When you think of a mule, does an image of a stubborn pack animal come to mind? Well, Buckeye is here to show the world otherwise! This flashy 2008 leopard appaloosa John mule owned by Christina Gregory is making a name for himself in the dressage arena.

Buckeye is trained and shown by Sammi Majors, who shares “The wonderful thing about dressage is that any breed can do it.” When it comes to training mules, Sammi points out that not much differs except that mules don’t care for repetitive exercises, and they retain their training well. The pair also does a lot of cross training, including over fences classes at mule shows. Currently competing in Open 2nd Level and Open 1st Level Freestyle, one of their proudest achievements was scoring a 70.3% in their 1st Level Freestyle at the 2017 National Dressage show in Tryon under an “O” rated judge.

While their appearance may differ from that of their typical dressage competition, Sammi and Buckeye are happy to share the mule love and add some fantastic floppy ears to the show ring.

This model is from the 'Traditional Series', scaled to 1/9th scale.