PEA RIDGE -- I've read "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," a classic short story written by Mark Twain.
I've watched the Terrapin Derby in Lepanto, where hundreds of turtles meander along a 60-foot course on Main Street. I've been to a high school football game, in Decatur I think, where a drawing was held and prizes awarded based on where a cow dropped its dung. But I had never attended a mule jump until Saturday, when I spent part of the day in Pea Ridge.
Arkansas, like all Southern states, is riveted with football during the fall. Pea Ridge is home of the Blackhawks, who defeated Gravette 46-16 to move to 6-0 and set up a showdown Friday at 6-0 Prairie Grove. But mules ruled the day here during a 28th annual event that is part rodeo, arts and crafts fair, and carnival, complete with helicopter rides.
"You can go to a football game or watch NASCAR on TV, but a mule jump is a unique event," said mule-jumping coordinator Nathan See. "That's the main reason we have a lot of people come over here."
I've known a few jackasses in my life but not enough mules to know much about them. Mule-jumping is a competition, although there are no betting windows like the thoroughbred racing in Hot Springs or greyhound racing in West Memphis, where each race begins with a mechanical rabbit that coaxes the dogs around the track.
It's much harder of course to coax a mule to do anything, and that's where the fun begins.
"The character of a mule is unique by itself," See said. "You'll have some mules who won't jump at all, and you'll have some mules who'll jump 75 inches. It depends on the mule."
The rules are simple. Once a mule is led up to the jumping barrier, the animal has three minutes to jump. Trainers can not touch the mule, and the mule receives two chances to clear the barrier without knocking it down.
The competition got started when Miss Kitty, the first mule, approached the bar and easily cleared 36 inches. But the next three mules refused to jump, even with the encouragement of the crowd and with their trainers pulling on the strap.
Comet's Shadow, at least, knocked the bar down before trotting off with its head held high.
"That would be a failed attempt," said ring announcer Kent Morris of Siloam Springs, who kept the crowd entertained. "And he could've stepped over it."
The mule jump in Pea Ridge stems from an era when raccoon hunters used mules to jump fences while pursuing their game. Jumping for entertainment began at Pea Ridge in 1985, and it's become an annual event that draws hundreds to the town each October.
Saturday's mule jump was harmless fun that did not put animals in danger, which is the opposite of the Turkey Trot in Yellville, where live turkeys are dropped from a plane.
"They're not going to crash," Terry Ott, the county judge of Marion County, said in an article published last week in this newspaper. "They're birds. They can fly."
I side with Yvonne Vizzier Thaxton, a professor of poultry science at the University of Arkansas.
"Dropping (a turkey) from 500 feet is a horrific act of abuse," Thaxton said. "There is no justification for this practice."
Can't make that claim about the mule jump in Pea Ridge, where an owner or trainer is disqualified for displaying cruelty to an animal.
"We do not allow hazing at all," See said. "That's where they're whipping the mule or jerking on the reigns real hard. Most of the handlers whisper in the mule's ear or just say something to get them to jump."
So, what's on the festival calendar that makes Arkansas unique? The Coon Supper in Gillett or the Zombie Zip Line in Piggott, perhaps?
Not for me. I'll take aim next October for the Apple Festival in Lincoln, where apple dumplings rule the day.
Sports on 10/09/2016