My ears went up when I read the title of your thread!
My husband is convinced that mules are superior to horses and thus wanted one. Of course, me being completely consumed with Arab-itis and not willing to have anything other than an Arab, was of course trying to find him an Arab mule - this was back in 2003. Well, we found a mule but not an Arab mule.
The ONLY thing I can warn you about is that if you have a mare - and this information is totally unrelated to Arabs - is that a mule can get very attached to a mare. I am talking, attached so badly that he will tear down gates, fence and boards to get to her, especially if she leaves his sight. This is a common mule trait that has been exploited to keep large groups of mules going, where you want them to go!
http://www.gutenberg...8-h/10878-h.htmHere is a quote from the article above:
Mules of all kinds, however, seem to have a peculiar fancy for white mares and horses, and when this attachment is once formed, it is almost impossible to separate them. If you want to drive a herd of five hundred mules any distance, turn a white or gray mare in among them for two or three days, and they will become so attached to her that you may turn them out, and they will follow her anywhere. Just let a man lead the mare, and with two men mounted you can manage the whole herd almost as well as if they were in a team. Another way to lead mules is, to put a bell on the mare's neck. The mules will listen for that bell like a lot of school children, and will follow its tinkling, with the same instinct. NOW the reason I bring up this behavior is that I take my mare trail riding on @ 400 acres adjacent to my property - and once we would get out of sight, our mule would get out to chase us. It happened 2 or 3 times and after fixing boards, repairing fence, etc., I tried to find out WHY he was so attached to Ellie. A mule guy told me that it is just "a mule thing" and that no amount of training can change it. Another friend pointed out to me that this is why mule people usually ONLY have mules and vice versa - they are difficult to keep together. So our mule went away this summer.
NOW, given my experience with mules, I still do not dislike them; I have several friends that love them and I know that they have good traits. My husband is still determined to find one; I jokingly tell him that we should breed Ellie to a jack because I ran across some folks in MN breeding Arab mules and they were selling for about $ 10,000.00 !!! My mom says she will kill me if I do that with Ellie.
If you find any good ones, especially Arab Mules, please let me know too. And if anyone else here can give us some advice, please copy us, too.
EDITED: Oh, our mule WAS gelded too, so that was not the problem, although I was starting to wonder if he was proud cut. He would act very stud-dish around her, and sometimes aggressive - I saw him reach over and grab her by the throat more than once and I was NOT HAPPY! I would like to find out if this would happen with a female mule; the attachment to a mare. If it is not as much of a problem, then I might look for a molly mule.
