Watt Mules Staff
Porter Watt was born and raised in western Kansas and has been working with cattle, horses, and mules his entire life. Porter has made his living on horseback as a professional cowboy since he was a teen. His adult years were filled with ranching, training and selling horses, and working cattle in feedlots as a cattle foreman. In his last four years of being a cowboy, Porter exclusively rode mules. Porter developed a mule packing and outfitting curriculum and has spent many hours teaching people how to purchase good packing equipment, pack mules, tie superb knots, and operate a mule train. In 2004 Porter put on mule train exhibitions each day at the three day Equifest in the Kansas Coliseum for over 2000 people. He has worked for 7 years as a packer, outfitter, and guide in the Colorado and New Mexico Rockies and the plains of Western Kansas.
Carole C. McCurdey-Watt graduated Suma Cum Laude with an Associate of Arts degree in Ministry at Central Christian College and Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at McPherson College both in McPherson Kansas. Carole has studied Natural Horsemanship since 1991 and has over 19 years experience in training horses, mules, and humans. For eleven years, Carole was a counselor in the mental health arena specializing in crisis stabilization and relationship behavior. She has spent countless hours working with adolescents in a wide variety of teaching and coaching activities and teaching all ages to ride and train horses and mules. For many years Carole was a member of the Equine-Assisted Growth And Learning Association and practiced as a level II certified Equine-Assisted Psychotherapist in her own private practice. She was also a member of the Certified Horsemanship Association where she was awarded her Level III Instructor Certificate for western riding and trails.
On June 1, 2002, Carole met Porter Watt on a trail ride in the Gyp Hills near Medicine Lodge, Kansas. Porter was riding a handsome mule named Claude and expressed confidence that once she began riding mules, she would never go back to horses… They were married at the same trail ride on mule-back a year to the day later in 2003. From that time on, they both have enjoyed training mules for pleasure riding, hunting, camping, packing, and working as much as possible for various outfitters in Colorado and New Mexico. They have gradually changed their focus from outfitting and packing, to trail-riding and camping, sharing their mules with anybody and everybody who is interested in being in the great outdoors with a mule.
"You can always see what man made from the seat of your car But you can only see what God made from the back of your mule" |