[Mike Matson]

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...ancdr/herd.jpg

[merrygoround]

Tends to look a wee bit photo shopped. Those heads and necks in the foreground look huge.

[Mike Matson]

The internet. Filled with photoshop experts.

[draftdriver]

LOL at the paint mule -- he looks a bit hung-over.

[Laurierace]

The second from the right has no body! Poor guy.

[Finzean]

My favorite are the semi-disembodied splatter paint legs...it almost looks like melted chocolate was drizzled over them. Probably makes him tastier... lol

[MunchingonHay]

I don't know guys, I think it may be touched up but the shadow looks right, the chocolate drizzle legged one has a head, you can just see it on the other side of his buddy, he is a lighter brown.

And with the exception of the paint, who is clearly hung over, they are all looking intently at something/someone.

[oliverreed]

Totally agree the paint is got a massive hangover. Wonder how they did this? Must be something verrrry interesting they are all looking at.

[ThisTooShallPass]

There is a HUGE ranch in Texas that is famous for their horses coming in & lining up. I have heard of some smaller scale outfits teaching their horses to do the same. No reason why someone could not have taught mules to do the same.

[Bluey]

Where did they get that many mules together?
Maybe that outfit that has a 40 mule hitch?
I don't remember any of them being but solid, darker colors.

Where I grew up, we had 10 mules to one horse.
Ours happened to be a smaller belgian horse, but our neighbor had a fancy, young grey mule I got to ride for them.
He moved out better than our horse, that was older.
Mules rule farming in the mountains.
To a kid, anything with four legs, long or short ears, is a fine animal.

Those look like very nice mules.

[Pat9]

There are a number of big ranches that teach their remudas to line up and wait. Some stand them up by the fence for roping, while others halter them individually.

This is such a mixed batch of mules that I think of them as a saddle mule group - solid-colored teams are more common than spotted ones, at least in the shows. As for the big heads, some mules do have ginormous heads. Really big heads.

I researched training this trick a while back, and didn't find anything that was really specific. http://www.westernfolklife.org/vmchk...e_wfc.tpl.html is something I want to buy someday, and maybe that will give me more insight. The drift of most information is that the old members of the cavvy teach the new ones how to line up, and as for how the old ones learned, a very smart hand just kind of showed 'em.
http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/glossary%20horseterms.htm gives a little info about the rope corral procedure and some good terminology.

[Finzean]

So Splatter Legs goes with Palomino Head? This is why there's safety in herds...

[Bicoastal]

The second from the right has no body! Poor guy.

I see it as the first head on the right has no body. The hooves and chest belong to the second on the right (the one immediately before the hungover pinto) What am I not seeing?

[fburton]

And what about that little one without a head or a body??