A good horse will give you100% a good mule will only give you 90 , he keeps 10% for himself. I was at a branding many years ago. I was riding a bridle mule,not mine. A friend asked how I liked that $5000 mule, I told home about like a $1500 horse. 90% of the big pack strings in the high Sierras are led by a horse. I asked a packer why that was, he said the mules would follow a horse anywhere and a good horse would give you all he had where a good mule wouldn't
A mule naturally buddy sours to a horse and that is why a pack string is usually led by a horse. Once bonded, those mules will follow that horse anywhere. True a horse will give you all he has , even to kill itself and you can force a horse into dangerous situations. A mule however, being smarter than that guy who forces his horse, will not let that happen.
Those packers know that and that is why they won't lead with a mule. They just need to get the job done and if it means using up their horse, they will do it. Most of those guys couldn't get along with a saddle mule for that very reason.
It is a wise person who knows when the mule is trying to tell him that this situation is not good and listens to the mule.
There is a good reason why the top high dollar mule at the annual Jake Clark Mule sale in WY went for $64,000 this year and it wasn't because that mule only gave 90%.
I led pack strings with a mule for many years.I always got the job done and went where I needed to go with no fuss. If I had horse they got packed and I rode a mule. If something was going to fall off the mountain, I wanted it to be the pack not me.It worked for me a lot of years
