Make Bridling Easier

We all want the time spent with our mule to be enjoyable--make sure you start off your ride on a good note, with the mule willingly accepting the bridle. If you take the time to teach your mule a few simple yields and you approach the process right, you will have a mule that will almost bridle himself! You can use these ideas to smooth up bridling your broke animal or even start these things on your weanlings and yearlings.

Make sure the mule is comfortable with you up close around his head and that you can touch his head all over: ears, nostrils, lips, even the inside of his lips and gums. This is a dangerous zone to be in if the mule throws his head so be alert and on the defensive.

Lower The Head

Teaching the mule to lower his head when you ask him to will make bridling much easier. This will allow you to position his head at a level that is comfortable for you to reach, especially important for a short person with a tall mule! Besides making bridling easier, it is important to teach the mule additional ways to give or yield to pressure, not just from the reins or away from your leg and they should be able to yield from all different parts of their body. Having the mule drop his head and neck has a relaxing effect on the animal (when it is not forced by you physically or mechanically!).

There are several ways to go about teaching the mule lower his head , here’s two simple ways that will only take a couple of sessions for your mule to get really solid at.

Use your hand to put downward pressure on the poll of the mule (a few inches behind the ears) , waiting until he drops his head even just a little. (Don’t make the pressure painful by pinching or poking--just some steady pressure until he starts looking for a way to relieve that pressure by moving downward from it.) Pet him and start over. Eight or 10 tries of this should be enough for one session. You can work again when you go into his stall to feed him or after riding him. It usually doesn’t take more than two or three sessions before the mule “gets” it and will probably put his nose nearly down on the ground! But keep practicing, seeing how long you can get him to keep his head lowered, and be sure and rub him when he does right!

For the second method, put a halter and a lead-rope on your mule. Hold downward pressure on the lead-rope close to the noseband. (Make sure you aren’t pulling backwards or to the side--just straight down. Follow his head with the pressure, wherever it may go, till he figures out the right thing is to drop his head. You aren’t trying to physically pull it down or jerk it down, just a few pounds of steady downward pressure.) Have patience, you’re making the wrong thing difficult by keeping the pressure on, and the right thing easy (releasing the pressure when he drops his head). Be quick to pet him when he puts his head down.

Teaching the mule to lower his head will not only help in bridling him, you will find it useful when you are trying to work around his head, clipping, fly-spraying, doctoring, etc. Why do things the hard way when with a little bit of preparation, you can make things easier on the both of you! Next month: “Bridle Sweet”.