The Third Mule

Firstly, let’s address the current issue: Halloween candy is back. For the love of Pete. Not yet!!🤦🏼‍♀️

I was practically bludgeoned at the grocery store a few days ago by a massive display of Halloween Oreos right inside the front doors. I know retailers have had that stock sitting in the back since March (as my friend NG is fond of reminding me), but seeing orange frosting before September still delivers a jolt of seasonal panic.

It suddenly accentuates the looming rain and early darkness, even if our state, like so many others, desperately needs the moisture.

Late August has settled into Western Oregon, and right on cue, we’re all starting to do the mental math (also known as freaking out).

With only a handful of dry weeks left before the fall rains arrive, our minds naturally turn to gravel loads, fence lines, and getting the manure pile moved before the weather breaks.

Walking past said pile this morning, though, I noticed a single, bold sunflower still in full bloom right out of the top (a cheerful reminder to stay in the present moment, even as we squeeze in those final trail rides and clinic dates).

So I want to tell you about a thing… You might have heard me talk about it on the Horsemanship Remarks Show, and I’ve hinted about it over on Instagram: it’s a thing about a third mule… A THIRD MULE! Can you believe that?

The Horsemanship Insiders are already in love with her, but I’ve been really looking forward to sharing some of her story and my delight with everyone here.

I actually started writing this post about three weeks ago and got a little stuck on how to capture it all. The funny thing is, I haven’t been able to stop talking about her in real life.

For the last month, my friends, my family, and pretty much anyone within earshot have heard all about this special mule who floated unexpectedly into my life: a 20-ish molly mule named Cindy, whom I’ve borrowed for the summer to ride and explore and learn from. (Remember 23 in mule years is 15 in horse years.)

When I first walked up to Cindy at my friend’s place, there was an immediate, quiet soul connection. But what stopped me in my tracks was the sheer volume of her internal voice. Not an auditory sound, but an internal signal that came through crystal clear.

It was like standing in a crowded room of muffled voices and suddenly hearing someone speak in fluent, articulate sentences. It was striking the moment I walked up to her, and when I climbed into the saddle for our very first ride, the clarity of that voice was almost all I could think about for a few minutes.

People often slip into dividing the world into neat little boxes (claiming you’re either a “horse person” or a “mule person”). But I’ve never felt that way. Decades ago I heard that Tom Dorrance said: you have to treat a mule the way you should treat a horse. I’ve never forgotten that.

My fascination with mules has always been about becoming a better horsewoman. If they hold us to the ultimate standard, shouldn’t we all have one or two…or three?😉

Cindy and I’s first ride was really interesting. She is naturally compliant. She didn’t really follow a rein the way I know she eventually will, but she willingly packed me around safely. There was a moment like suspended animation. We had this connection but no shared experience or language yet.

What surprised me wasn’t how she moves mechanically, but how lit up those internal filaments are underneath. It isn’t like heavy construction or forcing physical steering; right now, it feels like the tentative soldering of fine jewelry.

If you were watching us from the rail, you might only see the mechanical surface (what I call OS1, or operating from the outside-in). But when you offer a creature the shift to OS2 (connecting from the inside-out), it isn’t just a minor technical adjustment. From the horse or mule’s perspective, it is like stepping onto a completely different planet.

I went to ride her once. A few weeks later she was in my trailer for a data collection care lease.

Bringing her home, I could tell she was feeling a bit untethered. After ten years in the same pasture, being loaded into a trailer and brought to a new place left her slightly free-floating in space, looking for an anchor.

The last month has been pure fun with Cindy. Every day, those micro-connections between her mind and mine get just a little bit clearer, a little bit stronger. The physical mechanics (finding the middle of the rectangle, following a rein, maintain gait) are simply the secondary echo of a new internal shared network.

It’s noteworthy to me that like a spiderweb in the early morning dew, those network filaments are micro-fine and remarkably clear (that’s the super rad part), but they aren’t fragile.

She is using those delicate threads to reach out, find her anchor, and meet me from the inside out long before her feet actually catch up to the idea. (Side note: It took me forever to find the words for that last sentence.)

She has gone from feeling unsure and untethered to greeting me with pure, wholehearted sincerity. I was trying to explain it to my Mom the other day: imagine if you had lived your entire life never knowing what it felt like to have a dog run up to you, tail wagging, completely overjoyed just to see you after a day away, imagine the delight you’d feel.

That is the exact feeling when Cindy spots me, lets out a massive bray, and comes trotting straight over to hang out (whether the gate is open or closed).

We’ve already hauled to a few friends’ places, and her steering and willingness are getting softer and more responsive with every ride. I really wanted to teach my August home clinic on her, but purely for the sake of venue logistics, I decided to keep things simple.

Still, I’m looking forward to plenty more adventures with this girl (and hint, hint: I have a very strong feeling she might just be my partner of choice for the upcoming Fall Throwdown).

I wish I could bottle up the feeling of having Cindy trot up to me and share it with you all. I’m not 100% sure where our partnership is going to lead, so wish me luck staying in the moment. (I may or may not have already asked for a third mule for Christmas…)

(Cindy helped me capture one of the concepts that is nearest and dearest to my heart: Teaching A True Soft Feel – The way I think of it. Horsemanship Insiders with a Pathfinder Pass can watch that now.) Look under SKILL BUILDERS.

Go to Horsemanship Highlights in Horsemanship Insider to see the VLOG the day I met her.

Speaking of mules, Flower is really finding her flow with her groundwork lately! If you haven’t read her backstory yet, you can check out her introductory post, A Second Chance at Once in a Lifetime, to see where her journey started.

New wild mule videos of Flower are up now and available for everyone at Basecamp inside Horsemanship Insider.

Looking ahead, the Northwood Farms Fall Throwdown is coming up at the end of September, and I can’t wait to see all of our 2026 Horsemanship Challengers back together again.

Thanks for reading! And for being 🐝 awesome! – Emma Daily Kline