There is a saying that a horse will kill you buy accident and a mule will kill you on purpose.Pretty much rings true,and I'm a devout muleman.
Generally mules are healthier than horses, live longer, are smarter, will eat less, have better feet, more sure footed, will work harder than a horse,and can stand the heat better. If treated right they are more personalble than a horse and make a better companion. You can take them places that most horses will not go. They have a higher sense of self preservation which mnay think is stubborness.
However,a lot of people do not or cannot get along with mules because they don't understand them. I suppose the same thing could be said about horses, but you can bully a horse into doing soemnthing that may or may not be in yours or the horse's best interest. Not so with amule. You can't bully, force or coerce one into doing soemthing it mght think is harmful. Fight it and you will lose every time.
If a person can find an older mule that has done just about evrything, that mule will teach him/ her a lot and generally won't give too much trouble if treated right. Start with a younger one that need some desensitzing and most people get in a bind.
A person needs to be an experienced horseman before starting down the road witha mule. However, training and using mules is completely differnt than a horse. Think of using a horse as kindergarten and a mule as post graduate work after college 4yrs.
A good mule is 10 times better than a good horse,but a bad mule is 100 times worse than a bad horse. There are a lot more bad mules out there for sale than good ones.Good ones usually don't come up for sale very often.
That being said, there are good horses that wil do particular jobs better than a good mule and there are good mules that will do a particular job better than a good horse. In addition,each breed of either a horse or mule will be suited more to some particular job than another.
Example:I would not use a thorobred horse as a pack horse, nor would I use a draft horse as a saddle horse,but they do work on occasions
Last edited by saddlesore; 09/15/09.
