By:
Lenice Basham ~ Pair-A-Dice Mules ~ Belle, MO
LUKE BAILEY and Sweetie in the arena
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Picture in your mind the toughest cowboy you’ve ever met. Picture a cowboy hat worn, stomped on multiple times, sitting on the back of the cowboy’s head at a slant. Picture boots that have ridden a million miles. Picture spurs that have been worn so long the jingle bob and rowels are worn. Now, picture a sandy brown cowboy with eyes that twinkle under that hat. Did you picture the face under the hat of a 7-year old? Luke Bailey of Vilonia, Arkansas is the youngest cowboy to consign and sell a mule at King Auction Company’s Rocky Mountain Mule Day Mule Sale in Eagle, Colorado.
When we pulled up in the trailer Luke was riding his 13 hand mule around the fairgrounds; he spent the next four days in the saddle riding his mule, Sweetie all around the fairgrounds. He easily rode a million miles up and down the river bank, over hills and up and down the trails. He even participated in a game of ‘hide and seek’ with the other kids (of course he was on mule back). Luke rode the hair off the little mule, sometimes with two or three kids behind him!
Luke had been riding the mule….starting him all by himself. He had ridden the mule wild hog hunting in the Ozarks. He had been trail riding her, leading the rides most of the time. Mark, Luke’s dad, said that there were many times while they were trail riding that Luke and Sweetie would go places that adults didn’t want to follow. He and the neighborhood kids would ride Sweetie after school. He had the mule trained so that he could catch, saddle her and ride her all by himself.
Luke used the mule for goat tying at his local rodeo. He participated in the goat tying event at the Rocky Mountain Mule Day All Mule Rodeo, coming in second. He may have not been the fastest….but I guarantee his goat would have stayed tied longer than anyone else’s.
Luke rode Sweetie into the sale ring, circling around the pen. He stood up on Sweetie’s back. He had a couple other kids ride with him. He got Sweetie to climb onto a pedestal in the middle of the ring. When the auctioneer yelled, “Sold!” Sweetie went home with a local Eagle resident to be ridden by his 3-year old daughter. $1,450 went into the Luke Bailey Pony Company account (aka College Fund).
Luke is an amazing young cowboy, who I believe will sell many more mules in the future. When asked how he felt about how he did in the sale ring and what Sweetie had brought, he simply pushed his hat back and replied, “Good” with a shake of his head. Look out for this cowboy……he’s one to watch!
Luke is the son of Mark and Erica Bailey, and brother to big sister, Linda, and little brother, Landon.
LUKE BAILEY and Sweetie following the river trail
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