Uncle Dan Boyington's Educated Mules

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

My family recently found these 100+ year old articles about Dan Boyington, who was my great-great grandfather. (I had never heard of him before this.) The articles describe his then-unique methods for training ("educating") mules and horses, which could easily be applied to dogs too. His methods amazed his peers because they were so effective and involved no punishment.

This article is a bit shorter to read (but heavier with pictures) and is about his group of "educated mules." (approx 3MB)

http://www.kishplace.net/newf/Boyington_Pearsons_Article.pdf

This one describes his method for "breaking" horses (approx 1MB).

http://www.kishplace.net/newf/Boyington_Century_Article.pdf

I hope you find the articles as interesting as I did!

 

[Erika]

thats is sooo cool!!

 

[ina/puusty]

I find the portions I can read..of great interest..but I am going to have to go to the U. of Oregon library..as I cannot get the pages to load well..on my set up. I will enjoy chasing this down..and thanks much! ina n HB n Kesa

 

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

Hi Ina. I found that it worked better if I saved the files to my computer then opened separately in Acrobat, thereby avoiding the internet browser. Apparently my browser's pdf plugin does not like those docs. Hope this helps. Thanks for looking.

 

[wrknnwf]

Great articles! Thanks for sharing these. You should be proud of your G-G-Grandfather! Sounds like a helluva man.

 

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

I think the problem with the files had to do with the way I copied them. Hopefully the problem has been fixed in case any of you who couldn't get them to load properly the first time would care to try again.

 

[estacey]

I am curious about how you came to know that he was your GGGrandfather? This is wonderful, wish more would pay attention to teaching and learning variations.

 

[Jenn]

That's so cool I had to share it with my Paso buddies! We often find horses cowboyed or trained by harsh Latins as is their custom for this breed. Nose scars and other types of harsh training to get show results. *shakes head*

Seeing it was 1907 was a great thing also. So long ago, so forward thinking and even useful today. There are so many more humane methods these days which is wonderful.

Thanks for sharing this part of history.

 

[Zatara and Merrick's Mom]

I am curious about how you came to know that he was your GGGrandfather?

My uncle is an avid researcher of our family history and shared this info when he found it. Without my uncle's research a lot of family information would have been lost.

 

[R Taft]

I love Mules, there is nothing better than a well trained Mule. A friend forever
As we are heavily involved with horse-training, I found this most interesting. We are great followers of the great Ray Hunt and Buck Brannaman as they are for the horse. We also like some of the "old" teachings as we both love dressage.
We get a lot of "broken" ruined horses at our place, who we have to give trust and confidence to again. My Hubbies Doc and My clydesdale Johnno are the perfect examples. And yes our dog training and horse training do at times overlap. there are some distinct differences, but in the end it is all about doing it with your heart in your hands (love).
If I would give an perfect example of what horse training has taught me to do with dogs. ............It is stopping a pulling horse/dog from straight lining and disengaging the hindquarter on either. it works equally well for both and has given us so much more control. and it is soft and able to be done by anyone.
You should be very proud of your heritage........Wonderful

 

[KodysGrandma]

My husband's father broked horses for the Army the old fashioned way. However, there was one stallion he never could break. Saw the horse one day with a little girl on his back, the horse walking like he was on egg shells. His Dad crept close the next day to see the little girl hand the horse a piece of sugar from her hand while the horse snuggled up to the fence so she could climb on his back. More flies with honey and all that!!!!