I have donkeys so I always love to see the draft long ears at the Classic, and I have long been a fan of the white Percheron mules, Kit and Kate, who help pull the flag decked wagon out for the national anthem.
Another big attraction for me is this fabulous 16 Up of draft Belgian and Percheron mules hitched in four groups of four abreast. Luke handles the lines and drives the hitch into the arena with Rick and Roy walking on both sides keeping the mules in line and driving them in the manner that oxen are driven, making turns and figure eights for an enthusiastic audience. Once I saw one of the mules step over a trace and it was either Rick or Roy who remedied the situation immediately. My first thought upon seeing this mule hitch exhibition drive: fantASStic!
This string of video clips from my iPhone are from the Saturday and Sunday shows. The first clip shows Nolan sitting behind Luke as he drives the team in on what happens to be Luke’s birthday and he receives accolades and birthday wishes from the crowd. Also in the video are some shots of them hitching up in the warm-up area.  Prior to a show they are ground driven out from the barn together in four groups hitched four abreast. When they arrive at the warm-up area, they are hitched up to the stone boat/sledge loaded with straw bales. They looked magnificent, even while standing still!
Breasts are some mules for you to see.
In the lead, you'll see that a percheron is a mom,
and a breeding jack is a dad.
They have an odd-numbered chromosome on the mules,
so there are numbers.
They do not want to produce the smartest thing on the ground,
as far as I'm concerned.
Cravers found themselves with great demand for polling.
They have plenty of animals to work with,
but teamsters were few and hard to find.
You see, they too caught the gold seagull
and joined the others looking to get rich quick.
The answer was to use more animals
to pull more freight using fewer teamsters.
This worked out well for both the freighter and the teamsters
that stayed true to their trade.
After the gold rush settled,
agriculture became the next use for the big hitcher.
It is believed that someone in the Sacramento or San Joaquin Valleys,
some ingenious freighter,
took his entire outfit from the freight wagon to the plow.
No longer confined to a narrow road,
the draft animal configuration
was enough for four of us, even six of us, to work.
Dry land farming was the primary use of this big hitcher,
Cultivating and harvesting large acres with fewer men
was the key to any kind of success.
Mules were ideal for the long hot days in the seas,
requiring less feed and water than their horse counterpart.
Labor was comparatively expensive,
as was the upkeep of livestock.
So it wasn't uncommon for farmers to combine their draft animals
and work together during harvest.
Combining mules and working together
is just what Luke, Rick, and Roy are doing for us today.
Usually they would be pulling a large field guest or game cow,
but the grounds crew might frown on a plowed-up arena.
What they have instead is a large stone hole loaded with hay bales.
These guys have been fortunate enough
to learn this draft from master keymen,
who acquired the knowledge from generations before them.
Men like George Cabral, Gene Herkey, Paul Reno, and Nolan Darnell.
For many years now, the three of them,
often joined by other teamsters,
have made a point of practicing the art
by hitching as many mules and horses as they can get their hands on.
Usually 20 to 24,
but have hitched and driven successfully as many as 33 at one time.
Luke Messenger is a building contractor from Chico, California.
He has a passion for farming with his butcher on mules and horses.
Together with his animals,
he cultivates, plants, and harvests all the hay they need for a year.
Rick Edney is an arborist from Cines Valley, Nevada.
He also is a hunting guide
and uses his mules for his outfitting business, Battle Born Outfitters.
Roy Clark hails from Loma Rica, California.
Roy is an accomplished area reducer mechanic
and teamster in his own right.
You can bet that Rick and Luke would hate to go anywhere without him in the scene.
We hope you're enjoying this presentation.
Thanks for watching.
Beautifully done, Luke.
And by the way, happy birthday.
Smile.
With the officers that's just out of the academy and they know everything.
Well, with the animals, what they would do with their mules is they would save a cell.
If that animal learned how to hunt,
once he learned how to breed mules,
he'd learn how to be driven
and he'd find a safe cell for a good life.
You see, they too caught the golden fever
and joined the others looking to get rich quick.
The answer was to use more animals
to pull more freight using fewer teamsters.
This worked out well for both the freighter and the teamsters
that stayed true to their trade.
After the gold rush settled,
agriculture became the next use for the big hitters.
It is believed that somewhere in the Sacramento or San Joaquin Valley,
some ingenious freighter took his entire outfit from the freight wagon to the plow.
No longer confined to a narrow road,
the draft animal configuration was expanded
from pairs to three, four of rest, even six of rest,
to work in the open fields.
Dry land farming was the primary use of the big hitters for its counterparts.
Labor was comparatively expensive,
as was the upkeep of livestock,
but the grouse crew might frown on a plowed up arena.
What they have instead is a large stone mill loaded with hay mules.
These guys have been fortunate enough to learn this craft from master teamsters
who acquired the knowledge from generations before them.
Men like George Cabral, Gene Hilton, Paul Reno, and Noel Nolan were there.
For many years now, the three of them, often joined by other teamsters,
have made a point of practicing the art
by ditching as many mules and horses as they can get their hands on.
Usually 20 to 24,
but a pitch can lure them successfully as many as 33 at one time.
Luke Messinger is a building contractor from Chico, California.
He has a passion for farming with his personality and his horses.
Together with his animals,
he cultivates, plants, and harvests all the hay made in his breeding area.
Rick Edna is an arborist from Cines Valley, Nevada.
He also is a hunter guy who uses his mules for his outfitting as a battle horn outfit.
Ladies and gentlemen...
