Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Mule Crosses

Title: Re: [RC] Mule Crosses

> Here is a question
> for you mule riders out there.  If you bred a typey arabian to a
> donkey would you get a more typey mule???  If you bred a quarter
> horse to a mule would you get a stockier mule???   I was
> just wondering because i've yet to see a mule with an arab dish. 
> Thanks!
> Audrey

Mules are a donkey stallion and a horse mare and in appearance they tend to favor the donkey side of their heritage.  This is the easier cross to make since donkey stallions are somewhat indiscriminate about what they will breed to and the horse mares seem to hold the pregnancy well.

A hinny is the hybrid made by crossing a horse stallion with a donkey mare and the hinnys favor the horse side of their heritage.  It's a whole lot harder finding a horse stallion to mate with a donkey (in Peru such stallions are called muleteros and they are "made" by taking a colt at birth and having it raised by a donkey wet nurse so it develops the proper sexual fixation.  The mules/hinnys are generally even better gaited than the horses!), and the donkey mares have a lower rate of conception when producing a hybrid.

To see a huge collection of mules of various types plan on going to a Mule Days, with the one in Bishop, CA on Memorial Day weekend being the biggest and best:  http://www.muledays.org/