October 2, 2012 10:03 PM
Posted By Ann
|
Over forty years ago I received, and answered, a letter that seemed totally unimportant at the time but which was to bring into my life a wonderful animal, a mule called Pepita who is the subject of my latest book, PEPITA – THE STORY OF A FRIENDSHIP. Such is the strangeness of life, a seemingly casual incident can have far reaching results. I had written, out of the depth of my ignorance, a piece for Hoofs & Horns on mules. All my knowledge of them was what an old man I knew as a child, dismissed as 'book larning'. I was living in Tasmania at the time and to my surprise I had a letter from someone in Victoria who bred both ponies and donkeys asking advice on breeding a mule. I have no idea what I told her but it must have been right because just over a year later I had another letter enclosing a small black and white snap of a mule foal. Four years on when I, too, was living in Victoria I received a letter offering me this mule. I didn't hesitate to accept. And so began a wonderful friendship spanning 28 years. In this photo she is 30 years old.
MORE THAN A MULE |