Does the carrot on a stick method work on a mule? Some idioms ("chase the carrot" / "carrot and stick") and a popular image (as shown below) suggest that you can make a mule move forward (and pull a cart), by placing a carrot or some other food hanging from a stick, in front of its face. For example, a dictionary of urban idioms explains: > "chase the carrot": attempting to reach the unreachable, in the old days a carrot was tied to a stick in front of a wagon's mule or stubborn horse to make them step forward and walk ahead... they were never able to reach the carrot. Is this known to really happen so? Have this (or some variation) been used as a practical locomotive trick? (things like the rabbit at dog races don't count; the key is that the animal itself moves the object it's seeking). !carrot without the stick

Yes it works to coax the animal to move, but probably not as means for consistent forward locomotion. Some evidence:

* Footage of a man "training donkey to move with a target stick/lure/feeder."1

* Amateur video showing a "pony move under saddle while being baited with a carrot dangling from a string attached to a stick."2

* From _Every Woman's Encyclopedia_, 1910-1920:

> Stick-and-carrot race. Each competitor tries to incite her steed to its top speed by dangling a fine carro' before its nose spirits of the place, who will be sure to enter into the fun, and make things go with a swing, before inviting the less enterprising boys and girls and smaller children.3

!enter image description here

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