O'CONNOR — Veteran Canadian comedian Tom Green has delighted viewers by acting like a jackass, so perhaps it’s fitting that on his latest show about life on an Ottawa-area farm, he’s riding a mule.
A very large, female mule named Fanny, as it happens.
“She’s probably about 1,200 pounds,” said O’Connor Township mule breeder Kaija Kolehmainen said on Thursday. “Mules are good for trail riding — they’re a lot steadier than horses.”
Kolehmainen said she thought it was a scam about two years ago when a producer from Green’s show contacted her about acquiring a mule.
“Honestly, I thought it was a fraud,” she said.
She started to become convinced when a producer visited her farm near the Hymers Fairground.
After Kolehmainen and Green hooked up on Facetime, she realized the funnyman was serious and an agreement was reached. Fanny and a companion female donkey were delivered to Green’s farm in June, 2023.
The bonus was that Kolehmainen and her Sioux Lookout-based sister, Liisa Kolehmainen, get to appear on the show about the farm, which is to air on Amazon on Jan. 31.
“They filmed from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but it didn’t feel like work at all,” Kaija Kolehmainen recalled. “It was awesome — I felt like a movie star.”
The sisters operate Twister Mule Company, which was formed about four years ago
Kaija Kolehmainen said she hopes the show will generate some new orders for mules, which she says can be great to have around — once they get to know you and have faith there’s no funny business afoot.
According to Kolehmainen, Green, whom she described as a “novice rider,” needed a little help in how to relate to the 12-year-old Fanny.
“Mules are thinkers,” she said. “If they don’t trust you, they’re not going to do what you want them to do.”
Despite their temperamental reputation, mules don’t come cheap: Kolehmainen said a bred animal that is ready to ride would cost about $10,000. Some will fetch five times that.
According to Kolehmainen, Green was at first taken aback by Fanny’s appearance.
“He was expecting her to be a bit funny-looking, but she’s actually a very beautiful animal.”
The Chronicle-Journal / Local Journalism Initiative
