# Mule vs Hinney



## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

What makes mules so much better, or desirable than hinneys? Seems there are mules everywhere, and I don't think Ive ever even seen a hinney before. Is there something about crossing the other way that people don't care for?


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

Quite simple really, there are more Hinneys because there are far more mare horses than jenny donkeys.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

Bigger ears on mules vs hinnys, at least on the TWO hinnys I've seen.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

I "thought" it may have been sexual preference on the part of the sire.

I have "read" that in order to use a jack to breed mares, he has to be raised with horses away from other donks, or some other type of "training" so he will breed the mares.

Another big part of it would be selective breeding. I think you see more mules because of the wider selection of mares. You could easily select attributes you wanted by the selection of the mare. Want a draft mule? An app mule? A gaited mule? While the selection of donkeys seems be be fairly limited; mini, standard, mammoth. Granted it's still possible to get the mule you want by just selecting the equal stallion to service the jenny, but I believe the hinny seems to be smaller overall due to the size of it's dam.

Then again, my experience with longears is zip. So this is just information heard or read along the way.  I think Rogo's current mount is a hinny.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Another cool little tidbit of information when I wanted to googled the general differences between the two.



> Hinnies are difficult to obtain because of the differences in the number of chromosomes of the horse and the donkey. A donkey has 62 chromosomes, whereas a horse has 64. Hinnies, being hybrids of those two species, have 63 chromosomes and are sterile. The uneven number of chromosomes results in an incomplete reproductive system. According to the ADMS, "The equine hybrid is easier to obtain when the lower chromosome count, the donkey, is in the male. Therefore breeding for hinnies is more hit-and-miss than breeding for mules."[2]


Told you it was pretty interesting.


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## harvestgirl (Apr 29, 2005)

my mini mare had a foal/filly. she is a mule ~ lol. mini mule. or is she a mini hinney?


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

A mule has a jack father, a hinny has a donkey mother. if your female IS a mule already and she had a baby, call guiness. Thats only happened a handful of times in the world. Mules are sterile.


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## Mulish (Mar 24, 2005)

I think the biggest difference is in their attitude to other equines. I believe that Kate, my elderly mule might be a hinny. She will tolerate a horse, but is happier in the company of a donk.

Any mule, that I bred, or am 100% sure of the parentage, just loves horses. Looks like mama did ya know!


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

harvestgirl said:


> my mini mare had a foal/filly. she is a mule ~ lol. mini mule. or is she a mini hinney?





lonelyfarmgirl said:


> A mule has a jack father, a hinny has a donkey mother. if your female IS a mule already and she had a baby, call guiness. Thats only happened a handful of times in the world. Mules are sterile.


I think she meant the offspring was a mule. Which would make is a mini mule, since the mother is a horse.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

Hinny -- donkey mom, horse dad.

Mule -- horse mom, donkey dad.

You don't see many hinnys 'cause they're difficult to make. The acid donkey kills off the horse sperm. Folks try all kinds of things, such as baking soda douches on the donkey before breeding. Few things work!

Hinnys don't have the bone the mules do. Their build is more horse like. The voice is more of a neigh than a bray. Hearing my latest mount's voice after having him for over 2 months is really what convinced me I had a hinny. When I called the previous owner and told her about my findings, she said they knew the critter was different, but they didn't know why!

I only know one other person who has a hinny, and she made him from her stud and jenny.

I usually bond to a critter the first week. It took longer for me to earn the trust of my hinny. Don't know if this is common, but it's the way it was with mine. We're now good partners working together.


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## loli (Aug 14, 2011)

I have never had a stud that would breed my jenny and I really wanted a hinny. I think that may have something to do with it.


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

As a rule, for a donkey to mate with a horse, he should only mate to a few mares before breeding a jenny. After doing so, he will breed both mares and jennies.

It's the same for the horse stud and jennies.


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## nc_mtn (Nov 24, 2007)

I heard an old man tell me once that Mules were just better animals than a Hinney. Said they were smarter and stronger. He also left me to believe they are smarter... I don't have an clue and took this with a grain of salt as I don't have any plans to breed either, but always thought it was interesting ideas...

Doesn't really make sense that that's all true and as far as I know this guy only had the one mule I saw with him, but he seemed pretty smart and talked the talk.


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## harvestgirl (Apr 29, 2005)

lonelyfarmgirl said:


> A mule has a jack father, a hinny has a donkey mother. if your female IS a mule already and she had a baby, call guiness. Thats only happened a handful of times in the world. Mules are sterile.


no, no, no. the dam is a mini mare. no clue WHO the sire was, but the offspring/filly is a mini mule. my best guess is dad was a standard donk?


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## Rogo (Jan 1, 2006)

=== no, no, no. the dam is a mini mare. no clue WHO the sire was, but the offspring/filly is a mini mule. my best guess is dad was a standard donk? ===


Could be or maybe a mini jack!! Whatever, the offspring got the best of both parents! )


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