Horse vs Mule

[desertdog]

Gotta' buy from someone who's "dead honest" and you can trust.. I got mine from Max Harsha and she was everything he said. Integrity, integrity, integrity..

[luckylqh]

I breed and raise quarterhorses and have bred and raised mules(my wifes idea) you can go through 2000 mules to find a good one,and even most good ones have some kind of quirk(horse people talk for bad habit). my advice to you would be to go to a ranch that raises their own horses and buy you a at least 10 yr old cow pony thats been rode 10,000 miles by a good cowboy, just be careful you dont buy a crippled horse,take someone with you that knows what to look for , and always and I mean always make them(the owner) get on the horse and ride it first

[Maddoglures]

[Benny G]

I had a 23 year old mule that would behave badly like that. He would be walking along without a care in the world, when all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, he would absolutely BLOW A GASKET!! Sometimes I could walk up to him in the middle of the pasture, sometimes I couldn't get close to him in a corral. One day he just fell over dead. Turns out, he had a .41 magnum hole through his heart!

[Dan Edwards]

[mulehound]

Wish Paso mules were a little larger. The best monutain ledge jumping mules I have been around were out of Paso mares.
Just remember a bad mule will kill or cripple you, it's not if but when. Been riding one since 1980, never looked back.
14 yr old boy with Downs syndrome now rides my old fire breathing Timberpig mule. When I saw it happen and got the pics I could not believe it. That old mule tends that boy. It is like nothing I have ever seen. If I could ever learn how to post a pic on here I would.
Darrel.

[STUNTMAN]

Mulehound funny you should say that ....Uphill Doc went out and brought himself a real nice Paso mare and said if I wanted to I could breed her to a Jack this year.

[Dan Edwards]

[hamilton10]

If you breed that Paso to a 15 hand mamoth jack you should get a 14-15 hand mule. I raised mules for years out of a 15 hand jack and bred some paso mares. Never had one smaller than 14.5 hands.

[Stubby]

[Benny G]

I have never bought a saddle just for a mule. I do, however, have to keep an eye on the shape of my mules. Mules tend to be easy keepers, not requiring near as much groceries as horses. As soon as I start hunting hard, my mules tend to shed weight.

[hamilton10]

On most mules you need a 3/4 rigging instead of a full rigging. which means that the d-rings for the billet and latigo are not all the way up on the front of the saddle. They are 3-4'' set back. This will keep from galling the animal in the cinch area behind the front legs. Keep the britching tight enough so the saddle dont work itself forward. There really isnt such thing as a mule saddle because if you have a saddle built to fit one mule it won't fit 1 out of 10 others.

[Benny G]

3 of my saddles (all that I have ever ridden) are 3/4 rigged. I ride them for the same reason - to keep from galling the horse OR mule. I have found that in very rough country, and even more so in hot country, it's just too easy to gall an animal with anything less than 3/4 rigging.

[horshur]

[marty]

I have been outfitting in British Columbia 20+ years and have a string of 25 animals. 14 mules and 11 horses. Good qualities in both but definitely prefer the mule for safe mountain travel. Only buy a mule from a quality breeder someone who has real nice mares....mine all come from Kentucky. A well bred and broke mule is pretty tough to beat. Mules for mountains and horses for arenas......