The twenty-mule team that hauled borax from Death Valley and other mining centers in the West has become part of American legend. Indeed, some western towns were originally laid out with extremely wide streets to allow the mule teams to turn around. The main mule-breeding centers in the United States developed in Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri to provide work animals for the cotton fields of the Old South. After the American Civil War and the development of tenant farming throughout the South, the mule continued as the major draft animal in American agriculture. The importance of the mule declined rapidly in the 1940s and 1950s, however, as gasoline-driven tractors became widespread, and mules all but disappeared from the American scene.
Today there is renewed interest in mules for recreation and competition.
In the Southeast mules are used for nighttime raccoon hunting, and the mules' ability to jump over fallen trees or fences is exploited in jumping competitions. Pulling contests using heavy draft mules have created a new demand for large mules. Particularly popular are large red mules produced by crossing American Mammoth Jackstock with Belgian mares. These excerpts may be read only, any printing or reproduction of this material must be obtained in writing from Roberts Rinehart Publishers. Hinnies are just the opposite - a stallion horse crossed to a donkey jennet.