PRACTICAL MULE BREEDING 297 



Select animals that are typical of the breed and that 

 display jack characteristics. Choose the animal with 

 a long, thin, bony head and long, tapering ears attached 

 gracefully to the head. The neck should be of medium 

 length and well attached at the shoulders, which should 

 be well laid in and not too rough. The body should be 

 smooth and well turned. Breadth in hips and pelvis is 

 very essential, particularly in the jennet. Many jennets 

 are so deficient or narrow in the pelvis that they often 

 experience great difficulty at parturition time. The legs 

 should be flat and clean, with large joints, and the feet 

 should be large and deeply cupped. 



In size, the breeding animals should be large for the 

 breed and well proportioned. Large jacks often lack in 

 proportion and are often clumsy. Both of these faults 

 must be guarded against. The action should be free and 

 easy as well as regular and straightaway. The walk 

 should be rapid and regular. The color is a very im- 

 portant character in jacks and jennets, notably in the 

 United States, where a good black with distinctively 

 light points is preferred. Dun, yellow, blue, and , the 

 like, are discriminated against. Perhaps the most im- 

 ■ portant characters to be considered in selecting jack stock 

 are the color, size and action. 



The pregnant jennet. — The same suggestions made for 

 the pregnant mare apply to the jennet (p. 283). As it is 

 not customary to worJk jennets in this, country, they must 

 be provided with facilities to take the much-needed exer- 

 cise. When in season, the pasture fills this need. If the 

 weather is unfavorable, the jennet should be placed in a 

 box stall, adjacent to an exercising lot and the door of 

 the box stall left open except in very severe weather. To 

 avoid all risk from accident each jennet should be kept 

 by herself. 



The jennet carries her foal longer than the mare, often 

 well up to 12 months. As the time of foaling approaches 

 the jennet must be watched closely, and an attendant 



