Mules, Donkeys, Burros

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Hello to all and please help. I need to know if a mule can have a mule, if a donkey is part mule, where does a horse and burro fit into the scheme of things. I once knew, or thought I did, now others are telling me I am wrong. We have a 13 year old Burro with horses and enjoy him a lot, a very gentle animal that is seemingly bomb proof. Thanks for the help. Maureen

-- Maureen Stevenson (maureen@mtaonline.net), July 09, 2001

Answers

Hi Maureen, This is how I understand it: The terms burro & donkey basically mean the same thing. However, I have also heard that "burro" refers to the wild animal, and "donkey" refers to the American domesticated Jackstock. We call our wild BLM donkey a burro, and our domestic jenny is a donkey. Overall, I think the terms are interchangeable. A horse bred with a donkey, (usually a female horse/mare and a male donkey/jack) will produce a "mule", which can be either sex, and it is almost always sterile. HOWEVER, I happen to have a vintage photograph of a mare-mule with her baby that looks distinctly mule- ish. Someone else can comment on that. Don't know how often mules reproduce or what their offspring are called or if they are sterile. Mules have the size and strength of horses, and the smarts and stamina of donkeys, which is why farmers like them for work. Our BLM burro is also extremely loving and gentle, very much like a pet dog. Someday I would love to have a mule for riding.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), July 09, 2001.

Shannon is pretty much on the mark. If you breed s horse stallion to a donkey mare you get a hinny. They are considered inferior to mules.

Approximately 1 in 10,000 mules are fertile is the number that I have heard. I've seen a vintage photo of a molly (female) mule and her foal, sired by a horse, that looked rather more 'horse' and less mule. I've also seen pictures of contemporary mule foals with their mule dams, but it is still an extreme rarity. I'd love to know if these offspring of a fertile mule are fertile themselves, but so far have seen no information one way or the other.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), July 09, 2001.


Mules are very hot in the Equine scene right now. My Brother is a Mule Trader and has shipped Mules all over the Country. In 1999 he sold the top sellng Mule at Bymun Mule Auction in Alabama. He does not think to highly of Hinnys and won't pay much for one.

My Dad was a Horse Trader in the 60's and 70's and you could not give a Mule away at that time. Most of the Mules being bred today are a much higher quality. I don;t own a Mule at this time but I enjoy them much more than Horses. They are very loyal animals and have a great personality, altough sometimes that personality can be quite odd.

-- Mark in N.C. Fla. (deadgoatman@webtv.net), July 09, 2001.


Mules are a jackass sired , mare foaled hybrid. Hybrids are generally sterile.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), July 09, 2001.

Interesting that a hinny would not be very desirable...why is that? Do they look like mules? Would there be any reason to breed for one on purpose? Poor hinnys!

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), July 09, 2001.


Many "Mule People" belive Hinnys are more Horse like and they desire Mules that show more of the Jacks traits such as stamina, shur footed and superior inteligence.

On the other hand I am sure the lovers of Hinnys would argue the point. Hinnys often show the dorsel(?) stripe of the Donkey witch is sought after by many people. I have seen Hinnys that are good performers on the trail and in speed events. But I have seen more that I felt wre not very good.

Accidental breedings are more likely to happen when a Stud Horse mounts a Jenny than a Jack mounting a Mare. A stud Horse does not care what it breeds with, were a Jack must be conditioned or trained to mount a Mare. Most Jacks that are used for breeding Mares for Mules are never allowed to breed a Jenny.

I will ask my Brother to expand on the differences between Mules and Hinnys. But I am sure his opinions will favor the Mule.

-- Mark in N.C. Fla. (deadgoatman@webtv.net), July 09, 2001.


We bred one of our mustang mares this year to a Jack and have an adorable little molly mule, two months old. She is very tame, but then we imprint all the babies so that they are more manageable. As far as smarts go, I thought she was pretty intelligent until she decided to go through the fence instead of the gate right next to it, and cut her leg pretty badly, resulting in a $250 emergency trip to the vet! A neighbor about a mile away raises hinnys, and honestly, if you put the two together, I doubt that I could tell you which is a mule and which is a hinny, but I'm sure there are subtle differences. Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), July 10, 2001.

I don't know, but I had the impression hinnies tended to be smaller, because they grew in smaller mothers.

Saw the most gorgeous bit accidentally on television a couple of weeks ago (I've only had mine on once in the eight months since I moved here). A woman in the UK had bought a Shetland pony, and she got an unexpected bonus. The pony had been at a menagerie, had been pastured with a zebra stallion, and her new mare presented her with a zebra mule filly (zebras are apparently more closely related to donkeys than horses). Looked gorgeous. However, zebras are notorious for their bad attitude and unreliable temperament, so I don't know what will happen in the future. Pretty little thing, though.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), July 10, 2001.


Well, it all appears a matter of perspective again. What I had heard concerning hinnys is that they were considered inferior because they displayed too many donkey-like characteristics, including small stature, bonier spines (if you're riding, you care), etc. They also physically LOOK more donkey-like from the examples that I have seen.

Here is a link to a photo of a Zorse (Zebra x horse) -- http://community.webshots.com/photo/139277/139432

I have several other sites with Zorses bookmarked, but none of them are accessing tonight except this one. Although zebras have gotten a bad reputation, many Zorses are starting to appear under saddle -- it will likely be a new 'trend' in the future as people are advertising their zebra stallions at stud for this purpose. However, I also read an article written by a woman who is starting her zebra in harness to enter in driving classes and says that the zebra is doing just fine. It was imprinted as a foal and may have a lot to do with it.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), July 10, 2001.


I've had all 3 sizes of donkeys, Miniature, Standard and Mammoth and my Mammoth has sired many mules from my broodmare band and also bred to outside mares. (Owned by other folks.)

A donkey is all donkey. Donkey mom + donkey dad = donkey baby. The mule is generally sterile due to being a hybrid, altho there are a few documented cases of mules giving birth. I loved the name of one of the babies ~ Blue Moon ~ 'cause it happens once in a......

A mule has a horse for a mama and a donkey for a dad. When mama is the donkey and dad is a horse, it's called a hinney. The hinney is difficult to make due to the donkey being so acid. It kills off the horse's sperm. Some give baking soda douches to the donk before breeding to bring down the acidity. It doesn't always work!

Donkey/burro/ass are the same thing. Here in the west and southwest, we refer use 'burro' when refering to the feral donkeys.

Where do they fit into the scheme of things? Since I'm a longear person, I say where DON'T they fit! -LOL- My trail riding buddy is my Mammoth donkey, standing 14.3 hands (59 inches at the wither). My Miniature donkey pulled a cart and wagon, alone, and hitched with my Dexter steer. The mini also gave 'pony' rides at many functions and cheered up folks in hospitals, nursing homes and schools.

There's mule and donkey shows. There are breeders who breed Standard donks for guarding livestock. An untrained donkey is not advised for guarding since most will maim/kill the stock they're supposed to guard.

The mule is really a man-made item, which George Washington started in this country. He was given 2 jacks (male donkeys) from the king of Spain. The Bureau of Land Management rounds up wild horses and wild burros, but there's no mules out there. (Unless some human has dumped one in the herd! Yep, it happens.) It's not natural for the two species to breed.

Mules, like most hybrids, take the best from each parent. They are used in all equine disciplines ~ trail riding, dressage, roping, jumping, etc. They are more sure-footed than the horse, and quite frankly, I feel safer on the longears than I do on the horse.

Reminds me of the old story of how two trucks had an accident on the road. One had mules in it, the other had horses. When the doors were opened for the horses, they tore out of the truck and ran all over the highway, some getting hit by vehicles.

When they opened the doors for the mules, they stayed put.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), July 10, 2001.



Fascinating...the wild burros and mustangs DON'T breeed out there, do they?? Never thought of that. Wonder why they'll breed in captivity but not in the wild. Is it hard to train jacks to breed mares, or is it a case of "hey, if that's all there is..." for the jacks? I'll just throw this out there: if anyone ever knows of a mule who needs rescuing (elderly, handicapped, whatever) I'd be willing to drive most anywhere to pick it up. Doesn't have to be rideable or anything...I'd just like to have one, but will limit myself to rescues.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), July 10, 2001.

"I don't know, but I had the impression hinnies tended to be smaller, because they grew in smaller mothers. "

Doesn't mean much in people. I'm 5'2" and my 16 year old son is rapidly approaching 6' tall. Wears a size 13 shoe. LOL!

-- Sojourner (notime4@summer.spam), July 10, 2001.


RFD-TV had a fascinating show about mules this week - parts I recall are thus: 1) mules take more of the body shape of a horse & the extremities of jackstock, while hinnys take more the body shape of the donkey & extremities of the horse. Mules win hands down in the strength, endurance, heat tolorance, etc departments, maybe because of this? 2) the all-time jumping record of an equine was just under 9' (yep folks, saw it twice) done by an Army mule. 3) it is possible for a mule to have a foal, altho rare. Stands to reason if a stallion sires it, it'll look more like a horse & if a jack sires it, more like a mule. The Egyptians seem to have had a saying like our "once in a blue moon" that was "when a mule foals". All kinds of mule foal genetic statistics were cited & I got lost in there, but it can happen. 4)seems the critters can do about anything, but that's not news. Did enjoy the gal doing dressage in a show ring with one, tho... Really did hope it wasn't a Mule Days kind of thing - I'd love it if it were a regulation show... So much for snobbery! 5) Alexander the Great's chariot was pulled by 4 of 'em & his funeral byre was pulled by 64 of 'em in teams of 4, four wide & 4 deep. Driving that rig must have been just TOO much fun. 6) the Great American Horserace of 1976 was won by a mule named Leroy. I actually remember that horserace - seems it was across the country & folks laughed at the older guy who brought 2 gorgeous mules to ride, that is until he kept doing better than everybody else. One girl had a problem with one of her horses (everyone had 2) & he loaned her a 3rd he'd had for a spare. Impressive. I remember pictures of them & for the first time, wanted to check them out, if they looked that good. 7) seems they can speak both on the inhale & exhale, which is why they sound lots like bagpipes on bad acid. The show was about 45 minutes or so & fascinating. go to www.horse- tv.com & check out the tv listings for times - I think it's still on the schedule. great tv station & they'll send you a schedule if you want.

The bit about the imprinting was probably right. Part of the show was centered around a vet showing how he could stick his fingers up 2 of his mules noses, ala tube worming hose, stick his fingers in their ears, flop their ears around, pretty much do anything to them he wanted to. Never had a horse stand for that mess, at least not to that extent. They didn't even move altho he got weird looks from both.

Find the RFD-TV show if you can, it was great...Kt.

-- K-K-k-Katie (yarnspinnerkt@hotmail.com), July 10, 2001.


Dear Maureen,

Sounds like YOu've lots of great info here. You might try www.ruralheritage.com which deals with draft animals and has a section just for mules and donks. I use the site often and am impressed with the info!

And Katie *grin* I take a bit of umbrage with the "bagpipes on acid" thing. I just happen to be of Scots ancestry and a beginning piper!!!!

Randle

-- Randle Gay (rangay@hotmail.com), July 10, 2001.


"tend", I said, Sojouner - not "are". I still don't know, but I chose that word carefully. Incidentally, he sounds about my size, and you sound about the size of my Mum (or about the size we were when I was his age), so I know about that. A bit scary, that - I used to be one of the biggest in my high-school class, but that size would scarcely be average now.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), July 11, 2001.


=== the wild burros and mustangs DON'T breeed out there, do they?? Never thought of that. Wonder why they'll breed in captivity but not in the wild. ===

They breed in captivity 'cause they're hand bred or artificial insemination is used.

=== Is it hard to train jacks to breed mares, or is it a case of "hey, if that's all there is..." for the jacks? ===

Shannon, like any training, it takes time and patience. When I first started breeding the Mammoth I have, I waited until he was 3 years old. It took him 1 1/2 hours to finally do the deed! But I knew it would be a long event. Eventually, it got down to a couple of minutes for him to mount. I trained him to 'drop' and mount on command.

Since a jack doesn't entice a mare, I used a Shetland stallion to tease the mares. I had the vet give the Shetland a vasectomy so he couldn't breed the mares. (Geldings may not tease.) The vasectomy also allowed the Shetland to be out in the mountains with my broodmare band, and I always knew when my girls were in season.

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), July 11, 2001.


PICTURES! All these pics were taken off the web, except the one of me.

Horses, donkeys and mules come in all sizes and colors and they're not all represented here.

Hinney (out of a female donkey and male horse).

http://www.greenapple.com/~jorp/amzanim/Hinny1.jpg

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Mule (out of a female horse and male donkey).

http://www.geocities.com/muleguru/allieray.jpg

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This is me on my Mammoth donkey as we appeared in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1328907&a=9880128&p=12317590&Sequence=1&res=high

(If your browser doesn't capture the entire url, copy/cut/paste).

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Zorse (out of a grey quarter horse mare and zebra dad).

http://hometown.aol.com/zzorse/greyzorse.gif

There are also zonies (pony/zebra), and zonks (donkeys/zebra).

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Had to toss this one in 'cause I know the gal.

http://www.geocities.com/lovelongears/jack_horner_jump.jpg

Little Jack Horner, the world's only formal Show jumping donkey. He is a jack (entire male).

-- ~Rogo (rogo2020@yahoo.com), July 11, 2001.


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