WHAT IS MULE PREJUDICE?

By Vic Otten

In most cases, you know it when you see it- someone states: “what kind of a half ass job is that?” Or someone refers to a person as “stubborn as a mule” or uses the phrase "there's another mule kicking in your stall (an allegory that means your woman is messing around on you with another guy)”. These are examples of associations with the mule that contain negative connotations.  And while they may seem harmless and even funny, these stereotypes, based on a negative and irrational attitude or opinion about mules formulated without a factual basis, can have profound impacts on mules, their owners and society.

Mule discrimination is when mules are treated differently than other equines because of such prejudice. This comes in many forms. For example, a person might refuse to go on a trail ride because of your long eared companion. Or a show barn may refuse to allow the boarding of mules. Additionally, it is not unusual for a Ferrier to refuse to shoe a mule despite the fact that the ferrier has never had a bad experience with a mule.

This is tragic given the fact that this country, and much of the world, was built on the back of mules. Countless loads of laundry would not have been processed if it was not for the 20 mule team that hauled borax out of Death Valley from 1883 to 1889. Likewise, mules played a significant part in the rapid growth of the film industry starring in such classics as Francis the Talking Mule, Two Mules for Sister Sarah, Gus, and Gunsmoke. Let's not forget the brave mules who have also played an integral role in this nation’s military- most recently helping the US in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East. 

It appears that mule prejudice was first addressed in the article entitled “The Ass and the Mule” published in 1848.  Author J.S. Skinner writes: “Let me then invoke the liberality of my readers to cast aside all prejudice against this useful and too often abused hybrid, and impartially to hear me ‘for my cause”. Little has changed since this great visionary attempted to extol the virtues of this fine hybrid.

More recently, mule prejudice was addressed in the Editorial “A prejudice – Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick!” by Ben Tennison in the August 2008 edition of Western Mule Magazine. In that article,

Tennision states: “Because I’ve been competing for more than twenty years against horses I could write a book on things that will without a doubt  make you realize that there is a real and very alive prejudice against mules by people who know very little about them.”

Like other forms of bias, mule prejudice is based on ignorance and deep rooted beliefs passed on from generation to generation. It is the goal of S.T.O.M.P. to educate the public regarding the undeserved ill treatment that continues to this day.