Mules, Mountains, and Mastiffs
by Bryce Hathaway
Bryce Hathaway and White Trash at Bishop Mule Days in 2019. Photo by Porch Pig Productions
I was first introduced to mules in 1999 when I started working at Reds Meadow Pack Station as a dish washer. It was the summer before my first semester in college. I had worked with horses prior to that, but had never been around mules. As I moved from being a dish washer to one of the day ride employees, I started really working with the mules, and fell in love with them. I quickly stopped riding horses, and moved almost exclusively to mules.
From there I started packing and my love for them got stronger. I went to Bishop Mule Days for the first time in 2002 and just watched. After that trip, I knew I wanted to participate. That summer, Reds Meadow acquired a 4-year-old pure white mule for free. She was said to be out of a Percheron mare. I fell in love with how this mule moved. We started packing her and eventually started riding her. I started calling her White Trash, but everyone else called her Blanca.
Fast forward three years, and I had just graduated from Utah State University. I was the only person who was working this white mule, and I wanted her to be mine. I approached the owner of Reds Meadow Pack Station and told him I would continue working for him if he gave the mule to me. And if not, I would find a different line of work. The owner agreed and from that moment on, this mule was mine and named White Trash.
White Trash and I competed in Bishop Mule Days from 2004 until 2018. We started doing only the fun classes and this was before she was all that broke to ride. She would drag me all over the arena, and the announcers loved to make fun of the short, fat kid, and his huge white mule who were out of control. From there, we slowly learned more together and started competing in English and western classes, along with driving classes. In 2016, White Trash won the All Around High Point Mule at Bishop Mule Days. In 2018, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame. White Trash is now retired and doing nothing but filling her enormous belly and packing the occasional child around the field.
In 2010, I decided it was time to stop working pack stations and I joined the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. That is also when I decided it was time to get control of my health and weight and started running and eating a low to no carb diet. I bought a ranch in Susanville, Calif., and started my dream of breeding and showing Cane Corso Mastiff, American Bullies and mules.
I have acquired a few other mules over the years and currently have two up and coming mules I am very excited for. I have two young john mules out of an Appendix Quarter Horse mare. They're both pure white, as well.
Shorty's Nothin But a Kracker (Kracker) is six years old and is starting his show career this year. In April, Kracker and I attended the local mule race at the Red Bluff Roundup in Red Bluff, Calif. They run a two-day race for mules who do not have a tattoo from racing on a track. There is a $2,500 jackpot split between the top three mules racing. If you take first on one day, you cannot race the second day. Kracker loves to run, and we jumped off of the start line so fast that no one was able to catch us.
Kracker rides English and western, drives single and double, and has been packed throughout the Sierras. Kracker will make his debut appearance at Bishop Mule Days this year.
Kracker has a three-year-old full brother, Shorty's Don't Be a Salty ..... (Salty). I am just starting Salty to ride and drive this year. Salty is coming along great and I plan on eventually turning Salty and Kracker into a chariot\chuck wagon racing team, as well as showing them separately in most all events.
My love for mules has caused me to add a jack to my 70-acre Northern California Ranch. I added Double C's El Guapo (Guapo) and have purchased a few really nice mares. Together, they have created a few very well-built mules, who have great minds and movement. We look forward to how these mules show and become further riding, packing, and driving animals for their new owners.
In my mind, there is no better place to be than on the back of a mule, riding through the mountains with a good dog running in front.