Mulereiner?

Question

After reading your answer in 'Horse or mule for inexperienced'

i am seriously considering getting a mule. have you ever seen a clydesdale mule? because we have a friend who has a ♥BEAUTIFUL♥ clydesdale stallion about 4 years old and i was wondering if i could get a donkey and breed off her,only one though, as there is no mules in australia in Queensland that i can find. would you advise this? if so what to look for in confirmation? i already have one horse who is very flighty, but i was wondering if a mule would mind sharing an owner. what breed of mule would you advise?

are there any other things i dhould know about mules?

Answer 1

a mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, not a stallion and a jenny.a male horse and a female donkey would produce a hinny, and personally i think a clydesdale is too big too breed with a donkey it might kill her.and both mules and hinnys are almost always sterile.

Answer 2

lol where did dakota come from?

and I live in NSW and near Newcastle there is a donkey/mule sanctuary called good samaritan donkey sanctuary and they have had two heavy horse mules, one was a clydie and the other was a perch their fathers were just big donkeys.

yeah I know this was mule reiners  question but MULES ROCK...actually i rode one not long ago and they are really fun animals..star me star me I want to see what it's like

Answer 3

What I suggest, because it will kill the mother if you breed too big, is to either artificially inseminate a Clyde or if you have a large enough mammoth jack you could do a live cover. It is nearly impossible to breed drafts to donkeys. You could even check around and see if you can find someone willing enough to do a broodmare lease to a Clyde.

Answer 4

i know someone in ohio who has mule that was outta draft breed. the person above is right.

b/c of a donkey's size, having a baby as big as a clydesdale's baby would be would prob kill the mother. it's always best to have the larger breed be the mother that way the chances go down of a baby hurting the mother/complactions goes down.

Answer 5

Its hard to know if they were clyde mules, normally ppl use belgiums and percherons for draft mules, but I'm sure there are clyde mules out there.  

What you would be breeding would be a hinny, where you take a male horse and female donkey.  Hinnys are not as valued as mules.  They are more horse like, with horselike tails, shorter ears and horse hooves.  I have seen only one hinny that made me drool the rest can be really odd looking.

Do you have donks in Australia?  I 'think' there is a 30-90day quarantine period, not sure, so bringing a mule in would be pricy.

Also hinnys have a less success rate in gestation, donks reabsorb these or lose them inutero.

So really, no , I don't recommend it, and the other reason is, mule babies take alot of work.  They are satan from the time they hit the ground and it takes alot of knowledge to bring them to respectable citizens.  Thats why you hear the horror stories of 'gasp the neighbors mule'... People don't understand them.

I suggested to the other gal to buy a well broke mule to teach her muleology 101, that is always my stance.  I know its pricey to ship there, but if your set on one, it can be done.  There was a gal that contributed to our mule magazine that lived in the UK and transported a mule by air from Utah to there.  

I know this wasn't much help for your perdicament, but definately do not breed for a hinny without understanding the mule mind first.  They are great animals I adore them, but even I feel I'm getting too old to play with mule babies, so I have the ones I have now and will just keep them until they retire and pass on.

If you are serious about one being shipped I can help you locate reputable breeders.

EDIT-you can get chrome, but many many ppl go insane or broke whichever first by trying to breed mules for color aka paints and appys.  It is hard to get chrome, and spots, but its not unheard of.  But if you breed some QH with white legs to some standard colored jack, you will get a fairly high chance of no chrome.  I have a spotted gelded jack... probably he would of thrown color, but its too much of a guessing game and with the market now.. unless its trained and well broke.. its cheap and not worth much.

Oh as for breed of mules.. drafts are obviously more docile and gentle.. I have a QH, TB and a welsh mule... all of them rock, all of them have wonderful personalities and all of them soooo different.  I couldn't pick a best out of the three for breed, they each fit the need I have for them.  The TB is for show soley but I do drive him out on rides... the QH is my saddle mule and the welsh is my son's pony mule.

EDIT- its hard to say with that picture, the main thing, you want a long neck, withers *as much as you can get*, wide chest and a hip muscle that ties in low on the leg.  I absolutely will not settle for less than that.  I prefer a clean head.  

I am still going to warn you, that you need to start with an older well broke mule and getting into a baby will be a nightmare if you dont have a mentor to help you through it.  Some horse trainers can train mules... but very few.  

I will send you my website of my mules, razzmyass is a conformationally well put together mule.. so use him for a basis on comparing others.