From: jlevy@cbnewsd.cb.att.com (janet.s.levy)
Subject: Some Facts on Mules
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 19:48:08 GMT



Here's some interesting items from an article in the Chicago
Tribune about mules:

The story starts with an anecdote about a young man named Scott B.
who finished in the Top 10 in the English equitation and hunter
hack classes at a local county fair, riding his Missouri mule, Mercedes.
Scott says, "One guy was pretty upset; he didn't think I should be able
to show her.  She is stronger than a horse and she's smarter than a
horse.  She's just a little more there than a horse."  There is a
picture of Scott jumping his mule with nice form.

The article gives a description of what a mule is and its traditional
image as ill-tempered and homely.  This image is changing today.
Betsy Hutchins, a mule dealer from Texas, says, "A good part of that
'mules are stubborn' business rose from the fact that they are 
self-willed animals.  Mules are actually remarkably intelligent, and
if they perceive a situation as potentially dangerous or if they realized 
that they are overtired, they will simply refuse to go on.  You can
hurt a horse and make him obey you, but you can't hurt a mule into doing
something it doesn't want to do.  Some might call that stubborness,
but it is actually intelligence and self-assertiveness."

They cite new organizations of mule enthusiasts - the American Donkey
and Mule Association has more than 5000 members in the US and 16 other
countries.  There are more than 300 mule sales and shows each year.
Publications include The Brayer, the monthly journal of the American
Donkey and Mule Association, the monthly Mules and More magazine, and
The Saddle Mule News.  California is a major center for mule interest.

A well-trained Missouri mule can bring $3000 and up, according to Raymond
Kibler of Ewing, Mo.  Kibler has a 100-acre mule ranch.  He figures he
has sold more than 500 mules in his 25 years in the business.  His
motto: "I stand behind every mule."  He also says, "A half horse is
better than a quarter horse."  "Mules walk faster than quarter horses,
and they are more surefooted in rough country.  I have used a mule for
everything that a quarter horse could do and more."

Kibler breeds his own mix.  For horse blood, he prefers quarter horses,
fox trotters, and Tennessee walkers.  For donkeys, he chooses Mammoth Jack 
stock to give height and heft to his mules.  He advises looking for
1) a good-looking mule; some that's raw-boned and rough-made are hard
to keep, 2) screen for mule-headedness - the mule should be easy to catch,
and 3) apply the saddle-cinch test.  If the mule pins his ears when the
saddle is thrown on, he may be a bucker.

Mules can jump prodigiously.  A mule prefers to approach a fence
cautiously, tap his chest against it, and then leap from a standstill.
Kibler says he has seen a large mule jump 75 inches flat footed.
Without proper training, this could present a confinement problem.
So Kibler doesn't train his mules to jump from a running start.  The
rider gets off, places a white cloth on the fence to show the mule the
height and as a signal, then says something like, "Git over it."  The
mule jumps over and the rider climbs after.  "I never have trouble
with my mules jumpin' out when I ain't around unless my wife puts a
bed sheet over the fence to dry."

Janet Levy
jsl@ihlpm.ATT.COM

Newsgroups: rec.equestrian