Who has ridden mules and what do you think?

Question

I ride three mules for one of my clients and they are my first, I have ridden many many horses, but they are different. I wanted to see what everyones opinion is of them. From my understanding and what Ive seen they can be as talented as horses, but in training wise are they harder to train. These three are working towards putting a bad taste in my mouth, so Im trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that they just are badly trained and allowed to be hard headed and stubborn. Like ive said I have many miles of horse under my saddle, but no mules till a few weeks ago

Answer 1

I have and I think they are great.  I would have a mule for trails right now if I could.  I have found them to be easier, not harder, to train than horses.  They are more intelligent though, so you can't get away with some of the things you can do with a horse to fake it out.  You must get a mule to work with you as they can't be convinced the way a horse can.  But keep going, mules are really great.

Answer 2

I've rode many horses, and about 3 of my friends mules.

I think some of them can do everything horses can,

but I don't belive they are very good for ranchwork and things like that. They don't work well around cows, or the rodeo enviorment. They are very stubborn and I think they take a little to o much extra effort, but hey, thats just me. A lot of people love them to death, just like my friend that has them. But overall, I enjoy horses a LOT more.

Answer 3

I have ridden a few mules, but I am not all that fond of riding them.  I found that the ones that I rode were not as flexible as a horse nor as easy to manoeuvre.  Neck did not flex like a horses.  It may just be the particular mules that I was on...not sure.  I do know that the mules are much smarter than horses and are not near as forgiving.  You have to earn a mules trust in order to get things done.  Also I have been told that a mule will never get you in trouble as far as getting hung up on the trail, they are way to smart for that.  If you are a horse person and have always worked with horses, I think that you will find it difficult to switch.  However I have known people to do just that.  I guess it depends on what person and what mule are paired up for a team.

Answer 4

I have all mules... and 1 donkey

Mules aren't for everyone and it does take about 3 hrs more training for each hour you put into a horse.

I prefer mules myself and yes they can be more difficult than horses to train if your used to horses.  What works on horses doesn't always work on mules.

There are bad mules, thats for sure, and there are mules that were started badly..  I won't mess with either.  Retraining mules that were started badly is a nightmare and not something I want to spend time doing/

Repetition that you see alot of the NH'ers do, drives long ears insane.  Thats one mistake I see alot of horse ppl doing.  If they stop and you get a decent whoa, you end that session, you don't need to keep pounding it in them after that, wait till the next day.  I also only work mules 15 -30 min max each day.  Unless they are enjoying the work like driving out and riding out.

But if its intricate arena work, 15 min max.  You will burn them out.

Mules make you think more than horses, thats the truth.