How to Break a Mule

DAYTON - Jim Gallaher is a "Mule Guy." Only a Mule Guy would drive ten miles each way every day to check on his mule and feed her.

"Every day," he said. "In the rain or in the snow; it doesn't matter."

Gallaher bought his mule in May from a horse breeder in Pilot Rock, Ore. She's unbroken, and her name is Junie. ("I don't know how to spell it," he said. "I didn't name her.") He pronounces it "joo-nee," so The Times decided how to spell it (since we like making up our own spellings).

Gallaher lives in Dayton and works on the maintenance staff at Dayton schools. He visits Junie daily at the Don Jackson place on Bundy Hollow Road, near the Lower Hogeye between Waitsburg and Dayton. Since he got her, he's been working with her an hour or two each day.

"A trainer would have had her under saddle by now," Gallaher said, smiling. "But I'm not a trainer.

Junie is filling a big hole in Gallaher's life. In the early 1980s, he and his wife, Patti, got two two-year-old mules, Solomon and Sundown, from his father, who bred them. Jim worked with both of the mules and saddle-broke them. After Patti injured her knee while riding Sundown, they were both his.

Solomon and Sundown were his hunting companions. "I packed many an elk out of the mountains with them," he said. "I usually rode Solomon and used Sundown to pack, because Solomon was the larger mule." Gallaher said often went riding in the mountains with his brother, Kellyo Gallaher. He also has fond memories of saddle racing both mules at the Columbia County and Waitsburg Fairgrounds.

"Mules are smoother to ride than horses," Gallaher said. "Sundown was the smoothest mule I've ever ridden."

Beginning in the late 1980s, Gallaher's mules had found their home at the Jackson place at Bundy Hollow. He built a shelter with stalls and a feeding rack, and he built a small corral, and he built fencing. And he drove out there every day, rain, snow or shine, for nearly 30 years.

In 2011, Solomon died at age 30. Sundown died in early April. He was 31.

"I told myself I wouldn't get another mule," Gallaher said. "But when I saw Junie, I had to have her.

"Solomon and Sundown were both black," he went on, "and I love black mules. Junie's the spittin' image of Solomon."

When a Times reporter with a camera visited Gallaher and Junie last weekend, she was clearly affectionate and followed her owner around. She was also obviously curious about the camera.

"I can put a blanket on her and I can pick up her front legs," Gallaher said. He demonstrated both. "I haven't picked up her back legs; we're not on those terms yet," he said, smiling, "but we're getting there."

Gallaher also demonstrated that he could put a rope around Junie's belly. And he took her to her corral and walked her around.

"I can't get her to lope, at least not for long," he said. "I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm not a trainer. A real trainer probably would have had a saddle on her in a month. But I'm not a real trainer," he repeated.

Gallaher said that when he got Junie, he hoped to take her to Mule Mania in Dayton this year, but now he says he probably won't. "She's not quite ready yet," he said, and then smiled. "But next year."

Gallaher said he hopes to ride Junie regularly, but he probably won't take her hunting.

He's thrilled to have her though, and he'll keep driving out to see her every day. Because he's a Mule Guy. Postscript:

Gallaher told us this week that after we finished our interview and drove away, he decided to get the saddle out and see if Junie would tolerate it. "I put it on her back no sweat; she walked around with it." He still has to drop the stirrups and tie it under her belly, but he thinks that's coming soon. He also told us he may change his mind about taking Junie to Mule Mania this year.