Im in the closet about my love for mules I think they are neat and would consider breeding my tb mare to a mule however they dont seem so popular in my area… so does anyone compete on a mule?
In my dreams I have a stableful of big, beautiful mules.
I think it would be really cool… I must admit, those ears have me hooked.
However, do you know that mules are sterile? To get a mule, you must breed your mare to a donkey (jack)!
[QUOTE=elmerandharriet;3158314]
Im in the closet about my love for mules I think they are neat and would consider breeding my tb mare to a mule[/QUOTE]
Mules are generally sterile, I think there are a few fertile ones, but it’s unlikely. You’ll need to breed her to a male donkey/jack.
Mules are great animals and are fine for riding.
In CA, mules are a very specialized but viable market! There is a huge annual show called Mule Days, and from what I understand (been years since I went, I was a KID last time), they now have jumper classes, dressage, etc. You can compete in the national levels, I’ve seen a few doing Training and First level in open shows, but so far, they haven’t done all that well. Mainly because they just don’t have the movement to be competitive. But they sure are fun to watch, and some of them are really darn cute. Nothing cuter (even a shiny white pony w/ her blond 10 year old rider has a hard time competing for cute points here) than a floppy ear coming down centerline, perfection on the aids…
I dream of someday having a Hanoverian Mule (Hano mare + Jack) and taking it to Grand Prix. Just imagine those ears in Piaffe, just flop floppin away! Rocher’s ears will have nothin on my mule’s ears!
Of course, to do this I must magically turn my Hano gelding into a mare… Could be tough.:lol:
And of course the best part is naming the mule. Personally, mine will be “Move ASSide Sista” or something of the sort.
I saw a woman show 2 mules at Donida Farm in Western Washington about two years ago. They were super and she certainly held her own at training / first level
I say if you enjoy them, go for it. There is no reason a well conformed mule cannot do dressage. I remember seeing an item on TV about a 3-day mule back east. Watching it go cross country its ears would come up and forward “Radar Ears” when it focued on fences. :lol::lol::lol:
Are mules permitted to compete at recognized shows? I seem to remember a thread about this on the eventing forum a while back, and mules are not permitted, as the rules only include horses and ponies, not “equines”.
I think they are now permitted to show recognized. Seems there is a member here who was very instrumental in accomplishing it. Dang, can’t recall her name but I do know her mule’s name is John Henry… figures I’d remember the name of the mule not the person! :lol: I’ll have to go check the rulebook, but I think they are permitted.
There was a lot of flack about being able to show mules… peeps complained their horses over reacted to them being on the show grounds.
Yes mules are allowed to show dressage.
Here is a site regarding dressage mules and the rules and you can even browse for something suitable for yourself…
who says I am not an enabler???
http://www.luckythreeranch.com/documents/dancingwithmules.html
Ok I am a HUGE fan of big ears! I breed Cleveland Bay crosses, but my CB/TB stallion has teeny arab type ears, so no luck there! And I said I PAID FOR BIG EARS. In 2001 I bought my first donkey jack at auction, he was coming two and $135. He was wild and couldn’t be touched. He still isn’t super friendly. We can catch him and halter him, but you have to watch him and he’ll tell you when he’s ready. It’s sort of cute/funny, but he keeps the coyotes out of the field.
Last April I found a 2 year old donkey Jenny that was foundered. That is all they said. I brought her home and for 2 weeks she laid, with us getting her up and walking her daily while the farrier worked on her feet. She had sores all over her body from laying on cement before we got her. She is now running in the field with our horses! I always say when I die, I did do one good thing no one can deny!
So this brings me to YESTERDAY. I’m at a bi yearly Amish auction and I see this mule. I now know he was 13.3, wonder how I know that? 
He was standing there and I had my girls 19 months and 4 years with me and we went over and were petting him. He was 5 years, rode, drove single, double his tag said. I told him I loved him and he was beautiful. That was all. I just thought he was neat. Started watching the horses get auctioned, there were about 20 of them. He comes out and he’s a little green. He sort of drug the man around that was riding him, but the crowd was close and there were guys of course trying to get them to trot either way with only 3 steps of trot to be able to do. He was stuck at $75!!! I’m looking at my friend saying, this mule is going to sell that cheap. And my inner self was going nuts. She said you can use my mom’s number. So I bid $100, deciding $300 is as high as I’ll go. Other guys $125, me $150 and SOLD! I got him for $150! He’s buckskin with zebra stripes. He was bathed yesterday (he’s dirty today) and had his face clipped, his hooves are trimmed. He’s in good weight and I picked up all four feet and he was iffy behind but he did it for me. He gets along with my horses famously. I JUST LOVE HIM! So he’s 13.3, but looks bigger I have to say. I cannot wait to ride him! I need anything but another horse, but I just had to have him. I think I got the buy of the day! Well there were two old Belgian crosses that were old and thin went for $10 each but I think they got good homes. I talked to the one lady.
[QUOTE=elmerandharriet;3158314]
. . . . would consider breeding my tb mare to a mule however they dont seem so popular in my area. . . . [/QUOTE]
I’m sure there are Amish communities in Ohio. You will find breeding Jacks there if you are serious.
I have a very dear friend (and horsetrainer) who does the mule thing. She events (on horses too), does dressage and the western thing. She says they are tough to learn to find a spot on when jumping, because their strides and movement are quite different. She has some beautiful, big warmblood and draft X mules. She always scores well with them in dressage, because they are very consistent. I’m not sure if she has gone over 2nd level with one. I own a draft X, and have seriously considered breeding her to my friends Jack. Kind of eliminates the what would I cross my already cross bred too in the warmblood world. From what I understand, you almost always get a copy of the mare (looks wise, color, etc) with big ears. A standard jack will give you a mule about a hand smaller than your mare, and a mammoth will give you one about a hand bigger. Thats an average, of course.
LOOOOVE mules! lol
There is at least 2 on the spruce meadows jumping circuit. I beleive the molly mare is jumping 1.20m or so and kicking serious butt! lol
P.
well i ment a ment a jack… but wasnt paying attention to detail I have been chatting with merideth (Sp) from lucky three ranch on stallion tips! so now its up to finding a jack that i like
so my mare is roughly 16hh and if i bred her to a mammouth i would get around 17hh? so i would want a standard since im short is that right?
I’ve got a coming 4 year old Molly mule. Not only is she a mule, but her mom is a Tennessee Walking Horse. I just had a lesson on her a few hours ago and she was brilliant. She will be going Training Level sometime this summer at recognized dressage shows. She will probably be at Lamplight, since I always seem to end up there!
I love my mule! I don’t know how far she’ll go, but I didn’t buy her to be a competitive dressage horse. I wanted something I could have fun on, trail ride, my mom can ride her, etc. I’ve got another horse that is my “show horse”
We are actually going to an event derby on May 3rd. She went to a jumper show in February and was 4th, 2nd, and 1st in a 2’ 6" jumper class beating around 20 other horses!
Last year around th. We got there and they had lots of nice horses and ponies and some sport mules. The husband was into breeding mules and loved talking about all of their mules. They showed us some of their TB broodmares and they were really nice. The babies are ADORABLE. IIRC they told us they had a champion dressage mule. I am not sure exactly what that means but I assumed it ment there are dressage classes at mule shows?
It was a cool place and awesome people…they loved their mules for sure!
One of my friends was in loff! Who can blame her with a face like that and those ears?
[IMG]http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/3479/mulesforcoth2vz6.jpg)
OMG look at those ears!!
[IMG]http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4945/mulesforcothxi7.jpg)
[QUOTE=elmerandharriet;3158314]
would consider breeding my tb mare to a mule [/QUOTE]
no dice there mules are sterile; horses have 64 chromosomes, donkeys have 62, when your cross those two, you get an animal with 63 chromosomes- a mule! they can be either male or female, but reproduction isn’t in the cards. you’d have to breed your mare to a donkey to get yourself a mule baby
I’m a huge mule fan! Years ago I got to work with a number of them with a very well known mule man.
A neighbor of mine has shown her mule “Cheap Seat” aka Jerry at recognized shows. I think she even did the demo rider deal for our local L-program. He’s held his own quite well at training level at 3-star shows. One year she, another neighbor and I were all at a larger show a few hours away and it was hilarious to watch some of the DQ’s get their full-seats in a wad over having to share the area with gasp a long ear!
While its not likely you’ll see a mule in a CDI anytime soon, they do prove that dressage principles will help all equids while making their owners very happy.
As a trainer, I’d gladly take one on. Personally, I like the arab mules I’ve met, but have seen some stunning tall thoroughbred mules. Not sure I’d go with a draft mule for dressage. That’s a better pulling animal than a pushing one.
