[pct-l] Horses & Mules as pack-animals

[dsaufley at sprynet.com (dsaufley@sprynet.com)]

Thank you for your kind words. I will be the first to admit that my horse experience is limited; I've owned three now (two currently) for the last three years.  It takes a lot more than that to have real expertise in the equine world!  I consider myself a novice.  I've never owned or ridden a mule. I know that mules are different from horses, but I'll defer to some of the other experts out there who may have first-hand experience with them.

We recently hosted some packers (Josie & Cuervo) traveling along the PCT with burros (which are different from both horses and mules -- BTW, a mule is a cross between a horse and a burro, and cannot be created by breeding two mules).  The burros were doing FABULOUSLY on the trail; I can see why the old miners would use them -- they've very easy keepers.

Burros can eat what they find along the trail, and thrive.  Horses need a much more consistent diet to avoid gastrointestinal problems.  In fact, burros do better foraging for food as they would in the wild than they do with domestic diets that people feed them.  Logistically this would make them a much easier pack animal to travel with than a horse.  They were also just adorable, and I fell in love with them.  They could be either ridden or towed, and carried the load for their owners.  They would be my pick for a pack animal, even over the horses (don't tell my horses I said so!).  

One of my favorite stories is Robert Lewis Stevenson's "A Man and a Donkey", where tells the tale of a man who  hikes through the Pyrenees with a donkey in tow.  Some of the fits he has with the donkey are really funny.  I don't think they're all as stubborn as that one!  

-=Donna Saufley=-



-----Original Message-----
From: Norma <n.ruiz@verizon.net>
Sent: Dec 7, 2004 12:36 PM
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Horses & Mules as pack-animals

Donna..! you make a lot os horse sence,and I enjoyed your writeings on horses,I tryed to wrtie you at your address ,but cant get through,some of your writeings I save and read over,your a interesting lady,and when I think about it it all makes sence, ,,But ,,How does a Mule campare to a hores,as in training as a pack mule ?they surly got to be the same animal ..!, I am Howard ,the one with the bad legs,that wanted to put a cart on the trail some time past,well I did all my research on the pct,and know most of all the rules,did get a Llama,,,However,,,a wild pack of dogs got him,Terrrible,,,!I still never made it to the trail,but getting closer and closer,,,!    Howard "the Bull"
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