Jean Poitevin and Mario

A life of complicity

The walk to Compostela was difficult, and the weight of my backpack was crushing my injured collarbone.

"I really need a donkey to carry me!"

On my way back home, I stopped in Viennay, near Parthenay, at my friend Yves's place. Yves is a leading expert on Poitou draft horses and a friend of Thierry, the current president of the National Association of Poitou Mule Breeds. "But Jean!" he exclaimed, "it's not a donkey you need, but a mule, and with a name like yours, it's obviously a Poitou mule."

I had never met a mule and had no idea what my life as a mule driver would be like.

"We'll see, we'll see," I said.

Absorbed by my professional passion, I forgot about this offer when, two years later, in April 2000: "Your mule is born, you can come see him and decide whether you want him or not." After a few visits to the mule foal, you could say he was the one who took me. From Mustang la Richardière, he became Mario, his nickname. We grew up together, and the beginnings weren't always easy.

First secluded in the communal meadows, then on an island in the Cher River with other equines, and finally in

his own meadow in Mareuil with Tinclair, Mario led a life that was too independent, peaceful, lacking in training and companionship: something that proved very difficult to rectify later on.

From escapades to walks in the Marais Poitevin, then along the paths of Berry, Bourbonnais, Sologne, and Touraine, we journeyed together, getting to know each other, and challenging one another.

He assessed me, and I gradually corrected my mistakes by learning the unspoken rules, the non-verbal cues, his temperament... and everything else!

Everything fell into place the day Eric, a Cob breeder and farrier to whom I had entrusted my mule, told me: "Your mule is well-balanced, he's extraordinary, at the trot, at the canter, even if he sometimes paces. He's good at logging and harnessing, willing, valiant, and above all, very intelligent. Jean, I'm telling you, there's only one problem... and that's you!"

Self-reflection, humility, and the suppression of ego! But above all, an irresistible desire to become one with him and to learn, to learn even more.

And for 20 years, it was a wonderful story of love and profound understanding.

Morning and evening, grooming, ritual care, preparing the paddock, cleaning the pack saddle, etc., occupied long periods of my time, a time spent in complete harmony with him...

Recently, the president of the Val2Cher inter-municipal council asked me to travel through the 33 towns with Mario the mule to introduce them to children, tourists, and locals alike.

This is how the book "Au pas du mulet" (At the Mule's Pace), co-written with an illustrator and a writer, was published and given to all primary school students in the region, as well as to each municipality.

Today, a few copies are available from the "Mule qui peut" (Mule Who Can) association for €15, of which €7 is donated to the Gustave Roussy Institute (IGR).

My professional work has led me to work with severely disabled children, some of whom are undergoing cancer treatment. The suffering of these children and their parents deeply moved me, as it was so immense and unjust. From then on, I dedicated all my travels to actively contributing to pediatric cancer research in partnership with the IGR, under the banner of the "L'étoile de Martin" (Martin's Star) association, by raising targeted funds and speaking out about the devastating effects of cancer and the hopes for future treatments.

I traveled thousands of kilometers with Mario, following a similar pattern: meeting with elementary school students in the towns we passed through, attending forums in retirement homes, discussing with hiking associations, and engaging in numerous conversations with curious passersby about our group.

These many encounters were incredibly enriching, always supported by a mule constantly ready to participate in the educational exchange, especially in front of the children. He would, for example, show off his pack saddle, his port (Bouf) and starboard (Matos) saddlebags, his hooves, his tail, his large teeth, and his similar ears. His favorite thing to do was clown around, forcefully lifting my rear end

with his muzzle, propelling me two meters forward while I was telling a story. This always made the children laugh. He readily accepted long sessions of petting after each presentation.

Without this mule, my solidarity walks would have been in vain, and goodbye to the Jura, the Vosges, the Cantal, the Alps, and many other mountain ranges, the backroads, the towns, cities, and villages, Spain, Belgium, Germany, the forests, the coasts and rivers, the places of memory and history, the convergences of religious and civic heritage, as well as family and friendly hikes—in short, everything

related to people and civilizations.

Many of these journeys were thus shared with family and friends, or acquaintances, whether for a day or longer.

There are numerous themed tours available: a tour of prisons in the Île-de-France region with prison staff, a visit to the Hôtel National des Invalides to meet soldiers wounded in overseas operations and those injured in the Bataclan attack, meetings with winemakers from Sancerre, Bordeaux, and Saint-Émilion, animal-assisted therapy with sick or disabled people, hikes, walks,

trips, long-distance trails (GR), tours....

I could never have walked without finding meaning in my travels. This leads to hope, to overcoming suffering and accepted solitude. Inner life is strengthened and helps one transcend oneself; it is a kind (as La Boétie suggests) of voluntary servitude, but oh so rich in discovery and, above all, in the gift of meaning!

Tomorrow I might set off down other paths, those of writing, to capture my reflections that have come with the passage of time, to say that Spain is a bit like Salvador Dalí, that Germany is felt through the son of Pepin the Short, that most abbeys are daughters of Cluny, that my walks are

a reflection of Patrick Leigh Fermor, Marco Polo, or more simply, Montaigne, Kerouac, Ruffin, Rimbaud, Nerval, and so many others...

It was at the second National Mule Conference that I met the association "Mule qui peut" (Mule That Can), dedicated to promoting this remarkable animal: the mule.

Jean Poitevin in October 2025

If you too would like to support Jean's work, the book is available at Helloasso