Granny’s Adventures Continue: Bishop Mule Days 2023

by Anna Arnold

What a great time I had at Bishop Mule Days! My buddy CC from Washington came down to southern California and picked me and my living quarters trailer up. For the last few years, I have camped in the handicapped area on the lawn under the cottonwood trees. This has worked out as several of my friends are also handicapped. This area is right outside the vendor’s building and pretty close to the ice cream stand, so we’re all happy there. CC and I met up with JoAnn Davis, who I met back in 1998 (in a very funny story I’ll tell later) and her granddaughter, Carli Templeton, and we all headed out early Monday morning. The rest of our group arrived a day later. Carli is the newest member of our group, and she fit right in and survived the long week with a big smile on her face and a lot of new stories to tell. Along with JoAnn and Carli, our group also includes the sweetest couple, Cheryl and Tom McKay, who I’ve known forever and are among the very best people to camp with. They live in the outskirts of Hemet/Temecula area of southern California, and I’ve known them since the 80s.

Shawna and Ray Leinen are also newcomers to our group. I’ve known Ray for many years. He and my daughter, Tonya, were sweethearts in high school, then I was good friends with his grandmother and also used to play bingo with his mother, Kathy, in Mesquite, Nev.

Bishop Mule Days was not sanctioned by the American Mule Association this year. But this show has a loyal following despite which rules are used. There were new faces in the ring, as well as some folks that usually attended who were missing.

With a new show manager and staff in the Bishop show office, we were hoping the classes would be more user-friendly. The driving and hitch classes started at 7 a.m. again this year, and it was very obvious those who arranged the classes had never hitched teams, let alone at that time in the morning. It’s unfortunate because there are not many in the grandstands at that time to see the hard work that goes into getting those animals ready to show. I’m hopeful that next year we will have more driving and hitch classes in the main arena when there are crowds to watch them. Some classes seemed smaller, and I hope entries pick back up next year. When I’m at Bishop, I am just so happy to be back with my mule friends and meet new ones.

On the first day, as I was just entering the shopping area, I met up with Carolyn and Ron Gruby, a really nice couple from Marianna, Ark. They have mules and had always wanted to come to Bishop Mule Days. They read Mules and More and hoped we would be able to meet me while at the show. Carolyn actually wrote the cover story from the June 2023 issue. They also knew Bill Garrett (Garrett Mammoth Jackstock, Stilwell, Okla.), who attended the show each year and had bought three riding donkeys from them over the years. So they finally decided to make the long trip to Bishop for Ron’s 70th birthday.

We all talked for a while and they both had a great sense of humor. I invited them to our camp for spaghetti dinner. They showed up with Arkansas Special Cupcakes, so they said and talked about their mules and what they do with them. The cupcakes were delicious and luckily, there were even a few left for my 2 a.m. snack! Come to find out they go to the National Championship Chuckwagon Races, in Clinton, Ark., and have been to mule shows in Shelbyville, Tenn., and Columbia, Mo. Ron, a retired railroad engineer, and Carolyn, a retired high school English teacher, have been mule riders for about 20 years. They have two riding donkeys and seven riding mules, and use their mules for squirrel hunting all winter. They were so happy to finally be at Bishop, the ‘Greatest Mule Show on Earth.’ Carolyn had a beautiful custom hat made. I do hope we meet again. It’s always fun meeting new mule friends.

Cheryl was our cook that evening. She made her special home grown and homemade spaghetti sauce and as more people started arriving, she just kept throwing more noodles on. We had plenty as others brought several side dishes. With bellies full, the stories started and just continued right through the week. It was such a great time!

Like every other year, no one in our camp ever goes hungry. Tom was our token man in camp and he brought us 6 a.m. donuts, fresh as you can get them. Cheryl made a delicious breakfast one morning and Shawna made biscuits and sausage gravy another morning. Ray fixed delicious tri-tip and pork for our Sunday dinner.

This year, the ice cream folks got to know me well! After closing one evening, I stopped by and the owner informed me the shop was closed. I put on my best, “Oh, how could I go to bed without my ice cream?” face, and this nice lady said if I told anyone else who came that they were closed, she would see what she could do for me. She came back with a waffle cone and the biggest scoop of whatever she could scoop out of what was left in the containers. I was wonderful!

We had new neighbors in camp this year, two fun and talented sisters, Iona and Sarah, who had a booth in the building close to where we all camped. They, like so many other vendors, cater to mule folks. As we talked about mules and how far people come for this show, Sarah said there was a couple at the show from Australia. I got excited when she told me their names, because I was Facebook friends with them! Sarah had said they would be around her area later that day, so I went off to meet up with them and invited them to visit our camp.

Di and David Scholl, Vale Farm Mules, are from Queensland, Australia. We started telling stories and it just got funnier every day. Over the years, they’ve had horses and donkeys, even a camel, but the mule’s personality and toughness really caught their interest. David said he’d never been able to take a vacation until 2013 but his mule business seems to have opened that door for them.

Back a few years, Di and David bought a mule - Bruce - over the phone from an Australian sale yard 1,000 miles away. When Bruce arrived, he wasn’t quite what had been described to David. He was much shorter, 13.3 hands, and mostly suited for high-speed mad dashes. But he was tough as nails and they both fell in love with little Bruce.

Australian saddles are typically English-style, which did not suit Bruce. So David found himself looking for a saddle that would at least stay on. David turned to Google and found a real American Western mule saddle in America from Queen Valley Mules. That first Western saddle turned little Bruce from a 4-cylinder into a V-8!

After that, David sold his cutting horses and jumped into the mule world with both feet. He was looking for a nice, 15- or 16-hand athletic mule that would fit him. He worked his way through several draft cross mules, which were bigger and good animals, but not athletic enough for what David wanted. There were only 50 mules over 14.1 hands in all of Australia, so the search expanded to America.

David and Di made a trip to Bishop Mule Days a few years back and met quite a few mule people. They saw some great performance mules and decided they could breed their own back in Australia. They bought a mammoth jack, Diamond Creek Moonwatcher (aka Moses) in America from Jonathan and Sammi Waugh in Kentucky. COVID-19 was a big problem at that time, so buying in person was impossible and shipping got complicated and expensive. Luckily, the Waugh’s live near a quarantine station in Kentucky that made the long quarantine and transport process a little easier. Moses and his loud bray were an unusual sound in the mostly thoroughbred horse barn. The horses were mostly unimpressed, but Moses was very friendly and popular with the staff. Eventually, Moses made the trip half way around the world and found his new home with the Scholls.

Even before Moses arrived, they had been hard at work, learning everything there is to know about mules, building their mule program and educating and winning over the Australian public. Moses’ arrival just kicked their program into high gear. David believes the quality and abilities of mules are very underestimated in Australia and he aims to improve that, beginning with Moses and their successful in-house AI breeding program, where they use their own carefully selected mares. Last season, they had 10 foals born. They kept one and sold nine within 24 hours of advertising them. They also have Unborn Foal Agreements where anyone can choose one of the mares in the breeding program. This year there are already 15 in foal, with three pre-sold.

The Scholl’s mission is to breed the best mules in Australia and Moses’ foals are proving that out. Moses’ babies will be used primarily for stock work on cattle properties but the Scholl’s want to start mulemanship clinics in Australia, teaching people all the things mules are capable of. Eventually, David says he'd like to have their very own Australian Mule Days. It sounds as though they’ll succeed, and I’d love to be there!

This was the Scholl’s third trip to Bishop Mule Days. After the show, they visited Queen Valley Mule Ranch and Steve Edward in Arizona and then a scenic trip from Montana winding down the Oregon/California coastline before going back home.

I always love Bishop Mule Days, the people, the long ears, the Big Show... it never gets old. As we all enjoy the warmer summer weather and are able to get out and use our animals, remember to appreciate the time we get to spend with our long-eared friends. They need us as much as we need them. All the views we’ve seen between those ears, the lifelong friendships made, all the good times - and even the hard times - have enriched our lives beyond measure Enjoy every minute and be thankful.

Watch for me at a mule gathering and stop to say ‘hello.’ I’m the granny with the big hat and the tall tales.