This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories, the show where America is the

star and the American people.

If you were to put a mule in a track and field event, which one do you think it would be?

The 400-yard dash?

Perhaps the shot put.

If you ask the experts in Peeridge, Arkansas, they probably say hurdles, mixed with a bit of the high-flying antics found in Paul vaulting.

Why? Because every year the town of Peeridge puts on a mule jump.

Here to start us off with the story of everything you've ever wanted to know about a mule jump is Jackie Crabtree.

Nathan C. And later on, the Shockley family, the O.Gs of the sport.

Take it away, Jackie.

Pretty much the history of the mule jump here started out, of course, with being a rural community.

There was Coon Honey, a popular sport back back then and the mules were used to

naturally carry the riders and then whenever they got to a fence instead of trying to find a

gate they would just put blanket over the fence, jumped a mule over and then they would go on about their meal jump.

But where it actually started at in Peeridge, from what my understanding is,

they used to have dog shows where they're coon dogs.

Everybody would come and show their dogs and how good they were

and how they were good and they were at hunting.

And from what my understanding is, during one of those coon dog shows, somebody said, well, I bet my mule can jump higher than your mule.

So that's basically where it started from.

I dare to see whose mule could jump the highest.

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