Cheers for the Long-Ears

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Strong and smart

A hybrid between a donkey and horse, the mule combines the best of both – and, on rare occasions, the worst. A mule is the offspring of a male donkey (jack or jackass) and a female horse. A female donkey (jenny) mated with a male horse creates a hinny.

Heavy-headed and long-eared, a mule has a donkeylike tail and fine-boned legs with small hooves. With shorter ears, a hinny has a more horselike head and a long, full tail, but the smaller body of a donkey.

Mules usually display true hybrid vigor. Pound for pound, they are stronger than horses, live longer and are able to continue working throughout more of their lives than horses, although they mature somewhat later. They are less likely than horses to become ill or lame, and can live on frugal rations and in more extreme temperatures than horses. Stamina and resilience also are a deserved part of the mule’s legend. (Hinnies are not necessarily as strong or hardy, however.) Mules and hinnies are virtually always sterile, but male mules should be gelded (castrated) to keep them tractable. Uncastrated mules can be very dangerous.

Low-maintenance mules have long held a reputation in the United States as the agricultural and draft animal of choice. They were a fundamental partner in the westward growth of the United States, hauling heavy loads over great distances (often to be thanked by becoming dinner when times got hard for the miners or pioneers who depended on their labor). Historical accounts boast the record of six mules hauling up to 7,000 pounds, 15 to 30 miles a day.

Among equestrians, the mule has become popular as a calm and steady replacement for the horse. Tim Roy, of South Berwick, Maine, has been riding horses since his childhood days in Tennessee. After coming to Maine, he purchased a horse and continued riding. On overnight trail rides, Roy took note of the strength and stability of mules used by other riders.

“As I aged,” he says, “I decided I wanted something for trail riding that was more mentally stable than a horse.” He saw the advantage of riding an animal without the flight instinct horses often exhibit in new, frightening situations. He bought 11-year-old Hector through a mule dealer in Massachusetts.

“Hector satisfies my need for a horse,” he says, “and the added bonus is that he makes a watch animal for the goats.”

Roy says that mules’ reputation for having a “side kick” meant he had to line up a new veterinarian – his old vet was too afraid of getting kicked. The new vet is perfectly comfortable with Hector, who has yet to kick anyone.

Lorraine Travis, author of The Mule (See References), attributes mules’ undeserved reputation for bad temper to the animal’s sensitive, cautious nature. Until mules learn to trust a person, they’ll be poised for defensive action (never offensive, Travis says). Mules are great kickers, she says; if a mule misses, it’s because he intended to.

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