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"Telling a mule's tale"
The Fort Collins Coloradoan
By Jilie Gordon

Mules often are perceived as stubborn, stupid and mean.
Meredith Schulz Hodges, daughter of late "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz -- who has 29 years of experience with mules and breeds and trains them on her Lucky Three Mule Ranch in Loveland -- is trying to change that image with a new two-dimensional animated video, "Jasper: The Story of a Mule."

The message the video gives is that mules -- which are a hybrid of a female horse and male donkey -- are friendly, strong and intelligent. And when people are nice to them, they'll be kind in return.

The video is geared toward children and families.

"The goal is to introduce mules at a young age, in a proper way," Hodges said.

It hasn't been determined yet where the video will be sold, said Maury Dobbie, MediaTech Productions president and founder.

Bill Melendez, who has more than 60 years of animation experience and in 1959 was chosen as the exclusive animator of Schulz's "Peanuts" characters, will animate the characters in the video.

The animation, which will take place in California and Korea, is based on the illustrations of Bonnie Shields.

Shields, who is from Idaho, owns five mules and a donkey and has drawn mules since the 1960s. Her illustrations will appear in a book form of the "Jasper" video, scheduled to come out in January.

"It's a wonderful project," she said. "We're very excited. The team that Meredith has put together to do this is outstanding. Cooperation and appreciation is the key to producing a successful video."

Shields, also an artist for Leanin' Tree greeting card company in Boulder, said she met Hodges at a mule show in California in the early 1980s and the two have been friends ever since.

Lee Horsley, an actor with 20 years of television experience who starred in such series as "Paradise" and "Nero Wolfe," is narrating the video.

"Some animation sends a good message, but this has a good moral thread that runs through it," he said.

Hodges studied animal sciences at Colorado State University and has written four books on training mules and donkeys: "Training Mules and Donkeys: A Logical Approach to Longears," "Training Without Resistance," "Donkey Training and Equine Management" and "Donkey Training."

Originally published Saturday, November 9, 2002