Albert
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Greetings From SpainHi my name is Albert and my wife is Pat. We live in Malaga Province, Andalucia (state) Spain. I never rode till I was i 54 years old almost 10 years ago. I started with a 16hh packing mule and put a saddle on him. Now I have a 15hh Sorrel X Petcheron John mule called 'Duke'. Last summer I went to the UK and bough a gypsy Horse called 'Casper' that I hope to ride. sadly I seriously crashed my cart while driving my mule last October so as soon as my foot heals I plan to ride Casper.
I treat every new experience with Wonder I love learning from my animals. I hope to learn a great deal from being part of this forum. Albert
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admin
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Welcome Albert and Pat!
My first experience with a mule was the one called Patchy that would bring me safely down and up the Grand Canyon! At the time I was very glad that I was riding a mule and not a horse! The way down the serpentines was rather challenging... 
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hoofpick
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OH Hell!! Albert!!! Care to share the gory details of your crash????
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Albert
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Sorry not getting back to this quickly. I could not remember my sign in so have had to re register!
 I can laugh now but it was not funny at the time!
I Took the wife and our 15hh Petch X Mule name of 'Duke' into town. I have owned about 25 big mules so it was no big deal for me!
The wind was warm and blowing a bit. You know how equines hate the wind in their ears! On the way home down our rough track I was breaking and the steel shafts just folded. The step ups dug in like plough shears and with that noise Duke took off with me trying to hold my wife in and us both pitching forward and down! I told her to jump, but she is a transplante (Kidney) and we are in our 60's! I tried to jump over the side but my timing was all wrong, and I hit a tree and was knocked back in front of the cart and it went over me, my left ankle hitting the right side step up, and the cart rolled over me. I watched my wife fall in front and the cart went over her just as it hit a young almond trees. The harness parted and the mule went home! The cart is around 5cwt ! 2 young couples saw us and were with us in seconds which was strange as it was a quite Sunday afternoon. Then my pal Jose rode up on his 1/2 Arab, and he was on the main road and saw people running and knew we were a kilometer in front of him so he galloped off the road and across about 5 people land including vine groves!
Then my daughter Kate ran up the track as she had heard Duke bells and gone to help but only found him so panicked! 2 more German guys turned up who had seen us about 2 k's away go behind a bend and only the mule come out! It was quite a party!
The ambulance took 40 minutes, but only had one bed so I let Pat go first. waited another 2 hours for my ambulance. I had a compound fracture of my foot and it was dislocated. Dragging myself 2 hundred yards to be with Pat I got infection in the open wound. When you see the one you love going through what pat went through it's funny how you shut out your own pain! We are both ok now. She had some nasty wounds but was home that evening bless her. She still needed 2.5 months out patients though. 4 months later I have just finished my Physio Therapy. Still using a wheel chair in the house, and a walking stick outside. I have already started working with my Gypsy Horse name of Casper. This week i bought him a new Spanish Vaquero saddle and I plan God Willing to ride him soon. You can see us on photobucket/AlbertsLife. Thanks for asking. Albert Charles. The Muleman.
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hoofpick
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OH BOY!!! What a terrible mess!!!!!  I'm so happy you both got to go home at all after that experience!!! Just as well you had people come to the rescue-lucky you I am on crutches at the moment after my young 1/2 Andalucian dumped me on my hip and broke my femur! But I lay for 4 hours until someone found me!- Did any of them think to bring biccies and cheese?
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Albert
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Our accident happened with vine groves on either side of us, but no one brought us Vino either!!
Is there a chance you could fill in a little of your profile, and maybe a photo of you or your fav, animal? It's just so much nicer to see a little detail!
I never could ride. I once feel off a run away horse onto an asphalt road on my hip. I was the second day of my holiday in Majorca. You can imagine my girl at the time was not impressed with me being bed bound for 2 weeks! I started to ride really when I bought my first 16hh mule here in Malaga! I was 55 yo, and 9 years later I still cannot ride!
Salud! Albert.
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