HARNESSING POWER MULES TAKING OWNER FOR A RIDE.Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer LAKE LOS ANGELES Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. - Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat deters Clarence Wright from his daily rounds - riding mules. Since his retirement eight years ago as a Long Beach city heavy equipment operator, Wright each morning at 8 a.m. hitches two mules to one of his three wagons and goes on a three-hour ride around the desert. ``One day, I said, You know, I want a mule mule, in zoology mule, hybrid offspring of a male donkey (see ass) and a female horse, bred as a work animal. The name is also sometimes applied to the hinny, the offspring of a male horse and female donkey; hinnies are considered inferior to mules. ,'' said Wright, 62, who was born on an Arkansas farm where his father still used mules to work his cotton fields. The Lake Los Angeles resident acquired his first two mules in 1983, delivered from Missouri by a friend. He still has them: Janet Sue, age 24, and Shurie, 22. And he now has five more: Buck, 14; Benji, 12; Charlie O., 9; Molly molly see mare hinny. , 7; and Chance, 14 months. Chance often accompanies Wright and the older mules, following along behind the wagon wagon: see carriage. wagon Four-wheeled vehicle designed to be drawn by draft animals. Wagons have been used from the 1st century BC; early examples used spoked wheels with metal rims, pivoted front axles, and linchpins to secure the wheels. . In another four or five months, he will begin pulling the wagon, too. When he's 3, he will be trained to be ridden. In addition to hitching his mules to the wagons, Wright also saddles up and rides them. ``I've even chased a few cows with them,'' said Wright. ``They can do anything a horse can do, only slower.'' Mules aren't stubborn stubborn Vox populi → medtalk Refractory; unresponsive to therapy , Wright said, just smart. ``A mule will eat till he's full; a horse will eat till he dies,'' Wright said. ``A mule will stop and rest. When he gets rested, you don't have to tell him to go: he knows his job and he'll get back to it.'' When he got his first mules, Wright lived in Carson and had them boarded in Wilmington. He and his wife bought the Lake Los Angeles home in 1995 and relocated re·lo·cate v. re·lo·cat·ed, re·lo·cat·ing, re·lo·cates v.tr. To move to or establish in a new place: relocated the business. v.intr. in 1996, the year he retired. On Friday, Wright and his mules - accompanied by his Queensland heeler heel·er n. 1. One who heels shoes. 2. Informal A ward heeler. heeler Noun Austral & NZ a dog that herds cattle by biting at their heels dog Katie - did about six miles through the desert from his home, a trip of three hours. ``I see something I want to look at, and me and my mules go there,'' stated Wright. Wright's wife of 32 years, Sharon, doesn't go along on the mule rides. In fact, Wright said his wife thinks he's crazy for riding when it rains, but she did buy him a head-to-toe jacket to wear to keep dry. ``She loves her house and I do my thing,'' said Wright. ``She's gotta got·ta Informal Contraction of got to: I gotta go home. be one of the best women you can find.'' Wright drove his mules and wagon last weekend in the Lake Los Angeles Days Parade and can be seen today in the Littlerock Fall Festival parade. Peggy Hager, (661) 267-5741 peggy.grimm-hager(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Clarence Wright, the Mule Man of Lake Los Angeles, and his Queensland heeler, Katie Sue, take a morning ride with Wright's mules Shurie, 22, and Janet Sue, 24. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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