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Here is a good book on mules by Walter Rickell. It's titled The Misunderstood Mule. Rickell was a friend of mine. He owned and rode saddle mules and had a couple of pack mules he used in the Sierra for deer hunting. He also wrote gun articles for a couple of the gun magazines.

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L.W.

In my defense, Don, I only spoke with the gent about 20 minutes.

Glad my first impression is correct.

The only thing I know is that, on one elk hunt, the outfitter had mules. They were giants — I don’t know how many hands, but big. It seemed their withers were level with my eyes although I’m sure they weren’t that tall. I’m six feet tall.

My first thought was, “oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into..”. It was the smoothest, most sure footed ride I ever experienced. Didn’t try to bite me, buck me off, or jump over small obstacles like some horses I’ve ridden had.

There are a whole lot of folks that once they started riding a mule, never went back to horses.

Here is 16+hd Tennessee Walker mule I raised and rode years ago. Super smooth but covered a lot of country fast.



This one was only15 hds, but tough as nails. Mama was a Haflinger.



Her sister.



As I aged, gravity and old bones got the better of me and I down sized.These are the size I like now. 13&1/2 h under saddle and 13 hand packer before I had to give elk hunting up. I still get out and ride the dun mule when I can.

Nice looking mules. I worked as a guide in the Bob Marshal one fall. The outfitter Had a mix of horses and mules. All were good stock

and easy to work with but I preferred the mules.

Good mares and good jacks make good mules.The better disposition in the mare and the jack, the better disposition in the mule and that is darn important in a mule. Even more important when breeding donkeys.

Knew a gent who crossed a jenny with an Arabian.
Calm, well mannered and Arabian stamina. Melvin was awesome!

David was a farrier, a trainer and a hell of a calf roper!
The problem was, David had a bay mare mule that he roped off of!
Those old hard core quarter horse guys got madder than hell when David walked off with the pot! LOL!

I never liked Arabian mules. Too smart and that warm blood came out every once in awhile. I had the hardest, roughest ride of my life on a bucking Arabian mule.

Back in the 70's early 80's a lot of horse competitions barred mules because of they beat horses for the blue ribbons.A person will see some really good roping mules at the Bishop Mule Days every year over Memorial Day weekend.

Just for the record....
In ancient Israel, mules were a sign of royalty. King David's 70 sons rode mules. When David proclaimed his son Solomon to be his heir, he had Solomon put on his own personal mule.

I have nothing to add to this post as I am totally ignorant of mules, donkeys, burros, and horses. Llamas too. But I have to say this is one of the most interesting discussions I have ever read. Thank you gentlemen.

I had no idea a mule got that size. 18 hands is enough to need a ladder to get on. Wonder how much it weighed?

Totally agree . Interesting as heck.

I hope you guys aren't done with the stories.

I've considered getting a couple of smaller burros for packing elk. You can get pack saddle broke burros from Canon city or the honor farm I think.

old news article

They may be broke to pack saddles meaning they had one one, but not broke to packing. BIG DIFFERENCE!!!!!

Yes I apologize if you inferred from my post that I didn't believe more training would be required. That's not what I intended to portray.

I am well aware that stock requires training and significant time

I was surprised at how much stronger or maybe more sure footed mules were than horses when we hunted a Colorado wilderness area. Our pack horses and riding horses would zig zag up the steep mountain trails, but I saw pack mules go straight up the mountain.

Most people wanting to get a mule, think they need one as big as the horse they are use to riding,when a smaller mule will do the same job.

I think I would strongly lean towards burros over goats or llamas if I was really interested in a small pack critter. Main reason for me is I foresee the other two being prohibited eventually in areas with wild sheep.

As I've said in a couple earlier posts, I have llamas but donkeys were my 1st choice. I just couldn't find any other than minis and those are useless for packing. Good llamas are now very hard to find and they're expensive. When I got into it 15 years ago, llamas were dirt cheap. Things have changed. Goats you can find anywhere. There are goat dairies around that always have buck kids to sell or give away. Both goats and llamas are very easy to train and pack. I've never tried donkeys to say how hard they are to train.
The issue of goats or llamas being prohibited in wild sheep areas has become a non-issue. The anti-goaters have never shown any serious evidence that disease transmission is a problem or even possible. They tried to prohibit goats here in a couple Idaho wilderness areas but couldn't get it done because they couldn't show that there was a real issue.

edit: I got curious and checked Craigslist for current llama prices. Even the cheapest potential packer will bring $500 and good ones start at about $1500. They're nuts.