Pleasure riding a horse or showing a harness team at some stock show is not the same thing as farming with the animals. Back in the days when farmers depended on the animals for farm work, it meant working long hours with them nearly every day of the year, hot or cold. The preferred team consisted of two animals of matching size and color. It was a plus if they had similar dispositions and behavior traits. Because they are hybrids, mules are sterile and cannot reproduce, although there have been very rare cases where conception did occur.
Mules are very hardy animals.
They can withstand hardship and server conditions, dry climate, heat and irregular meals. Mules usually won't overeat or thrash around when tangled up or in cramped quarters. They are typically resistant to most problems encountered with horses, such as wounds, chronic lameness, infectious disease and digestive disorders. Comparisons between horses and mules are legendary. Horses, it has been said, never forget but they usually forgive.