Legolas is a 19 year old Mammoth Mule that we saved from auction back in August of 2022.
He was terrified of us and refused to be caught. We spent many days having to run him out of the pasture and down into a catch pen so we had a smaller area where he could not just run away from us. It took time, but eventually he allowed us to come up and pet him. After a pet, you could clip the lead rope on and off he would walk with you. We knew now at this point that he was halter broke and has had some kind of training in his past. One of our trainers, Ahna, had worked with him to the point of being able to saddle him as we had to see how much he knew, to level him correctly. He did alright with tacking up, was nervous about mounting, but once she swung her leg over, he sent her to the round pen panels… oops! Lol. (no trainers were harmed)
Legolas’ biggest issues were being caught and having his feet trimmed. Even with sedation, he kicked our farrier across the floor with his back leg while our farrier was holding the front one up. Of course we did not want to force him through this so our next step was to work on picking up his feet. Our trainer, Kylee, spent a lot of time doing so and eventually Legolas allowed the touch. Applying pressure was a different story and is still a work in progress.
Legolas was adopted out to a home but unfortunately the woman contacted us not even a week later saying he was dangerous and a bad Mule. She had a transporter bring Legolas back to our shelter. Upon arrival, the transporter himself said that Legolas is a great Mule and that she was just not the home for him and she should have never attempted his adoption to begin with.
If you are not familiar with Mules, you do not tell them to listen and be comfortable with you, they choose when they are ready. It is tough for Mules to bounce around to different places as once they are pastured somewhere that is their “home”, they are wanting to stay and protect it. Going back and forth is very stressful for them. While our shelter is not a forever home for Legolas, we decided to leave him be and let him decide when he was ready once he returned.
A couple days ago, Kylee was visiting Legolas’ pasture and it just so happened that Legolas walked right up to her and wanted all of the pets! We were completely taken back but thought, maybe he is ready? The next day Kylee was able to simply clip a lead rope on him in the pasture after he comfortably walked right up to her again, led him into her work area, and BEHOLD, Legolas was overloading her with kisses!!
Legolas is available for adoption and still on the hunt for his forever and permanent home! He has a lot of personality and love to give to that special someone that will just give him the time to become comfortable.