mulesuk

This is fairly embarrassing for me – especially, as nobody knows me here on this forum (yet) ...

On the Scond Chance Equine Website is a mule for sale who will go to slaughter if nobody buys her. I desperately would like to have her but haven't got the funds. So I wonder if anyone would be interested in buing some things from me (I have also advertised it on the other website):

I bought two rugs from Fired Earth/AGA, worth well above £2000. I bought these for an old house I was going to rent but it fell through and so they have hardly been used.

Large and fairly heavy: 280 x 213 cm
Smaller: 155 x 225

I need £1000 in order to buy Rita and pay for the transport. I chuck in a Nintendo WII, worth now ca. £60 if needed (my 12 ear old son said one can always buy another WII but not another RITA!!!)

I would also sell my super Sofa (bought it for £1,500) if anybody was really intersted just to be able to safe the donkey couple as well.

Please help me rescuing Rita (and the donks)!!!

I know it's a bit mad and may be nobody wants my stuff but at least I have to try. If you are interested then just pm me.
Tina (Please.....)

Beautiful rugs but I have not one spare penny to my name at the moment, sorry.

Are you sure? Christmas is sooooooooooo close!!!
Well, one has to try everthing.

Tina x

She's a cutie but still paying my dogs veternary savings pot back for Picasso
I put someone on to her this afternoon but unfortunately she's looking for something bigger

Hi Jinglejoys,
I have actually just asked myself this question. Is she too small for me? How much can mules carry on weight compared to a horse or a donkey? I am not very tall (165cm) but weigh around 69 kg. Would I be too heavy for her?

Tina x

"am not very tall (165cm) but weigh around 69 kg. Would I be too heavy for her?"
Translate that into english for me...had enough trouble trying to find out how tall the mule was!

5.4" and 10 st12lb ....so now everybody knows

I would say if she is the height she is supposed to be she'll be quite a good height for you BUT have you any guarantee she is indeed that height or is it a rough estimate? Do you know if her conformation will make her suitable as a riding mule? From that photo there is no way of knowing if her front legs are straight or if her back is strong. If you are happy to pay £1000 (ie bought and delivered) for a pet and accept anything else is a bonus then that's great but if you want to buy her to ride I'd really really think about it.

I suppose what I am saying is - If this mule was not going for slaughter would you still want it?

i like the idea to save the mule (or any animals) from the slauther ! But how you can pay the food and if necessary the veterinary ect...?

Well, that shouldn't be a problem because I have a monthly income - just not the hole amount for the purchase as well. I have got dry barns with free acess to the paddocks, hay from my land (9 acres), a farrier friend and I would insure her anyway.

Well, if I can't get the money together now then I will have to wait a few more months and start looking again.

Tina

This is the big difference between the cattle and equine worlds. On the cattle side we are all saying our breed is now sufficiently numerous that we should all be a lot more selective about the heifers used for breeding and beef anything substandard. There is no outcry about this concept at all. I would be jolly wary of paying so much money for an unseen animal. I lost a lot of money on my second mule by being suckered by the sob story of how he'd been rescued and previously beaten etc and never thought to ask WHY he'd been beaten & sent for slaughter. He was an evil, murdering, little so & so and when he killed the calf I would have cheerfully flayed him alive and eaten steak tartare. Frances does cute to perfection and so gets away with a life of bone idleness, rather than being the working pack mule that I had fantasised.
So, before rescuing anything, ask yourself why it's previous owner/breeder has thought that meat is the answer & not tried to sell it on as a live animal. How many of these animals are being advertised as "going to slaughter" to separate soft-hearted Brits from their hard earned dosh? The prices for these animals seem astronomical and far in excess of their potential hook value, assuming a comparable price to beef. Who is making money out of advertising these animals? Sorry to sound cynical but once bitten, twice shy.

I acctually don't think the prices are that astromical as all prices start with around £700 for mules if and when one is advertised , sometimes even up to £2,500!!!! Even for donkeys you have to pay this kind of price on the open "British" market...

Widget (or was it Wingnut) was £3000

I think it was widget.... Wingnut was reduced in the end.. however was still making around a thousand or so.

However baring in mind that if you really are set on rescuing mules, there are some in this country knocking about that are going for 700 pounds at a reasonably size. One of which i now have and another that probably (although ride and drive and seemed very nice.) has since i should think gone via the old mince machine...

I would think that it would be well worth looking at the lower end of the dealerships on your doorstep... and saving yourself some money ... as you would need to be able to keep them properly or they may actually end up needing rescuing from yourself.... which sadly in this climate seems to have happened to a lot of people...

Agree with Potto it was definitely Widget that made money, and to be fair she did have some "issues" but she was ride, drive, hunted, jumped etc. I have an offer of £3K for Treacle sat on the table anytime I want it, to a dealer so he presumably is making a bit on top of that? Personally I going against the grain here and say DO NOT buy a cheap mule, a bad mule is a revolting thing, if Tina, your dream is hairy donkeys (spot the person that can't spell) then stick to your dream and don't be swayed by a sad story on route!

Potto, personally I'm not sure your "need rescuing from yourself" sentence is hugely appropriate, perhaps you didn't mean it as I have read it but I would have been offended if that had been said to me?

Lady Tina - I do agree with Louisa, the prices do not tie in with what I think meat price is!! It's not so obvious with the mules but I quite often see a TB on the sites for £800 plus (often still with b*lls and a conformational issue) - well I see the meat man at sales here and he never pays more than £300... As I've said if you are happy to pay "x" amount for a pet and anything else is a bonus then great, I've met plenty of people who have gained a lot of pleasure by saving one of these horses (mules, donkeys) it's just not going into these things with rose coloured glasses isn't it? The other thing I feel is that by buying one meat mule, its place will be taken by another...? You are saving THAT mule but not changing the actual system? In fact probably providing it with funds to prosper!!

Hell I've bought sad stories time after time, some have been worth it some haven't, my "thing" is old imported polo ponies, sucker for a sad one at a sale!!!