This is a discussion on Jurnee, the baby. NEED some input. within the Horse Colors and Genetics forums, part of the Horse Breeds, Breeding, and Genetics category
I recently rescued a colt from a woman who took him in from a bad breeder. He was way under weight and just looking horrid. He now looks good and I'm trying to figure out his breed. I was spending time with him today though and noticed his nose was different than all the other colts I've seen. I started thinking maybe he's a mule. I don't know to much information about him. He is awfully tall though already. He's around a year and a half old.
Here are some pictures of him. He has the grulla trait and it's starting to come out, but his colors are very different. ALSO, his ears! I've never seen any horse or anything have ears like that, they're crazy furry.
In my opinion, he does look like he could be a mule. I'm not much help though, I don't know much about mules. He is very cute though! We had a horse once that had ears just like his, but was a registered quarter horse, huge, cute fluffy ears. :)
He does look a bit odd. Could you maybe get some better pictures of him (full body from both sides with his head up)? That way, we can get a better idea of the proportions of his ears to his head to his body and there are other conformational traits that usually indicate mule breeding too.
If I had to make a guess just based on these pictures, I would say possibly an Arabian Mule just from the shape and appearance of his head.
My first thought was a mule, too, but it's a bit hard to tell from those pictures. Even the front leg in the first picture reminds me of a donkey/mule for some reason. Cute, though!
He looks to me like he could be a mule, also. His nose is very refined and small for his head, and his ears are definitely...unporportional xD however, I've never seen a mule with long mane like his. What does his tail look like? As far as I know, mules always have that short furred tail with a tuft of actual horsehorse at the end. I could be wrong though.
For his story, I found out about him through a friend. She has rescued three colts in the process of moving. A big thing to take on in itself, she couldn't afford him anymore so he ended up with me! (: As to before her though, he was found in a bad breeding situation. Which could explain how he became or was born a mule. He was kept on a farm with stallions, donkeys, mares and anything in between. The lady basically ran a "horse mill" that's the only way to describe it. Someone finally kept reporting them and all the animals were rescued and auctioned. When it was said and done, there were 43 colts, 21 mares 13 of which were pregnant, 7 stallions and I'm not sure of the rest! Breeding was allowed uncontrolled and and conditions were disgusting! We have NO idea of who his parents actually were we can only guess. He's a good healthy weight now, and I'm so glad he's mine. (:
Thank you for the input, after looking up some more pictures and reading up on them. I'm pretty sure he is, but I'll still love him just the same! Also, with the grulla trait I was thinking he may have it, in the pictures you can't really tell (sorry, bad quality) but he has some leg barring and a dorsal stripe. That could be a mule trait or grulla, he also has the "mousy" appearance if you're actually looking at him. He looks brown, but up close and in the sun it's very different. I got a few more pictures of his front and back legs, the side and his head. He was so excited to be out he wouldn't stay still! And he's very dirty, we haven't had a chance to bathe him! It's been raining constantly until today. (:
Side View
This is his head, obviously. The last people who had him had a halter for him about three sizes too small! ): So I only put a halter on him when we're outside of the corral or paddock.
