Horses or Mules?

walled concave feet a very desirable trait in a mule or a horse. With careful intelligent minds mules are better at picking their way over difficult terrain and narrow trails than your average horse.
Because of the toughness of their feet and legs mules suffer fewer soundness problems a big plus with trail riders. I have asked veterinarians if one horse breed typically has more foot and leg problems than other breeds and I have been told that Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds lead all equines in that category. This should not be surprising considering that they are the performance athletes of the horse world in many disciplines and years of breeding for desired qualities has left the durability of the foot somewhat lacking. If trail riding is your primary activity and your horse has been beset with foot and leg problems there is hope in fact you can turn over a new leaf in your trail riding life by owning and riding a mule or a horse with feet and legs as tough as nails.
It is a fact that hybrid organisms often surpass their parents when it comes to certain qualities. For example mules are known to be more intelligent and hardier than horses. They find warm climates comfortable and can work in heat that horses would find intolerable. On average they live longer than horses a mule working into its thirties is not uncommon. Mules can pull and carry greater loads compared to their body weight than most horses all the while needing less feed than a horse.
I will suggest that a cross between an average or small sized male donkey and a finer boned leaner mare will often produce a lean mule that may never put on the weight that most horse owners are comfortable with.
By comparison a mammoth jack male donkey and a draft mare will often produce a solid bodied and large boned mule that will be a great trail animal. These draft cross mules are desirable in the north where bogs and bush prevail. The famous Missouri Mules which were used by the thousands in Americas westward mule train push in the 1800s were nothing more than a cross between a mammoth jack and a draft mare.
Along with greater intelligence the mule comes with a longer memory and a capacity to be strong minded even what you might call stubborn. Bystanders may interpret their disposition as