About Mules
A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (jack) and a female horse (mare). The breeding of a male horse and a female donkey creates a hinny.
Mules historically were used by armies to transport supplies, occasionally as mobile firing platforms for smaller cannons, and to pull heavier field guns with wheels over mountainous trails such as in Afghanistan during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Characteristics: •With its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hooves, and usually short mane, the mule shares characteristics of a donkey. In height and body, shape of neck and rump, uniformity of coat, and teeth, it appears horse-like. • Mules have smoother muscles than horses. Think of a football player’s muscle build compared to that of a ballerina’s. Both are very strong, but the mule has greater physical strength for its size, and more endurance. •The mule comes in all sizes, shapes and conformations. There are mules that resemble huge draft horses, sturdy quarter horses, fine-boned racing horses, shaggy ponies and more. •The mule is an example of hybrid vigor. Charles Darwin wrote: "The mule always appears to me a most surprising animal. That a hybrid should possess more reason, memory, obstinacy, social affection, powers of muscular endurance, and length of life, than either of its parents, seems to indicate that art has here outdone nature." •Mules can be any of the colors that either horses or donkeys come in, along with some unique variations of their own. •The mule inherits from its sire the traits of intelligence, sure-footedness, toughness, endurance, disposition, and natural cautiousness. From its dam it inherits speed, conformation, and agility. •Mules exhibit a higher cognitive intelligence than their parent species. This is also believed to be the result of hybrid vigor, similar to how mules acquire greater height and endurance than either parent. •A mule does not sound exactly like a donkey or a horse. Instead, a mule makes a sound that is similar to a donkey's bray but also has the whinnying characteristics of a horse (often starts with a whinny, ends in a hee-haw). Breeding: •Mules and hinnies have 63 chromosomes, a mixture of the horse's 64 and the donkey's 62. The different structure and number usually prevents the chromosomes from pairing up properly and creating successful embryos, rendering most mules infertile. •There are no recorded cases of fertile mule stallions. A few mare mules have produced offspring when mated with a purebred horse or donkey. •As of October 2002, there had been only 60 documented cases of mules birthing foals since 1527. •In China in 2001, a mare mule produced a filly. In Morocco in early 2002 and Colorado in 2007, mare mules produced colts. Blood and hair samples from the Colorado birth verified that the mother was indeed a mule and the foal was indeed her offspring. •Female mules have also been used in embryo transfer programs to be surrogate mothers to horse foals. Behavior: •Mules are not really stubborn. They can seem lazy because they will not put themselves in danger. A horse can be worked until it drops, but not so with a mule. The "stubborn" streak is just the mule's way of telling humans that things are not right. •Mules are very intelligent and will do their best for their owner, with the utmost patience. •Mules also tend to be more independent than most domesticated equines other than the donkey. • Mules are more patient, hardy and long-lived than horses, and generally more intelligent than donkeys Uses: •Exhibition shows where mules pulled heavy loads have now been joined with mules competing in Western and English Pleasure riding, as well as dressage, show jumping and more. • Mules, once snubbed at traditional horse shows, have been accepted for competition at the most exclusive horse shows in the world in all disciplines. •There is one particular aspect where the mule actually outshines the horse, and that is high-jumping. •Mules have a particular sport all their own called the Coon Hunter's Jump. It stems from the raccoon hunter moving his saddle and pack mules through the woods. •Amish farmers, who reject tractors and most other modern technology for religious reasons, commonly use teams of six or eight mules to pull plows, disk harrows, and other farm equipment. |
Resources: Wikipedia.com, LuckyThreeRanch.com, LoveLongEars.com,