When Lynn Robinson isn’t patrolling Dekalb County as a sheriff’s deputy he’s usually keeping company with Ed and Jim, his matched pair of dapple greay mules. “They're very personable, they have an identity all their own,” says Lynn. “This is my relaxation this is my hobby. It's an expensive one but it's my hobby.
Lynn grew up in town but he’s always loved big work animals. He used to sneak out to the countryside as a kid just to watch workhorses in the fields. After a lot of study and experience Lynn found he preferred the mule to the horse.
“A horse will work himself to death, a horse will eat himself to death,” he says. “A mule won't work himself down when a mule gets full he'll walk away he won't gorge himself.
A mule is the hybrid offspring of a horse and a donkey. Experts say mules have the patience, endurance and sure-footedness of the donkey, and the vigor, strength and courage of the horse. Throughout America’s history when a job has called for extraordinary strength and endurance, the mule has often been the animal of choice. And as for that old saying ‘stubborn as a mule’…
“When they're tired they'll quit”, Lynn says. “You can drag 'em you can beat 'em you might as well just take 'em back to the barn because they're done.”
Lynn Robinson says that attitude appeals to him. He hopes to retire soon from law enforcement. When he does Lynn says he’ll head out to pasture, not to relax in some shady corner but to round up Ed and Jim, slap on some harness and work some ground. It’s one man’s definition of heaven, in this corner of ‘Your Country’.