84 FARM ANIMALS 



from the mares on slender, spindling legs are 

 certainly not desirable animals for use. Such 

 results are not always obtained, however, and 

 recent practice is to use as tall jacks as can be 

 obtained provided they have the proper strength 

 of bone in the leg. Since the size of the mule as a 

 whole seems to be inherited from the mare, it is a 

 very important matter to use the right kind of a 

 mare. Some breeders use Percheron mares and 

 jacks fifteen and two-tenths hands high with 

 heavy bone, deep chest and long body. 



As with other animals so with jacks, the best 

 results are obtained after they reach maturity. 

 Mature jacks are more certain of getting foals 

 than young jacks and transmit a greater hardiness 

 to them. The spring is usually preferred as the 

 time for breeding. All mules are strictly sterile, 

 but in order to secure the proper docility it is 

 necessary to castrate male mules and this should 

 be done at one year of age. As a rule female mules 

 are preferred to males for the reason that they 

 mature rather more promptly and develop a better 

 form than the males. 



Mules are to be broken in the same way as horses. 

 While many mule raisers insist upon it that these 

 animals are incomparably more stubborn and 

 vicious than horses, requiring much care and a 

 great deal of harsh treatment to secure obedience, 

 the exact opposite is claimed by others. Some 

 mule breeders maintain that with ordinary kind- 

 ness, especially with some attention while the colts 

 are young, no more trouble need be experienced 

 in breaking and handling mules after they are 

 broken than with horses. 



Hinnies, or the hybrid between the stallion and 

 the jennet, have never been much used in this 



