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Many little girls fall in live with horses.

Meredith Schulz Hodges did too, but eventaully her affections were won by an under-respected relative of horses, the mule.

Hodges began training mules on her mother's ranch in California in 1973. In 1980 she moved to the Lucky Three Ranch in Loveland where today she is an accomplished mule trainer and breeder.
"These mules have done things that have never been tried before," she said of her 18 mules on the ranch.
Mules are half donkey and half horse. Hodges bred her stud donkey, Little Jack Horner, a champion jumping donkey, with several mares of various breeds.

The results are fine animals that Hodges trained to do fine things. Competing against horses; two of her mules have earned fourth-level dressage status. Dressage is one of the oldest forms of classical riding, and passing the fourth-level test means the animal is of the highest standard. Only Hodges' mules have reached this level. Her mules also have won various Western reining championships and jumping championships, always competing against horses.

Hodges has written four books on training mules -- self-publishing all but one -- and producted a 10-video training series. Now she is taking her love of mules into an appropriate, yet unexpected, direction.
Hodges is the eldest daughter of the late cartoonist, Charles Schulz, who created Peanuts.
Before he died he suggested that Hodges write a children's book about her mules.

She did, penning "Jasper -- The Story of a Mule."

Last year she went a step further with the project and paid for the production of an animated story of Jasper, being pitched to television companies.

"I never dreamed this," Hodges said of entering her father's field. "I never thought it could happen."
But Hodges made it happen, funding the $500,000 project, hiring MediaTech in Fort Collins as executive producers.

Actor Lee Horsley, best known as the character Matt Houston, narrates the story, with Nashville recording artist and former Lovelander Mindy Ellis cutting a track for the project and being the voice of Kylie.
Western group Riders in the Sky, which played songs for the Toy Story movie, recorded a song for the Jasper show as well.

And heading the animation is Bill Melendez, who animated Peanuts for Schulz. Warner Bros. is one of several companies on the line right now, Hodges said. She hopes to sell the production by January.

"The mules are the ones that told me what to say," Hodges said of writing her book.

While standing ina pen with about 10 mules on her ranch, Hodges said her knowledge of training the animals and her relationship with them was the inspiration behind the story. Hodges talks to the animals like children, using a high, baby-talk voice. The mules respond. "They are very personable," she said, as the animals nudges her and she fed them. "They are very human-like." Mules are smarter than horses and more sure-footed, she said. They live longer and eat less.

"They have an incredible sense of self-preservation," Hodges said. That's where the stubborn-as-a-mule stereotype comes from, she said. They just won't do something that could result in injury. But proper training proves that mules are not stubborn, she said.

Hodges stays positive when training her mules. She believes in consistency and repetition.  If the mule isn't responding, it's the trainer's fault, not the animal's, she said. Hodges incorporated these beliefs into a story and the character of Jasper.

"It's not just a nice story, but it also has some of the training techniques," she said. The first story follows Jasper's adventures of being sold and learning to live with new owners. Hodges said she wanted Jasper's stories to be moral and simple. If there is a theme, it's to do everything the best you can. Those who accomplish that are heroes, Hodges said.

"We all have different opportunities presented in our lives that can make us heroes," she said.