Oct tip by Saddlesore | Royaltine.com

This month I am going to talk about mules.

I have been a mule man and rider since about 1969, which is pushing 40 years of having bred, raised, trained, ridden, driven, and packed them.

A mule is a hybrid cross between a mare horse and jack donkey. If the parents are reversed , it is called a hinny. Both carry the same traits. Although some say they can discern hinny from a mule I could never.

Attributes of most mules are that being a hybrid, they tend to be healthier. They are not prone to colic or founder as much as horses, but it does occur. They have better feet and many times will not require shoeing, although I do for traction in ice and rocks and protection. They live longer than a horse, and with good care can expect to have at least ten more working years in thier life span than a horse. Having a more efficeint digestive system, that they inherit from the donkey, the mule will eat about 2/3 'rds of what a similar size horse will.

Mules are sterile ,but not impotent, they john mules ( males ) will try to breed and the molly mules ( mare mule ) will come in heat , jusy like a horse.

Years ago, a lot of trash mules were being bred by people who had mares they thought were not good enough for horse foals. This led to a proliferation of poor confrimation and bad temperment of a lot of mules. This in turn led to the poor repuatation that mules have endured since then.

In the last twenty years, there has been a good turn around in the quality breeding of good saddle mules, and even tempered hard working packers and drivers. Breeders have come to realize, that just like breeding quality horses, breeding quality mules requires good blood lines.
One must always deciide what the primary use of the mule will be and select the breed of horse to match those attributes required. As an example, a person would want to breed a cold blood mare to come up with good harness mules , and tennesee walker or fox trotter mares for easy gaited mules and quarter horse mares for good all around working stock. Selection of good jack donkeys is equally important to get good legs,good disposition and proper confirmation. Probably the most important consideration is the temperment of both parents.

Entering the mule world is not for the feint of heart. Mules have a naturally higher sense of self preservation and therefore, hesitate to do things that they percieve will hurt them. This has led to the perception that mules are stubborn, but on the other hand has also given them the reputaion for being sure footed and determined to get jobs done. This is probably the primary difference in using horses vs mules. Horses can be bullied into doing something and mules cannot. An easy way to look at it is that mules, many times, think they have a " vote" in deciding whether a task you want done gets accomplished. If a person can't learn that fact, most lilkey thier life with mules will be filled with frustration.This is also the reason most packers prefer to use lead horse instead of a mule for trailing pack strings.

In hunting, people will find mules are more adept at getting them into rougher terrain and working through dense timber. A good trained mule wil basicaily go anywhere you can walk, barring big enough obsticles that you would have to crawl over. Mules can be taught to jump and have no trouble clearing 2-3 ft high logs from a standing jump. Of course, you might not want to be riding when you do this, but it does occur.

Along these lines, smaller mules are handier in that they can be worked around and through obsticles easier than a big mule. In addition, they are easier to saddle and lift packs on to. A lot of people base thier choice on a mule's size from past experince with horses, when in fact a smaller mule will do the work of a much larger horse.

As long as a person knows how to pack, a mule will carry a pack easier and with less movement as they pick thier way along the trail without stumbling as much as a horse. They can usually be loaded heavier than a horse and will work harder at it. Once they know thier place in the pack string and are trained, they will follow with very little commotion or problems.

If you chose to acquire a mule for either rding or packing, first be aware that there can always be personality clashes. Where a mule may get along with one owner, it might not with the next. Take your time when searching for a good mule and expect to a pay top dollar for one. Once you decide and get one home, let it settle infor a few weeks and get to know it before throwing a saddle on it and riding off. You and the mule will be happier for it. It can take a mule anywhere from a a few months to a year or so to finally decide this is it's new home and new owner. Building trust with your mule is the single most important thing you have to do. Once they bond to you and you treat them right, you wil have an mount for life.

A good mule is ten times better than a good horse, but a bad mule is 100 times worse than a bad horse, so chose carefully.

Many more pages cold be filled with addition information, but hopefully this will give some basic information and insight into mule ownership.