Lizzie the mule

“We call her Lizzie and her and I were after the World Champion All Around Champion this year and we won it.” Sarah Stevens and her best friend Lizzie, a mule, have spent four years preparing to win a world title. Their dream came true this year at the Bishop, California Mule Days. It’s the Super Bowl of mule showmanship with over 700 entries. “She has competed at Bishop for four years now and the two months before I go are just a killer because we compete in 10 different categories to get ready for the all-around so I compete in English, Dressage, Western Dressage, Trail, Reigning, Western Pleasure, Showmanship, Mulemanship, Working Hunter, so every day there is just a pile of training that needs to be done so her and I are both ready to go.” Lizzie’s 17 – 3 hands tall. That’s about 6 feet from the ground to the middle of her back. In Mule standards, that’s a big mule. Sarah says Lizzie is smart and a finely tuned athlete. “It takes a very athletic mule to be to be able to handle one day being shown Western Pleasure to the next day going over 3 foot jumps through Working Hunter to the next day having the mind set to be able to do a trail pattern. It takes a special animal to be able to pull it all off well. She is just incredible. She’s out of a thoroughbred mare and a 16 hand Jack. So she's just a big, pretty athletic new and mentally she’s just there for me and she wants to do it.” The price for a mule like Lizzie… between $40 and $50,000.