Steve Edwards
Steve Edwards is a world renown mule and donkey trainer and clinician. He has worked with animals and owners from across the globe with the singular goal of helping them gain the trust of their animals and get results. He has a formal education from the school of cowboy hard knocks with mentors such as fellow cowboys Tom Dorrance, Delos Burke, Nick West, and Bud Brown shaping his early understanding of equine, and mules specifically. A cowboy all his life, Steve purchased his first mule in 1981, Casper. After learning the unique communication needed to work with mules, Steve began sharing his insights with others a decade later.
Today Steve continues to train from his home in Queen Valley, Arizona, hosting a weekly live Q & A show called "Ask Steve: Mule and Donkey Questions Answered" and has helped thousands of owners, riders, drivers, and packers build confidence in their training ability. You can learn more about Steve, his training techniques, and explore his highly acclaimed signature saddle line at muleranch.com.
Steve Edwards
Steve’s 2022 Presentations
Ground Foundation Communication Training. - 20 min. 6 sec. Day 1 horsemanship
You just got yourself a new mule or a new donkey. You want to start things off right and make sure to form a strong bond. Where should you begin with your training and what difference in training is there for a new 'green' mule versus a 'well-trained' mule? In this session with Steve Edwards from Queen Valley Mule Ranch you will discover ground zero where all training and communication should begin. From brand new colts all the way to twenty year old 'trained' mules, it all starts with you becoming the herd leader and building a foundation on the ground. Yes, we want to get in the saddle. Yes, we want to start packing. Yes, we want to drive. No matter how you want to use your mule or donkey... and no matter how 'trained' they are or become, you will never graduate ground foundation training and all ground foundation training starts with you, your equine, and a rope using the come-a-long hitch.
Working On Your Timing for Communication - 26 min. 12 sec. Day 2 horsemanship
Best news you'll ever get as a mule or donkey owner — everyone makes mistakes... second best news... every mule, every donkey makes mistakes. It's how you respond to your own mistakes and your mule's mistakes that determines what kind of a relationship you're going to have. When you are working on correcting your mistake, you can connect the dots between the moment the mistake happened, the time it took for you to process the mistake, and applying a fix. Mr Mule is quite the opposite. If you don't correct the behavior the second it happens, that donkey (that mule) has no idea what you're asking. When you're told to 'work on your timing' what you're really being told to do is react and communicate the moment something happens... good or bad. In this session you will see how to develop your timing, why it matters for the animal, and how to recognize the difference it makes.
