What Is A Mule?

I've mentioned mules before, but I just checked and I haven't fully discussed what a mule actually is.

A mule is the offspring of a mare (female horse) and a jack (male donkey).

Mules have long ears like donkeys and full tails like horses, with a build that falls somewhere between the two. They have scraggly manes (which are generally shaved off).

Many people consider mules superior to horses. They live longer (in England, the phrase "donkey's years" for a long time refers to the long lifespan of burros), are more surefooted, eat about one-third less per day and need a lot less water. (I have personally ridden a mule for several hours in a desert environment without watering it, something I would never dream of doing with a horse). They're also less likely to panic and bolt.

However, mules are slower than horses and have a reputation for being stubborn. My personal, limited experience is that mules are less subtle than horses and will really let you know what they think. They don't have a work ethic that will...okay, let's put it bluntly. Horses will tolerate almost anything you do to them. Mules just won't take your crap.

A horse has 64 chromosomes and a donkey 62. Because of this, mules end up with 63 chromosomes. This renders mules sterile. However, john (male) mules are always castrated early as they can be extremely hard to handle otherwise.

Or more accurately, mules are mostly sterile. There have been a few documented instances of molly mules giving birth, with the most famous being Old Beck who produced several foals including Pat Murphy, Jr., who appeared to be pure horse and had normal fertility. Most recently, in 2007, a molly gave birth unexpectedly on a Denver ranch to an animal that resembled a mule.

(To note, some of the reported cases of fertile mollies have turned out to be something else - molly mules are infertile but have normal maternal instincts and equines of all species are notorious for trying to steal other people's foals).

Four saddle mules picketed at Indian Garden in the Grand Canyon. This image doesn't give a good view of their size - the three larger mules are "Missouri mules" which are bred from Belgian mares and American Mammoth Jack stallions (the American Mammoth Jack is an extremely large donkey breed that is related to large donkey breeds found in Spain and France, all of which are perpetuated entirely to breed big mules). The smaller mule on the end is probably from a Quarter Horse mare. The brown and sorrel mules in the center each stand over 16 hands.

Mules are colored similarly to horses, but normally have extreme mealy/pangare, as seen on the sorrel mule. When they lack this, per the brown mule, it's so unusual there's a specific term for it - such mules are called "blue mules."

Why Do Horse People Worry So Much About Fire?

Visit most modern stables and you'll notice that there are extreme precautions being taken against fire. No good horseman smokes anywhere near the stable and any source of heat is guarded carefully.

The truth is that a lot of the stuff kept around horses is flammable. Hay can spontaneously combust (which is why most people have stopped using hay lofts), especially if it's damp or moldy. Grain dust can also catch fire, or even explode. Common forms of bedding - straw, wood shavings and paper - are also flammable.

So, if you need a place for a fire to start, the stables are often a good choice. Sadly, barn and stable fires often result in the death of animals - particularly horses, who are prone to panic.

How Does Branding Work?

In some parks, it's illegal to enter with horses (or mules) that don't carry your brand - this is so if the rangers find a loose animal they can return it to its owner. Horses that are run out on common range, throughout the world, are generally branded. Branding is also considered a deterrent to theft. Some equine registries, especially Warmbloods, brand horses to indicate that they have been approved for breeding.

There are two branding methods used on horses.

1. Hot branding or "traditional" branding, similar to the brands used on cattle. The brand is held against the skin just long enough to create a scar in the shape of the breeder's or owner's brand.

2. Freeze branding, cold branding or freeze marking involves using a branding iron that has been chilled. This method takes slightly longer and rather than causing a raised scar, it causes the hair to grow back white. (On grey or white horses, the brand is held on longer to permanently kill the hair follicles, but it's still much less visible. The BLM uses freeze marking on Mustangs and it's a popular means of permanent horse identification in Europe.

Some people argue that hot branding is considerably less humane than freeze marking. Hot branding proponents, however, point out that hot branding is over more quickly and it probably evens out. (Either way, I have never seen a horse suffer long lasting pain or trauma from being branded, using either method).

This Appaloosa mare belongs to wilderness outfitter Anchor D. Her brand can clearly be seen on the left side of her hindquarters.

Meanwhile, this Quarter Horse, known as "Hydi Q" has been freeze marked with her initials - likely as a deterrent to theft (Yes, horses do still get rustled, even in this day and age).

How Is A Horse Barn Or Stable Laid Out?

A lot of fantasy RPG supplements include stable layouts. How realistic are they?

As an example, the layout of the barn I ride at is fairly typical for a modern barn. It's designed with the indoor arena in the center, a common design in climates where you may not want to go outside. On either side is a stable "aisle" with stalls on the out side against the wall. At each end are rooms on the inside next to the arena. At the far end, they're stalls. At the end closest to the entrance you find a tack room. The barn has doors at either end of the aisle and also doors in the middle. Barns tend to have a lot of doors so you can evacuate quickly in case of fire. Next to each aisle door is a small room  that can be used for storage - one of these rooms is used to keep tools for maintaining the barn. On the left hand side of the entrance is a studio apartment with a bathroom, shower and kitchen (there's no hot water, however - the barn used to have a hot water boiler but it failed years ago and was never replaced because of fire concerned). The kitchen is used to store spare tack and to keep rugs in the winter, whilst the apartment is now a private office - I assume somebody lived there once, but no more. On the other side is the public office, the feed room, and men's and women's rest rooms. A private barn might only have one bathroom. Hay is kept outside in an old semi trailer, but the barn is equipped with hay lofts.

It's worth noting that hay lofts, often above the stalls, were normal in barn layouts until the last thirty years go, when we finally grasped that storing hay (which can spontaneously combust) in the same building you keep the horses in is a rather stupid idea.

Another common design is stalls around a courtyard with an outdoor arena to one side. In America, aisle barns of various sizes with stalls and a tack and feed room are usual for small private stables. In Britain, it's more common to have a row of stalls that open onto the yard, with an overhang.

So, what about Medieval stables?

Many don't survive - because they were converted to garages or housing when horses ceased to be a common means of transport. We do know that both the aisle and courtyard model were used. Taverns would probably have used the courtyard style. Also, many modern stables hold only riding horses - older stables would also have had a carriage house, which was often an open structure along one side of the courtyard, so that horses could be backed straight between the shafts, hooked up, and then pull out. Others were closed structures more like a modern garage.

If doing a scene in a stable bear in mind, then, that there are elements that would be present in a convenient configuration:

1. Stalls for horses, which might be box stalls (loose boxes in the UK) or standing stalls (tie stalls in the UK), positioned so that horses can easily be moved in and out, either by facing the outside of the building or by being along a broad aisle.

2. Some place to store carriages, vehicles or farm equipment, often open on one side to make it easier to maneuver things in and out.

3. A tack or harness room. In larger barns expect to find more than one. Saddles are heavy and nobody wants to carry them further than they need to. (As demonstrated many times in barns by people parking a horse right outside the tack room to unsaddle).

4. Some place to keep hay, traditionally a loft above the stalls. Some stables were designed with trap doors above a manger in each stall so a stable hand could just open the trapdoor and toss the hay down to the horse. Modern hay lofts have generally been removed from use and hay storage is generally removed to a separate building.

5. A feed room, which would contain solid feed "bins" - metal if the culture has it - designed to exclude rodents. Modern feed rooms often have a fridge to hold veterinary supplies and equine first aid kit.

6. In large barns, some kind of office, lounge, rec room, etc - some place for grooms to go take their breaks. Caring for horses often involves starting early, finishing late, but having long gaps with not much to do in the middle. Grooms might be found playing cards or shooting bull in some kind of room, and they might also have food there, although it would be carefully kept because of those rodents. (Oh, and expect a cat or two).

A horse in a box stall in an aisle barn. Note that the walls of the stall stop well before the barn's high ceiling and that they turn into bars at about four feet. This is a normal design for aisle barns - horses like a lot of air circulation.

Why Does That Horse Have White Spots On Its Back?

There are quite a few things that can cause white spots - but it's sadly common to see riding horses with white spots or marks where the saddle goes, normally on or on either side of the spine.

If a horse is injured, it is common for hair over the injury to grow back white (This is how freeze or cold branding, which I'll talk about in another post, works). White spots in the saddle area are generally a sign that at some point in that horse's life somebody used a saddle on it that didn't fit, resulting in "saddle sores" - bald patches worn by the saddle rubbing. Saddle sores and girth galls can also be caused by tack or equipment that hasn't been properly cleaned.

I've even seen one horse with saddle sores so bad the hair never grew back at all. Needless to say, he also had some issues about being tacked up.

Saddle sores are prevented by keeping equipment clean, always using tack that fits well and checking the horse for the beginning of a sore spot regularly (usually when grooming - this is one reason good horse people groom before and after riding).

Is "Bronc Busting" Cruel?

I see this question asked a lot. Rodeo bronc busting or bronc riding has become highly controversial, in part due to its origins.

In the old days, cowboys didn't have much time to break a horse, so they would do so by the simple expedient of getting on, letting it buck them off, getting back on and repeating it until the horse realized it wasn't going to get them to give up. Like so much else from the old west, this became a competition. Cowboys would compete to see who could stay on a crazy bucking horse the longest.

Modern bronc riding is rather formalized. A ride lasts eight seconds, and it's split into two divisions - with or without a saddle. Cowboys who sit out the entire eight seconds are then judged by their style, most especially the fact that they're required to keep their spurs on the horse's shoulders. The horse is also scored.

This last is one of the reasons that a lot of people think bronc riding is inherently cruel. I'm going to go through the listed reasons one by one.

1. They're spurring the horses hard. In fact, the requirement to keep the legs forward and the spurs on is designed to...make it harder to stay on. There are strict rules about the kind of spurs that can be used and if you look at broncs, it's rare to see white marks on the shoulder or neck - when a horse is injured and scars, the fur often grows back white.

2. The horses only buck because they're annoyed into it by the flank strap. That's not true. These horses want to buck. Bucking is a natural reflex for a horse when a predator (and humans are predator) unexpectedly jumps on his or her back. We've mostly bred this reflex out of domestic horses. Broncs are chosen from the subset of horses that haven't lost it. The flank strap changes how they buck - it makes them kick out straighter, which prevents the horse from doing a twisting buck to the side which can be easier to sit, but can also result in a more dangerous fall. It does not touch their genitals or put pressure on their kidneys. Broncs are chosen for their desire to buck. If you put a flank strap on the average riding horse, it will buck a couple of times and possibly take off running, but it won't perform the wild, aggressive maneuvers of a true bronc. The flank strap also does signal to the bronc that it's time to do his or her job, just as a rein tells an animal to turn.

3. They use cattle prods. The use of cattle prods to get a horse out of the chute is very rare. It's banned by most rodeos, but is still occasionally used by some contractors. Once a horse has had to be prodded once, they are generally retired - a good bronc doesn't need that treatment, but one that has lost its edge might. A bronc that stops wanting to buck might be sent for breeding or even retrained as a riding horse. Many broncs, however, continue to perform into their twenties (although the best mares are retired for breeding long before that).

4. These are wild horses that hate humans and thus shouldn't be made to perform. Nope. Broncs are specially bred horses, which can command prices of five or even six figures. They are carefully chosen for both the desire to buck and the athletic conformation to do it well - just the same as any other sport horse.

5. Broncs tend to get injured a lot. This is also simply not true. The only person taking a real risk of injury in a saddle or bareback bronc event is the cowboy. Although broncs do get injured, the rate is lower than in, say, eventing and much lower than in racing. The bucking motion may put some strain on their back, but no more than being ridden regularly (broncs are not used that often because the more you use them, the more likely they are to get "broke" and stop bucking).

(Image source: Joekoz451 via Wikimedia Commons, public domain).

Note that there are bad operators in every aspect of the horse industry and there undoubtedly are stock contractors out there who treat their bucking stock badly - but the sport itself is not inherently cruel.

What Is The Courbette?

In the courbette, the horse raises its forehand, tucks its forelegs then hops forward. It's another difficult task, with most horses only managing three or four hops before they have to touch down. (Some can manage more). A variant, the mezair, involves the horse striking out with its front legs - clearly an offensive maneuver - but it is seldom performed these days.

Mid hop, courtesy of Ludwig Koch.