A story is passed along in my family of an incident with an ornery mule. A wealthy farmer who employed several smiths "came into possession of an "outlaw" mule. None of his workers would attempt to shoe the animal, so the owner sent for my cousin-- who apparently was well known for his skills as a smith(his father had also been a smith). He and his son(who related the story to me) travelled by Wagon from Gadsden to Jefferson county Florida, where he quickly succeeded in getting control of and shoeing the beast(a story in itself) ,and was paid well. This incident occurred about 1920, and speaks to the respect given to the danger of some mules.