{"id":174,"date":"2020-06-18T12:23:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T12:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/?p=174"},"modified":"2023-10-14T14:32:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T19:32:51","slug":"red-headed-step-mule-finds-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/mule-stories\/red-headed-step-mule-finds-home\/admin\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-Headed Step-Child Mule Finds Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ruth-Chewy and Thomas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You remember Ruth the mule; the big boned, sixteen hand sorrel horse mule that hitched a ride from Oklahoma to live in Missouri. Ruth\u2026big, ugly and friendly.  Ruth was a big part of the family at the Missouri mule farm, or so he thought.  Yes, Ruth is a male mule, and the gender thing was troubling for Ruth. Having a girl\u2019s name was confusing and at times, Ruth felt left out when he was \u201chome alone\u201d in the big pasture; I could feel his pain. Ruth galloped frantically down the fence line braying, bucking and rearing for attention. I understood how Ruth felt, so I rode Ruth several times under English saddle whenever I visited the mule farm. After climbing on top of a tractor tire, I was in the saddle; Ruth and I hit the trails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Ruth\u2019s owner had health issues and Ruth was not getting the attention he deserved. Now, Ruth was becoming reckless and ruthless (pardon the pun) by charging into the gate while the other mules were present. It was becoming dangerous for the other riders to halter their own mules at the gate and Ruth was just miserable. Quite simply, Ruth will have to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, Ruth was offered for sale under a different name, Chewy. It was decided that Chewy was a more salable name and since Chewy was so ugly his sale price was lowered, and the sale ad was quite blunt about Chewy being so homely looking. Sadly, Chewy was being treated like the red-headed stepchild, the family was hoping and praying there would be a home for this mule…somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As fate would have it, a family from Kansas came to look at Chewy. A young fifteen-year-old named Thomas test drove \u201cChewy\u201d in the large round pen while a thunderstorm approached. This was all new to the big mule because \u201cChewy\u201d thought he was going for a ride, not a boring lesson. The wind has picked up and fingers were crossed that \u201cChewy\u201d would pass this job interview. \u201cChewy\u201d was not a bad mule by any means but sometimes, mule karma can hit hard during the most critical situations. It\u2019s those moments when the planets shift for no reason and then mystifying energy will cause a mule to act up for no apparent reason. I\u2019ve witnessed it many times\u2026I was literally holding my breath. Occasionally I offered my opinion to help build this connection because \u201cChewy\u201d was desperate and needed someone in his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a matter of minutes, Thomas and \u201cChewy\u201d were working together and \u201cChewy\u201d was listening, waiting for the next request. Three lightning strikes later, Thomas dismounted and announced he would be \u201cChewy\u2019s\u201d new owner\u2026but he was naming his mule, Ruth! It was though the heavens had parted; I knew then this was meant to be! I was almost in tears, then we confessed, that we felt sorry for the mule that was really named Ruth because we didn\u2019t think he would be an easy sell, being that ugly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas proudly loaded his new mule into the trailer and promised he would keep us updated on Ruth Chewy. We waved goodbye with happy tears in our eyes. I was so happy for Ruth Chewy; it was like a mule dream come true; I always believed there is a mule for every person with a job to do and a person for every mule that is looking for a new beginning. Ruth has a new start in life and went home to Kansas\u2026living the life of Riley as they say. Ruth Chewy watches over his new owner, standing over him as young Thomas does his homework in the barn, sitting next to Ruth. Ruth Chewy looks for Thomas every day and greets him with a bray, they are now inseparable. Thomas has ridden Ruth to his summer job, taken him to mule events and is now teaching him how to hobble, ground tie\u2026well, for Ruth Chewy the sky\u2019s the limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day Ruth along with the entire herd, went through a section of fence that had been pushed out on the north side of the pasture. Ruth is not a troublemaker by any means, and he would have never left his new owner but knowing Ruth, his anxiety issues about being home alone got the best of him that day. I am sure that he didn\u2019t want to be left behind. During this upset, Ruth had injured his fetlock and now Ruth is receiving veterinary care while being confined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruth didn\u2019t understand why he was being kept in a stall; this is the longest \u201ctimeout\u201d session he has had in his entire life! Young Thomas took care of Ruth and spent many hours in keeping his mule company.  Over several weeks of visits to the vet and the shoer, Ruth is back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fences were repaired and now \u201cRuth shouldn\u2019t get into trouble again,\u201d says his new owner. \u201cWe let him back out with the rest of the herd again 2 weeks ago. I hated having him in smaller pens. He does so much better in bigger pastures. He lost so much weight being stalled with his cast.  I\u2019ve tried everything to get it back up. Depression hits equine the same as humans. He is now gaining weight because he\u2019s happier. (He was getting weight gain, vitamins, rice bran and 1 full can of grain. 1\/2 can of grain in the evening. I tried alfalfa pellets and beet pulp plus a protein tub at any time he wanted and a round bale of prairie hay. He doesn\u2019t like being confined. Tom loves his mule. Even when we don\u2019t ride he\u2019s always going out and talking with him in the pasture. He just lost weight in his top line. He just walked the fences constantly. Full of energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One November afternoon, Ruth\u2019s owner was sitting in the kitchen talking on the phone; she was in front of the sliding glass doors watching the mules eat. Ruth\/Chewy is standing up behind a tree sleeping in the sun. When all of a sudden, he looks like he\u2019s trying to do a somersault. Desperately trying to get his feet under him and falling on his face! Ruth fell while sleeping! Goofy mule! No worries, Ruth is fine. Funny though, Ruth was looking around to see if anyone saw him fall. Make a note, mules do not like feeling embarrassed. please<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, Ruth Chewy is healed up and his young owner trained Ruth to rear up while he was on his back! Ha! Trigger has nothing over this mule! Tom and Ruth are inseparable. Ruth\u2019s new life is very enriched and has moved up the social ladder. Yes, it\u2019s amazing\u2026bring a mule into your life and they insist on being included with all the social affairs. That was when Tom decided that Ruth needed to go caroling with him at Christmas time, in their local town. Hearing this, made me feel warm and fuzzy for Ruth Chewy. They say Ruth was amazingly cordial according to the manual written on mule standards for social graces. Kids running everywhere, cameras flashing, Christmas lights on the equines and houses and some were flashing. Vehicles between ours and the ranger and local traffic. Tom was in heaven riding his own mule to show off to the towns people. Needless to say,\u2026Ruth was beaming too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, there is something to be learned here\u2026every mule has a purpose\u2026ugly mules need love too\u2026never leave a family member home alone\u2026and Ruth Chewy lived happily ever after.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You remember Ruth the mule; the big boned, sixteen hand sorrel horse mule that hitched a ride from Oklahoma to live in Missouri. Ruth\u2026big, ugly and friendly.  Ruth was a big part of the family at the Missouri mule farm, or so he thought.  Yes, Ruth is a male mule, and the gender thing was … Continue reading “Red-Headed Step-Child Mule Finds Home”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mule-stories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325,"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions\/325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everycowgirlsdream.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}