When entering the Evans’ property in Lake Shore, at least one mule will follow you from the other side of the fence as you make the way to the front door — a friendly, silent greeting from a 1,000-pound partner.

At least that’s the way that Ty and Skye Evans, owners and operators of TS Mules, like to think of the animals they train behind their ranch-style house on a seven-acre plot of land specially designed for the task.

“You can kind of make a horse do whatever you like,” Ty, 25, said. “A mule has to want to. You kind of have to talk a mule into it. It’s a partnership.”

Both Ty and Skye, 24, fell in love with mules at a very young age.

When Skye was about 10 years old, her father left on a mountain-riding trip with a horse while his friends were riding mules. Upon his return, he declared his new-found respect and desire for mules.

“His horse just couldn’t keep up,” Skye said. “So he came back and told me he was selling his big, beautiful horse for the long-eared mule. I thought he was just stupid.”

But after walking over to their neighbors and buying a short, white mule, and riding it, any doubts were erased from Skye’s mind. She and her family sold all their horses after that.

Ty had an affinity for mules over horses from the beginning. Ty recalls telling a teacher he had when he was an 8-year-old that he wanted to be a mule trainer. He chuckles at the apparent absurdity of it when he tells the story.

Mules are a special breed of animal; the product of a male donkey and female horse. Usually mules can be identified by longer ears, wirier coat and leaner muscles. They have more resilience and endurance than a horse, and are a bit feistier. They require special care and Ty and Skye are experts as one of the only full-time, mule-centric trainers in the region.

The Evans have a more intimate, connected method of training and working their average of 15 animals a month. Instead of “breaking” their spirits, the Evans insist on a more respectful approach to the animal.

“How weird is it that we ride a thousand pound animal with four legs that could ride off on us anytime, buck us off, bite us, stomp us to the ground, but yet they let us ride them. That part, that is what I’ve always thought was awesome,” Ty said. “The communication is what I really love. Trying to develop a language that works for them, that works for us.”

“That’s one of my favorite things about it, the whole job, if you want to call it a job,” Ty said.

Instead of using the common term of “breaking” the spirit of the mule, they use training, teaching, helping or learning. There is no breaking of the spirit on their seven-acre facility.

“It’s a lot of satisfaction. I get to take something that has never been ridden, never been worked. A lot have never been handled, not even halter broke,” Ty said. “That’s my favorite thing. I can take something that doesn’t know anything and teach them a lot and it ends up being someone’s best friend, best buddy, and can take them places they never knew they could go.”

The lifestyle of a full-time mule trainer can be hectic with a difficult animal, but lends itself to a majorly peaceful, family-oriented lifestyle. The two had a daughter, Ellie, who is now a year-and-a-half old, and she gets all-day attention from both of her parents because they work right outside the back door.

“Ellie, she’s lucky,” Skye said. “We can just come outside and hang out with dad. She gets to ride everyday and not even grownups get to ride as much as she does.”

Ty’s days start early, often before sunrise, and he can always tell when his daughter is awake because she waddles up to the back door and looks out as the sun peeks over the mountains. The two trade off caring for her and riding the mules they are training. They wander her around the property looking at their rabbit, the chickens, playing with their dogs Charlie and Max and of course, feeding the mules. Ellie even has her own mule, Tina, along with a miniature cowboy hat, boots and pink chaps.

Ty and Skye met when they were 12 and 13 years old and would go on riding trips with their families and their mules. Years later, they married and created TS Mules.

“That’s really awesome we can work side by side,” Ty said. “It’s a good relationship we have.”

One of their greatest success stories comes from a mule and a special situation. A man had reached out to them with a difficult mule, four or five years past the prime years of training. He had lost his son years ago, and wasn’t sure what to do with his mule and could never get himself to sell it because it meant so much to his son.

He finally decided to have it trained, and almost against his better judgment, Ty accepted the wild mule.

“If he hadn’t told me his situation, I would’ve sent that mule back. Very dangerous – the difficulty was high, but the danger level was extra high,” Ty said.

He got kicked numerous times. One day, on his second or third ride on the mule, as he was about to swing his leg over, he got a full strength kick.

“Right in the butt,” Ty said. “As hard as he could. Oh man it hurt so bad. It was miserable, I was so angry.”

But Ty finished the lesson and as he put it, “cowboyed up,” getting back on the mule knowing it was a critical juncture in its training. If he hadn’t gotten back on, the mule would’ve known all it would have to do was unleash a swift kick, and it would never have been trained.

Ty hopped back on. Combining his high school rodeo experience, together with help from Skye, he got the mule calmed down.