Review of “You Cannot Get a Racehorse Out of a Mule” by Brenda, Casey, and Shari Culpepper

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

You Cannot Get a Racehorse Out of a Mule by the Culpeppers is an eye-opening, compelling, and witty book of motherly wisdom. You know what they say? Mother knows best. While that may not be true 100% of the time, as the authors acknowledge, it is true that mothers tend to have a sixth sense and a deeper understanding of situations involving their children.

Your mother was very likely your first love—the first person you heard, saw, attached to, and bonded with. Mothers tend to know things that their children don't. Yes, that means they sometimes know us better than we know ourselves.

Also, as our elders, mothers almost always exceed us in experience, knowledge, and wisdom.

One thing that mothers are particularly keen at is identifying the threats and opportunities in our life—the dangerous people/the ball and chains and the good people who can help us and push us forward. This is how we chose to interpret the title/saying “you cannot get a racehorse out of a mule.” While the book is about much more than this piece of wisdom, it is speckled throughout and seems to be one of the book's most ubiquitous concepts.

Throughout the book, we're introduced to different people who enter the lives of the narrator: racehorses and mules. Although the authors may have interpreted this differently, we chose to interpret this as meaning that there are people who are a good fit for us and our lives (racehorses) and those who are a bad fit (mules). Mules include people who are drug addicts, alcoholics, abusive people, exploitative people, people who use us for sex or money, liars, negligent people, and possessive people.

Yes, this usually deals mostly with romantic partners, but it could also apply to other relationships in life. The book provides examples of all of these types of mules above, sometimes including triggering content (so be warned). One of the key reoccurring figures in the book is Reginald, one of the author's former partners, who tried (rather terribly) to hide a drug addiction. Slowly but surely, Reginald went from seeming like a “catch” to being a mule and leach. Of course, it's almost always the mamas and grandmas who see trouble coming a mile away. It's up to us to heed their warnings and admonishments or not.

This book is most comparable to Meditations for Modern Man by Michael Cook. In fact, these two wisdom books are tremendous contrasts and compliments for one another, with Cook's work being more focused on men and masculinity while the Culpeppers' book is more focused on women and femininity.
There's something we can learn and ways we can benefit from both masculinity and femininity, somewhat of a Daoist idea.

Speaking of religion, this book does cover several religious topics, primarily in avoiding predatory mule-like religions, sects, and cults like the plague.

There are times when this book is quite blunt and even a bit saucy. For example, there are numerous quotes and sections about vaginas and female sexuality. According to this book “sex is a woman's superpower.” This is what the book calls the “power of pussy.” In one of the book's most memorable quotes, we are presented with this:
“Ladies, understand the power of pussy. Men have gone to war to have it. There have been great men who have given up their liberties to get a “whiff.” The punnany is one of the most powerful weapons that women have.”

The authors also warn of the problems caused by “too many pussies in the kitchen.” This is essentially a warning about having too many competing egos (particularly females) competing for one's mind and choices. “Two's company but threes a crowd.” You don't need a mother, grandmother, and three past mother-in-laws telling you what to do and how to do it. That only leads to trouble. We can attest to that.

This is a candidate for Best Quote:

“Just learn whatever lesson trouble was trying to teach you.”

And Shelley Whiting is a candidate for Hottest Character.

This is a really interesting and fascinating read. You may learn a lot!

Check it out on Amazon!