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To all our "mulish" friends:
It has been a busy, driving-filled summer for the
Edens!
In April and May Jack trained or tuned up two
mules and three donkeys. He and Helen developed a pattern of
heading out the door at 6:30 a.m. to harness his charges, and they got
the routine down to 25 minutes for five animals!
After throwing heavy harness onto critters'
backs for a few mornings, Helen decided that our income tax refund
this year should be spent on synthetic harness. A few weeks and several
dollars later, our mules were outfitted with shiny new harness, with
both Helen's and Jack's backs heaving a huge sigh of relief.
June saw us at Montana Mule Days for three
fun-filled days in the mud. We put up a little hay with the mules in
July Jack got bucked off his mowing machine; cause of the accident was a
neighbor who was over-zealous about weed-eating right behind Jack's
mowing machine. Fortunately, as usual, Jack's injuries were a long way
from his heart....
Along with Bob and Debbie Tomaskie of Helena and
the Barney Shire hitch from southern Idaho, we spent ten days in
August getting draft mules in front of the public as the "dog and
pony show" during the PRCA Rodeo at the Montana State Fair. We met
many wonderful folks (about 1,000 per day) who passed through the draft
equine barn. Seeing our mules often triggered the telling of a "my
grandfather" story. The folks in central Montana still appreciate folks
who like to things the old-fashioned way.
In mid-August, we judged a driving show in
Gooding, Idaho (Jack's childhood stamping grounds). The job was a little
easier than last year, when we had to judge everything from mini-horses
to draft horses in the same class. There are some fine driving animals
in southern Idaho.
On to the Sun Valley Wagon Days Parade in
Ketchum, Idaho over Labor Day weekend, where Jack and Bob pulled an
antique water wagon and kibitzed with Bobbie Tanner, California mule
skinner who pulls 35,000 pounds of antique silver-ore wagons with his
20-mule jerk-line hitch. From Sun Valley, the Tomaskie-Eden hitches took
in a week of driving competition at the Eastern Idaho State Fair in
Blackfoot.
After taking a year off, Jack and Bob returned
to the North Idaho Draft Horse and Mule International at Sandpoint in
mid-September. (We wish we could tell you that this once-awesome show
has experienced a revival - but it hasn't.) As the only Montana
teamsters at the show, Jack and Bob put Montana on the map by winning
the 8-up driving competition (with four of Bob's mules and four of
Jack's)! (The Barney Shire hitch won the 8-up horse driving.) Bob drove
an awesome pattern, and Jack worked the crowd.
We wish we could attend your meeting this
weekend, but frankly, we're broke from paying our gas bills for all the
traveling in August and September! Bob and Jack are also
preparing to pull a massive circus wagon in the University of Montana
homecoming parade next Saturday, October 14. I don't think the streets
of Missoula have ever witnessed such mule power on Higgins Avenue.
We hope the Montana Draft Horse and Mule
Association will consider becoming more of a presence at the
Montana State Fair in Great Falls next summer. An attractive booth with
draft and driving literature, along with a good old boy or girl or two
with unlimited time to talk to the public, could do a lot for the
driving industry in Montana!
Helen Eden
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