86 MULES AND MULE BREEDING. 



endeavour to produce mules as gros as possible. Tlie 

 finest and largest cart mares are selected for the purpose ; 

 indeed, the best mares are always put to the ass (or haudet, 

 as he is termed) in preference to the horse. A mare if 

 she is capable of breeding a mule is considered more 

 valuable than one which will only breed to a horse. All 

 mares are not what is termed inter ieurement mtdassierex, 

 and in that case they are used to breed horse colts from. 



The peculiarities of the Poitou mule as distinguished 

 from the Spanish and other mules are as follows : 



The Poitou mule is eminently qualified for service as a 

 beast of heavy draught, and as such is capable of taking 

 the place of any ordinary farm horse. The head and ears 

 are large and decidedly coarse, according to our notions ; 

 bat the Poitou breeders maintain that they cannot get 

 the necessary weight of barrel without a correspondingly 

 large head and ears. The neck is short, and the animal 

 often carries a good crest. The chest is broad, the 

 shoulders rather upright and muscular. The mule is often 

 a little longer in the back than is desirable in a draught 

 animal, and is apt to stand over too much ground. The 

 barrel is capacious and well let down, though sometimes 

 the sides are apt to be a little flat. The quarters and 

 thighs, while strong and muscular, present on the whole 

 a narrower and lighter appearance than those of a draught 

 horse, and it is in these points particularly that Poitou 

 mules require improvement. The hocks are large, and, 

 while a large proportion of mules are cow-hocked, this 

 conformation does not render them more than ordinarily 

 liable to throw out bony growths, or to suffer from strains 

 of tendons or ligaments. While on the subject of bony 

 growths, it may be as well to correct a very prevalent 

 idea that mules are not as subject to them as horses. It 



