact. Probably that you call them 0:37:05.560 --> 0:37:07.719 cartel now more likely. I don't know that they traded drows, 0:37:07.760 --> 0:37:10.120 but it was there, had a lot of money, That's 0:37:10.160 --> 0:37:12.000 what I'm trying to say it. I'm confident it probably 0:37:12.120 --> 0:37:17.080 wasn't allegal. Yeah, but George with his ties, we were 0:37:17.120 --> 0:37:20.359 selling mules, sending into Mexico some teams and stuff draft 0:37:20.480 --> 0:37:23.360 mules down to their some plantations and stuff, and they 0:37:23.360 --> 0:37:24.040 would use the mules. 0:37:24.040 --> 0:37:25.360 I don't I don't know why they used them. 0:37:25.520 --> 0:37:27.240 I was just a kid at the time, barely probably 0:37:27.440 --> 0:37:29.080 enough drive, maybe starting for us. 0:37:29.160 --> 0:37:32.960 So these Mexican guys were coming here to buy racehorses 0:37:33.200 --> 0:37:35.440 when they found y'all and said, hey, we need mules too, 0:37:35.560 --> 0:37:38.759 And so y'all started selling mules to these high dollar guys, 0:37:38.800 --> 0:37:39.360 taking them back to the. 0:37:39.320 --> 0:37:42.000 Money they went through. George never met them. We actually sold. 0:37:42.520 --> 0:37:44.360 George called Dad one time because we sent a lot 0:37:44.400 --> 0:37:45.800 of man the jack stand there to bring some of 0:37:45.840 --> 0:37:48.359 their marriors that raised their own mules. And he called, ease, 0:37:48.400 --> 0:37:51.600 I need a sixteen hand white jack, not a great jack. 0:37:51.640 --> 0:37:55.040 A white jack. Dad called everybody he knew in the 0:37:55.160 --> 0:37:56.920 United States trying to find it. Say, I mean one 0:37:56.960 --> 0:37:59.680 of the sixteen hand jack in the late eighties was 0:37:59.760 --> 0:38:03.240 tough to find anyway, bling alone a white sixteen andred. 0:38:03.239 --> 0:38:03.839 That's a big jack. 0:38:03.960 --> 0:38:06.240 Yes, that's a huge anyway. So this jack, Dad finally 0:38:06.280 --> 0:38:08.319 finds me. It's forty five miles from our house. They 0:38:08.400 --> 0:38:10.960 got raised jack stock. This jack end up going to 0:38:11.040 --> 0:38:13.240 the Mexico City University as a mascot. 0:38:16.680 --> 0:38:19.880 The stories just keep getting more interesting. I bet you 0:38:19.920 --> 0:38:22.880 wouldn't have guessed that these guys were potentially selling mules 0:38:22.960 --> 0:38:26.760 to the cartel. Hard to say, but this guy, George 0:38:26.840 --> 0:38:30.800 Wynn got the Kelso's, who are from Kentucky selling mules 0:38:30.960 --> 0:38:35.000 in the Ada, Oklahoma area. Johnny Kelso actually had multiple 0:38:35.080 --> 0:38:38.160 mule sales across the country at one time, but today 0:38:38.560 --> 0:38:40.320 they've settled in on Ada. 0:38:41.239 --> 0:38:45.200 Eight, Oklahoma is a nice little town. It's real centrally located, 0:38:46.160 --> 0:38:49.080 like the people that lived in the West, and I'm 0:38:49.120 --> 0:38:52.560 saying west, like Utah and Colorado. 0:38:52.640 --> 0:38:53.840 A lot of them people there. 0:38:53.719 --> 0:38:56.160 They could drive in there in the day and that 0:38:56.320 --> 0:38:59.880 makes it better for him. And we've been I've been 0:39:00.120 --> 0:39:03.719 doing business there since ninety three, two sales a year, 0:39:04.280 --> 0:39:07.000 and we just keep a having it because we've made 0:39:07.040 --> 0:39:10.840 so many friends contacts up there. There's people in that 0:39:10.960 --> 0:39:13.319 country and a lot of people from Texas that comes 0:39:13.400 --> 0:39:18.080 up there and their families, couples that say, we take 0:39:18.160 --> 0:39:22.000 our vacations and come here and they camp and visit 0:39:22.120 --> 0:39:26.080 with other people, and I just kind of hate not 0:39:26.200 --> 0:39:29.560 to have it. Really, I've made so many friends over 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:33.320 the years and don't want to quit. I could, but 0:39:33.440 --> 0:39:33.919 I don't want. 0:39:35.000 --> 0:39:37.600 I asked Justin why mules seem to be in such 0:39:37.680 --> 0:39:40.800 demand right now. I was surprised by his answer. 0:39:43.200 --> 0:39:45.960 Part of it is nobody's breaking these things anymore, starting 0:39:46.000 --> 0:39:49.120 them as a as a hobbyer, even as a job. 0:39:49.800 --> 0:39:51.759 They're doing it. There's trainers that I'm not saying that. 0:39:52.320 --> 0:39:53.040 Part of it is. 0:39:54.680 --> 0:39:57.960 We've made our kids softer. That's just a fact. I mean. Now, 0:39:57.960 --> 0:40:00.439 I see like this generation coming up now a little 0:40:00.480 --> 0:40:02.239 grittier than they was. And I'm not saying there's not 0:40:02.360 --> 0:40:04.120 some thirty year old gritty kids out there. I'm not 0:40:04.360 --> 0:40:08.320 meaning it that way, but because my kids all rodeoed 0:40:08.360 --> 0:40:10.320 and watch these kids grow up, and there's some gritty 0:40:10.360 --> 0:40:11.879 kids out there, that's all I mean. But as a whole, 0:40:12.760 --> 0:40:15.480 how many kids, all right? How many kids farms that 0:40:15.560 --> 0:40:17.319 you live with or grew up on a farm when 0:40:17.320 --> 0:40:19.920 you was in school? Most of them? How many your 0:40:20.000 --> 0:40:23.600 son bear? How many those? How many of those group 0:40:23.640 --> 0:40:27.160 on are living on a farm. And so that translates 0:40:27.160 --> 0:40:27.920 to the mule world too. 0:40:29.040 --> 0:40:31.799 So you don't have those kids like there's more, there's less, 0:40:32.280 --> 0:40:34.440 there's less or less and more demand. 0:40:34.800 --> 0:40:37.560 Yeah, well, out the demands increased as much as you 0:40:37.680 --> 0:40:40.360 just don't have that quality of animal. And like I 0:40:40.480 --> 0:40:41.880 used to buy a two or three year old, right 0:40:41.920 --> 0:40:43.560 it for six months and reselling them because there will 0:40:43.560 --> 0:40:45.359 be somebody to buy a two year old. That's going good. 0:40:45.800 --> 0:40:47.240 They worked, They used to want to get the bucket 0:40:47.280 --> 0:40:49.239 of it, you know, they didn't want to They didn't 0:40:49.239 --> 0:40:50.839 want to do the rough stuff. They want to train 0:40:50.880 --> 0:40:53.760 it theirself. Well, now everybody works, You work at office, 0:40:53.800 --> 0:40:56.160 you're busier. You know, back then everybody worked on a 0:40:56.239 --> 0:40:58.359 farm or you have them knock off of ups because 0:40:58.360 --> 0:41:01.280 there's raining, go home rides and mules at home or something. 0:41:01.520 --> 0:41:06.920 So is there not like a mule revival though going on? Culturally? 0:41:07.120 --> 0:41:07.520 Oh it is. 0:41:07.880 --> 0:41:09.719 That's reason these older mules are treating so well. 0:41:15.120 --> 0:41:17.680 Going back to the question of why the Kelso's like 0:41:17.840 --> 0:41:21.400 mules better than horses, This story about sums it up. 0:41:26.120 --> 0:41:28.480 When I worked in California in nineteen ninety five, the 0:41:28.640 --> 0:41:32.560 last trip I went on, and I'm bull headed, especially 0:41:32.760 --> 0:41:34.759 and what how way worse billheaded when I was twenty 0:41:34.800 --> 0:41:37.200 one years old and they had a new horse that 0:41:37.280 --> 0:41:39.759 hadn't been in the rocks yet, So any of hem 0:41:39.840 --> 0:41:43.239 rolls the rocks on him. He uh, four or fifth day, 0:41:43.520 --> 0:41:46.520 he's were climbing up on a slick rock, just a 0:41:46.680 --> 0:41:49.320 huge rock, and he slips and falls over backwards on 0:41:49.400 --> 0:41:53.560 me and cracks two ribs, tears ligament in my left knee. 0:41:53.719 --> 0:41:56.200 I get it's a horse. I get flown off that mountain. 0:41:57.520 --> 0:41:59.239 I call my mom and dad the next day when 0:41:59.239 --> 0:42:01.719 I get landed, and I'd just spent the night on 0:42:01.800 --> 0:42:03.800 topic at nine thousand feet in a tent, which is 0:42:04.200 --> 0:42:07.959 so luckily the trip had a bunch of nurses. 0:42:07.680 --> 0:42:10.399 Doctors broke up pretty bad. 0:42:10.480 --> 0:42:12.800 No, not hurt me, but they had enough drugs. I 0:42:12.920 --> 0:42:14.760 think I could have flew off that mount with a helicopter, 0:42:14.880 --> 0:42:17.359 but c XP come in the next day and flew 0:42:17.400 --> 0:42:19.320 me off the mountain. And I called my dad the 0:42:19.400 --> 0:42:21.400 next day to something what happened, and he said, that's 0:42:21.440 --> 0:42:23.879 what you get for riding a blanket horse and hung 0:42:24.000 --> 0:42:26.520 up on me. I'm two thousand miles from home, never 0:42:26.600 --> 0:42:28.399 been that far from home in my life, hadn't seen 0:42:28.480 --> 0:42:29.240 my parents in three. 0:42:29.239 --> 0:42:30.880 He's upset with you for riding a horse and not 0:42:30.960 --> 0:42:32.560 of mules, right, he hung up on me. 0:42:33.960 --> 0:42:34.680 The auction is. 0:42:34.760 --> 0:42:38.560 Coming to a close, and a fine looking Grula colored 0:42:38.680 --> 0:42:42.920 mule named Della enters the arena. Grula is a kind 0:42:42.960 --> 0:42:46.720 of tannish gray or what they call a mouse color, 0:42:47.160 --> 0:42:51.240 which is rare and desirable in a mule. It's a female. 0:42:51.400 --> 0:42:53.680 This is what they call a molly mule, and she's 0:42:53.719 --> 0:42:57.919 out of Missouri. She's fourteen hands tall, ten years old, 0:42:58.400 --> 0:43:00.960 and a young girl in a pink western shirt and 0:43:01.080 --> 0:43:05.560 a huge cowboy hat is riding Della in circles around 0:43:05.680 --> 0:43:09.480 the arena. It looks like she's well broke, safe and 0:43:09.640 --> 0:43:12.440 clearly has what they call a good handle on her. 0:43:13.120 --> 0:43:14.839 The crowd is eating it up. 0:43:18.400 --> 0:43:20.799 I don't care where you gotta go, but you gotta 0:43:20.880 --> 0:43:22.120 find them before you can buy. 0:43:25.120 --> 0:43:32.600 We don't know three and a half years you've done 0:43:32.640 --> 0:43:34.280 bigger and bigger places. 0:43:35.440 --> 0:43:38.000 But I'm right now, God, you are right here. 0:43:38.360 --> 0:43:40.680 If it goes with that's a thirty five. 0:43:46.560 --> 0:43:50.360 You me. 0:43:51.480 --> 0:43:52.320 You don't. 0:43:53.880 --> 0:44:09.640 Get seventeen thou. 0:44:17.000 --> 0:44:17.840 For your wrong. 0:44:21.440 --> 0:44:35.000 E eighteen. 0:44:41.520 --> 0:44:46.200 I hope you understood that Della just sold for seventeen thousand, 0:44:46.400 --> 0:44:49.200 five hundred dollars, and I hope you understood what the 0:44:49.280 --> 0:44:53.479 auctioneer said before that. He said seventeen thousand dollars won't 0:44:53.520 --> 0:44:55.719 get you a new truck or even buy you a 0:44:56.000 --> 0:45:01.040 proper burial at the funeral home. And ended up selling 0:45:01.280 --> 0:45:05.120 as the high selling mule for the twenty twenty five 0:45:05.480 --> 0:45:09.480 Spring Ada, Oklahoma sale, and she was purchased by somebody 0:45:09.560 --> 0:45:13.440 from Texas. This was a lot of fun and if 0:45:13.440 --> 0:45:16.520 you're looking to go to a sale this year, AIDA's 0:45:16.560 --> 0:45:20.840 got another sale coming this fall in early October, and 0:45:20.960 --> 0:45:25.719 I'm sure you'll be seeing me at Ada again. I 0:45:25.840 --> 0:45:28.640 know on this episode we've learned a ton about mules 0:45:28.960 --> 0:45:31.200 and I can't thank you enough for listening to Bear 0:45:31.320 --> 0:45:34.279 Grease and Brent's This Country Life podcast. 0:45:35.120 --> 0:45:38.600 Please leave us a review on iTunes, Share this podcast 0:45:38.719 --> 0:45:39.280 with a friend. 0:45:40.440 --> 0:45:43.640 Keep the wild places wild, because that's where the bears live.