# Interesting article in the Brayer



## minimule (Mar 22, 2004)

Does anybody get this magazine? If you're a member of the ADMS you should. There was an article about a mule that foaled. It was in the late 30s. A man named William H. Mobley, called the "Mule King", was caught in a storm in North Dakota. He stayed with a sheepherder that had a team consisting of a black Percheron stallion and a dark bay mollie mule. She seemed heavy for a 7 yr old mule. She ended up being bred by the stallion. They watched her carefully and she foaled a live, healthy colt. It says the colt took more after the stallion than the mule. It said he didn't have long ears, a short mane or small feet. It was an interesting article.


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## Sandy S. (Mar 23, 2004)

I get the Brayer but haven't had time to look at it yet. Will have to make time tonight to read the article.


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## StarWish (Mar 24, 2004)

Oh great, Minimules! Now, I have to worry about Bucky(mini stallion)actually reaching big Katie(mule)through the fence!!! HA!! Right now, he wants Mary(Haflinger) bad! We're going to be on Jerry Springer yet!






When we lived in MO, we had a "mule guy" for a vet and he used to tell us about mules carrying foals now and then and that was in the 90s.

StarWish/Colleen


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## Little Munchkin (Mar 24, 2004)

I remember hearing about a mule foaling in the 80s. I think they called the foal Blue Moon (as in once in a blue moon). It was an accidental breeding and the sire was a donkey. A lot of people didn't believe that the foal belonged to the mule, they thought she had stolen a foal from a mare in the same pasture. But the people bred her again and documented it all, and I think they called the second foal Lightning (lightning strikes twice). All of the breeding I've heard of the sire was a donkey. This is the first horse sire I've heard of!


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## farmdude (Mar 25, 2004)

I have heard stories like this before. I hope they are true. Personally I think that this is how new colors got into the donkey lines.


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## minimule (Mar 25, 2004)

Hey Starwish, Dave says "Yea, we'll probably have one of the FEW fertile mules" Sunny has all ready had her first heat and was sure talking to the stallion and (YUCK









) her dad! GREAT!


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## StarWish (Mar 25, 2004)

OK then, Minimules...we'll have to fight over who gets to do the Jerry Springer show first! LOL!!!

StarWish/Colleen


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## rabbitsfizz (Mar 26, 2004)

Sorry to spoil the fun but.... foals bred from mules can ONLY be (geneticlly) Donkeys or Horses, because of the chromosone difference between the two. There have been documented cases of mules foaling since history began, mainly because some idiot would shout from the battlements 'Ha, Sir Percy, you will capture this castle when a mule foals, by my troth'.... and, then, guess what would happen that night?????????


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## crponies (Mar 26, 2004)

I read the statistic once of how many mules are sterile. I forget exactly what it was, I think either 99% or 99.9%. Of course, you have to conclude that about half of the fertile ones would be gelded males. That still leaves 1 in 200 or 1 in 2000 to be fertile female mules. Minimule, that would be cool if Sunny is fertile IMO


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## minimule (Mar 28, 2004)

OHHHH! Not sure I want her to be! Yes, it would be unique and something different but YEESH! Could I handle it?

My little yearling colt, Three has "figured it out". He was running around hanging on her (she wasn't in heat, he isn't tall enough) all ready to go. Now I have to keep him seperated from ALL the girls. Anybody looking for an adorable, grullo pinto colt?


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## crponies (Mar 28, 2004)

Sure, send him my way. I need another colt



Well, maybe not really, but he's a handsome little guy.


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## Patti_B (Apr 21, 2004)

How can a mule reproduce when it has an odd number of chromosomes? Strange....


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