I am Ann, 56 years old, North Okangan, BC, dabbled in endurance in both Alberta and BC, even won a 25! but have not ridden one for about 5 years. I plan to change that next year.

I rode a tough, Rocky-Mountain-rasied half Arab for a while until she developed low level lung problems in middle age, after a horrible flu made the rounds of the corrals and affected 20+ horses!! She continued her career as a happy trail horse with another owner.

I then rode a Polish Arab, Riff, who was going to go for meat as his poor young owner just couldn't get along with/handle him. He proved to be a difficult horse who could be counted on to do well whenever the going got tough: chasing cows, endurance, stiff camping trips, even as one of the first five in Canada to go throuh the tough training to be a search and rescue accredited horse. He is subsiding into a gentle old age now (oh, lordy ,as am I!)

I will have a 5 year old mule (not one I have raised) and a nine year old Spotted Saddle Horse to try. Neither will be very competitive, I don't think, but I love endurance for the goals it sets me in riding for pleasure, the camaraderie among competitiors, the immense amount I used to learn on the American site for endurance riders- until they changed it to a pay site a number of years ago.

I plan to get an endurance-bred Arab brood mare in the next couple of years and produce endurance mules with my very leggy young spotted mammoth jack. I have other mares, destined to produce trail/pleasure mules and sport mules, but mules are good at endurance and I would like to raise some.

Later, if any one konws of a good mare who should become a brood mare, can be sound to breed and not to ride, let me know, but not this winter.

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Replies to This Discussion

Hi Ann,
This sounds like a neat breeding. I have always wondered what this combination would look like and how they would do on the trail. I have seen a few mules in competitive riding when I did that a few years ago and they were just totally awesome. I did read about someplace near Phoenix, AZ that was doing some mule/arab crosses. I have not checked to see what they did in the last few years though. You might google it and see... Good luck.
Hi Janet, I am not surprisd that it would be Arizona doing some breeding of Arab crosses, as mules, except for the draft ones, do well in heat and dry, rocky areas
That's interesting. The mules that I have seen here in the competitive and endurance rides were big but maybe not draft size. I'm guessing they used thoroughbreds for the breeding but this was a few years ago.
What I meant by big is the animals that are muscular and heavier in the shoulders and barrel. Those mules, like horses, that have more weight to carry around and do not eliminate heat as well as their skinnier, 'radiator' shaped relatives.

It would be interesting to know if the big/tall mules you saw were Thoroghbred crosses. If they were, and demonstrated that they could do well in CT and endurance it speaks well for the donkey side of the family as Thoroughbreds haven't made great endurance horses, have they?

I once saw a comparison of draft horse efficency in, I think, terms of weight pulled for size and a study of draft size compared to work done and calorie intake, if I remember rightly. Can't recall the sources. The mid-size drafts were more efficient than the really big ones. I wonder if anyone has done the same for endurance horses? Is there an optimum height or weight range?
Disscussions I have had with long time endurance riders/breeders is that smaller horses (14h - 15h) with big barrels are better for 100 mile, they have better recovery times and fewer injuries. Leggier horses are smoother and faster, better for limited distance, not as good recovery times and prone to lower leg injuries. The key here, I think, is the lung capacity to body size.
I have been doing 25"s with my little Arab ( 3hr 15min. on hilly bush trail) and his recovery times are under 2 min. even with him being a little chubby. He 14.2H with a wide chest and a barrel as big as my 16H quarter horse.
The lung-capacity-to-body size sounds logical. I recall reading about the British in Arab countries in the First World War, on horses, and that they found for the long marches they made with the horses that those that were 'bread-basket' shaped in their barrels were best. Endurance riders with many miles experience told me that horses that carry more bulky muscle, or even those that are fat as well as fit, don't radiate heat as quickly and that that is a liablility. Friends with a big, powerful mule (draft-cross) found he could not handle the climbs like the lighter-muscled animals.

An outfitter friend of mine in Jasper National Park used Arab crosses as guest horses and in his pack string. They moved up the trail much faster than the heavier horses belonging to the other outfits. I do not know if he packed them as heavily. He said the speed was wonderful as everyone arrived at camp sooner and the guests were therefor less tired. Tom was quite old whan I met him: I was most impressed to see him ponying 4 horses at a time, just to keep them fit, as he was doing almost no packing by then.

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