Winterhaven is an important event to the Tucson Food Bank, as well as the many fabulous patrons who ride with us. There is one part of this festival that does get overlooked... and that is the mules who pull the wagons. We have a herd of mules that we keep on our property to pull wagons for this event. Many of these mules would not have a life today without the opportunity to work at this event. By this we mean that a large percentage of our herd are mules that people no longer wanted. Mules that didn't have a purpose that they were good at. Mules that were not perfect and not what people want for their riding mule. These mules have come to us in many ways. Most of them are mules that their owners have found are simply are too much mule, or are too big, or too young, or too something! With us they have found a life.
We have Blanche... we refer to her as Apache. She is a beautiful 16 hand white paint mule that came to us about 8 years ago. This mule was unruly and generally unhappy. She pretty well disliked everyone and every other mule. After some time and many hours of work, we have turned her into an excellent driving animal. She pulls our 20 person Constoga wagon with Kit, her partner. With this event, Apache has a fabulous life. She lives on 340 acres throughout the year and shares it with the rest of the herd!
We also have Mulie... Mulie is a new mule to our herd. He is 16.2 hands and not the sharpest tool in the shed. This will be his 3rd year in Winterhaven and we have high hopes for him. His personality is that he isn't a mule at all, but one of us. He doesn't understand why he has to stay in his pen?!! Mulie was turned out in a 50 acre pasture with about 8 other mules... and he got lost. Mules don't get lost... he was working a little area of fence all by himself. He is adoreable. We love him.
We just want you all to know that this is a very important event not only to Tucson, but to Apache and Mulie... who without Winterhaven... may not be here today!
Julie Wycoff
