Lucky Us!

Yep, lucky us as we visited the Lucky Three Ranch in Loveland.  Also home of the TMD Equine University, there is nary a horse on the property!  This is the home for only mules and donkeys.  

We've been coming to Loveland for 11 years now, and had never heard of this ranch.  Our camp hosting friends, Patty and Ron Schorr, were told about this facility while they were in Texas!  The ranch is owned and run by Meredith Hodges, whose father is the late well known cartoonist, Charles Schulz.

What is now a beautiful and well groomed 126 acre ranch started out as a 10 acre, run down sheep ranch.

This is Ron, Patty, Meredith and us standing by one of the many bronze statues on her property. This particular bronze is called "Leap of Faith", depicting Meredith jumping one of her famous mules.
She has had a world class Reining mule, also Lucky Three Mae Bea C.T., who was a combined Training and Driving Champion who once bested 56 horses in Dressage and Lucky Three Ciji, who won competitions against horses in Side Saddle.  Her knowledge and understanding of the way mules comprehend and act lead her to numerous championships.

This guy is called Roll, and he is huge!  He is a Belgium Draft Mule, now living a comfortable life at the stables.  He and his partner, Rock, were rescued by Meredith after years of abuse.  Sadly, Rock only lived a year after being purchased, despite efforts to completely rehabilitate him.

Don was talking to the miniature donkeys, Augie and Spuds, while Patty looked on.  I wonder if they understood what he was telling them.

As Meredith entered their pen, they were snuggling up to her, wanting some of the good oats she always carries in her fanny pack.

Even if you have no oats, it's hard to ignore these amazing creatures.  Here, I can almost imagine Roll saying to Ron, "Hey, you!  I'm right here!  Where's my treat?"

This cute little guy named Frankie was born in June, 1976, which makes him 41 years old. That is quite old for a donkey, since different sources put the average lifespan between 28 and 34 years.

As we toured the ranch, Meredith told us that when she passes away, she will be cremated and her
ashes will be put in the top hat of this sculpture!  That way, her ashes won't blow away from her final resting place.

This sculpture depicts Meredith jumping Lucky Three Sir Lancelot.  Before our visit here, I would have never imagined a mule competing this way.  Most of the images of mules that I have involve pack animals going down into the Grand Canyon or pulling a plow in the early days of farming.

You know what they say about when we "assume" something....

Well, guess who had the last laugh about that preconception?  Maybe it was Roll, who is pictured here.  I love that photo!