In behavior the mule has the same tendencies as the donkey with its patience, endurance, and agility in being sure footed, making it excellent in hard or more unstable terrain – however it lacks the fear and weaknesses of the donkey, rather it has more strength and is bolder.  Thier hooves are stronger, and they go lame much less often, and are resistant to disease in comparison with the horse.  They also don’t like dogs quite as much as horses do, and are capable of defending themselves or their rider against a number of predators – with recorded numerous kills against mountain lions.  They also can fire off a kick in any direction they wish to with great accuracy, and can be lethal.  There have been only sixty documented cases of fertile mules in four hundred years, and one cloned mule.

Gaited mules are very prized- as they have certain ways of moving that are desirable. Much like gaited horses, the mules have certain types of gallops, walks, trots, canters, and what is called “ambling gaits”. Trained mules can learn to go between these riding styles, and earn the title of “Gaited Mule” in return.

When buying mules, gaited mules are obviously more expensive from the training or special breeding needed to earn the title of ‘gaited’. For trail riding and other non-sport uses, normal riding mules are the best, if you are looking to save money. Riding mules may not know all of the gaits, but they are still very good travel partners nonetheless.

Having control over the mule can prove beneficial in many situations. Un-gaited mules will be stubborn, and basically go at their own pace. Gaited mules have the upper hand in many instances, as you can command them to walk, trot, or gallop based on the situation. Gaited mules often tend to be more ‘teachable’, which therefore lets you create a better bond between owner and pet, should you buy a gaited mule.

If you lack the money necessary to buy a gaited mule, but still need the gaits that come with such a prize mule, then you can train it yourself. This can often be very tedious work, as usually only certain breeds are train-able. Even still, mules can be very stubborn at times and resist training. Through persistence and a little research, you can manage to turn a normal riding mule into a gaited mule in due time.

All in all, the entire decision comes down to price. If you have the extra money, gaited mules are a wonder to own, and brings extra pleasure in trail riding or sport. If you lack extra funds, then riding mules still make wonderful pets, riding partners, or pupils should you try to train them yourself.

The “Mule skinner” actually rode on one of the mules, guiding the entire team along a rein called a “Jerk line”. Poorly skilled mule skinners would often have a very hard time with the famously stubborn creatures, but veterans could run a team of mules with great success.

Mules can pull wagons at about 2 miles an hour, making them good for old western travel. A team of oxen, which require much more maintenance, could pull half an hour faster, but needed much more attention and resources. One of the big drawbacks was that mule feed had to be carried, if a team of mules was to be used. Indians were popular for stealing the mules, and riding them. Should one of the mules be injured or dead, the meat tasted horrible- at least less tasty than an oxen.

Mule skinners are commonly unheard of, for they were in short demand in many cases. A pair of mules cost two to four hundred dollars- a large sum of cash for those days. Oxen were the better way to go considering efficiency, in most cases.

As for the name mule skinner, it is most likely originated from the act of ‘skinning a hide’, or to out-think an animal for wrong doing. A mule skinner in this usage would be the one who would out-think and manage the mule team. It should be noted that mules are not flayed, skinning refers to the passive act of outsmarting the animal, not punishing it.

Jimmy Rodgers composed and sang a song on the topic of “Mule skinning”, a common misconception of the origination of the term. The term originates from the simplified word of “muleteer”. There are often confusions between the phrase “More than one way to skin a cat” and the term “Mule skinning”, however, there is no connection.

Out of the several possible variant originations, it is commonly known that when it comes down to it, the term refers to the man or woman guiding the mules along the trail, nothing more, nothing less.

If you have specific requirements for a mule, you could run into some trouble. Since mules are in such demand, and in little supply, finding exactly what you want is tough. Things like gender, training, age, and conformation will all be hard to find if you have a specific need in a mule.

If you find a mule for sale on the internet, and the seller claims it has been shown, ask for accomplishments. Ask about the classes it participated in, how many shows it has been to, and what awards it received. It is important to make certain of these claims, so you do not over spend on something that isn’t true.

Ask as many questions as you can about the mule, specifically, ask why the owner is selling it. If possible, try and ride the mule yourself, and watch the seller show it off. More importantly, if applicable, ask for proof of registration papers. This is extremely important, or else it will cause you more work and money to obtain registration.

Find a mule online: http://www.agriseek.com/sale/e/Farm-Animals/Mules/

When concerning species, the donkey itself is a species. The mule, however, is a direct result from a male donkey (jack) and female horse (mare) mating. Interestingly enough, mules can not reproduce, since they are in fact sterile. Donkeys, on the other hand, can reproduce at will.

As far as physical differences go, mules are usually slighter larger than donkeys. This makes sense, because mules are a result of a horse and donkey mating, and the mule inherits genes from both animals, including the horse’s height. Also, the donkey has a distinct bray, while the mule will have a combination between a whinny and a donkey bray.

As far as usage goes, mules can be used in any application that horses can. From sports, harnesses, cutting, or roping, the mule can do many things the donkey can not. Since the mule is a hybrid, it gets traits from the donkey and can carry more weight than a horse, and has much more stamina. Another interesting feature that mules have is their ability to jump- up to a few feet from standing still in place, much more than a horse could do.

Even though mules have much more uses than donkeys, the downfall is that they can not reproduce as a result from being sterile. The American Donkey and Mule Society claims donkeys outnumber mules about 10 to 1.

Even with all of these differences, one can easily mistake a mule and a donkey. With this guided knowledge, you should be able to now tell a donkey apart from a mule, which can prove very useful in many situations.

These are the most common Mule species:

Hinny

The hinny is the hybride product of a horse stallion (father) and donkey mare. A hinny is not a mule. As a hybrid hinnies are not capable of reproduction. Breeding of hinnies is far more difficult than breeding mules and are only rarely likes due to their only little advantages over the donkey, however, still they are used as pulling and/or carrying animals.
A hinny is not a mule, because it is carried out by a donkey mare, it looks only a little different from a house donkey, its voice only sounds a little different. Hinnies have a good-natured character but far not so easy like mules. Their character is more donkey like, but they are less shy than a donkey.

Zebroids
Zorse
Zebrule
Zebrony

The Mule deer, also called big-eared deer, lives in the western mountain regions of the North American continent. Its population is spread up from south Alaska in the north, to Mexico in the south and from the pacific coast in the west to North and South Dakota in the east.
In opposite to the mule deer’s cousin the white tailed deer. The mule deer is not a commensal species, but likes it to stay hidden and live an invisible life in areas far away from civilisation.
The colouring of the mule deer is dependent on the season and varies of cold grey till red-brown. It reaches a body length of 170 to 220 cm, a weight from 50 to 160 kg and a shoulder height of 100 to 120 cm. The antlers are not very big, subdivided for this but clear and graceful.

The Mule deer got its name because of its long ears (28 cm), which make him look like a Mule. Hunters also call him “jumping deer”, because Mule deer often jump while fleeing..

Males and females live, e in separate herds, older males, sometimes as loners. The cohesion of these herds is loose and a strict hierarchy is only developed during the mating season.
Mule deer like it to spend the summer in the upper mountain regions and return to their lower residents in winter. There the stronger males assemble smaller groups of females around himself during the rutting season in December with which they mate and from whom they jealously keep every rival away.

The pups occur after a gestation period of 210 days in June and July during the leisurely remigration to the summer residence. At the birth they weigh 2 to 3 kg and carry a spotted fur.
Within the first days they hide in the thicket and are visited by the mother only for suckling.
They then follow her and hook up to the herd. In the first months of their life, many of them become the victim of pumas, coyotes and bobcats.

Because of excessive hunting the mule deer population went back from 10 million down to 300.000 in the beginning of the 20th century. The population increased back to 5 millions but however, stagnates since the 1960’s.

The mule deer is not a hybrid species!

The hooves of a mule are adapted to a stony underground as that one of a horse and more like those of a donkey and are more adapted for endurance than for speed. The mule connects the efficiency of a horse with the kick safety of a donkey at a greater endurance in terrains. Nevertheless, a riding mule may reach a speed up to 60km/h on short distances.

Recapitulating it can be told that mules have the considerateness, the stamina and the kick safety of a donkey combined with the straightness, the strength and the courage of a horse.
A mule is a good riding animal for less experienced riders and is very good controllable and does not let expect any surprises if the Mule is well educated. It doesn’t stand bad or unjust treatment; however, it can react very aggressive without any warning.

The Zorse (Zebra and horse)

Zorse describes especially the hybrids of a horse and zebra which usually shows a greater similarity to a horse than to a zebra. Zorses have hologram similar stripes which seem to change their form depending on the viewpoint and time of day.

Like the mules and hinnies, as a rule, Zebroids are not capable of reproduction.

The Zebrule

Zebrule is a hybrid between a zebra and a donkey and is also called Zebronkey. The Zebrule is usually sterile. As a wild animal it can be found in areas where Zebras and Wild-donkeys live in very close neighbourhood. Some are known about these hybrids.

Zebrony

A hybrid of a Zebra and a pony, they are as small as a pony, dark fur but still some stripes, just like the Zebra. This tiny animal has still a zebra dominated character.

The voice, so incredible, that it cannot be described.

What makes this animal so special?

When a male donkey and a female horse get an offspring, then this offspring is a hybrid of both races and is called “mule”. When a male horse and a female donkey get an offspring, then the hybrid is called a hinny.

From the zoological point of view, the differences between mule and hinny are still not researched enough, so we still cannot say clearly that a hinny has these and a mule has those properties. That’s why people still call hinnys mules, or just donkeys.

The mule is basically an invention of the human and was done by an accident. In different books just like in Lorrain Travis’s book “The Mule”, you can read, that 3000 years before Christ in Nubia, people first tried to create a hybrid between horse and donkey. The breed foals had better properties than the steed less horses of that time age. That was the beginning of the mule husbandry.

Mules have thick and short head and long ears, a short mane, narrow hooves and it tail is hairless.

The mule belongs, just like its parents to the family of “Equides”, so it has the behaviour of both animals. It is an herbivore animal, and in the wild, both horse and donkey are preys, and are hunted by predators. Horses live in wide open areas and donkeys in rocky mountain shaped areas. In this case horses have to flee with their herd. Donkeys have more possibilities it is not always recommended to flee, when living on a mountain (cliffy paths, danger of plunge) they can flee downhill or stay in place if they can’t be reached by the predator. Also in this case a mule has a mixed behaviour, when it is in danger in wide areas it sometimes decides to run away or it just stands still. Sometimes when a mule feels danger it tries to defend itself very aggressive, but that doesn’t mean that it has a mad personality, it is the mule’s mixed behaviour.