# Putting Weight on Large Riding Mule



## hfhopper

I just bought my first mule & will be bringing him home next weekend. According to the man I'm buying him from, he's been the low man in his current herd & has been chased off of the round bale (I also witnessed this when I was there to try him out). He's 10 years old & a solid 15.3 hands, but his ribs & hips are showing. I'd estimate he could stand to put about 200 lbs back on. He has only been fed hay, no concentrate. I've had horses for over 30 years & know how to put weight on them. Free choice grass hay, rice bran, beet pulp, & a good ration balancer (I use Tribute Essential K). Is this a good plan for a mule too? I'm also planning on having a fecal tested to get him on a deworming plan & addressing teeth ASAP.


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## ChitChatChet

No beet pulp.... very bad for donkeys and so I would think mules too.

Just good quality free choice hay is all one needs.


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## hfhopper

ChitChatChet said:


> No beet pulp.... very bad for donkeys and so I would think mules too.


Why is beet pulp bad for donkeys & probably mules? This is my horse knowledge showing since it's the go to thing for adding weight on OTTB's.


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## thecolorquest

Longears don't need the sugars. Do his teeth, do the fecal. Worm him. Then put him on good quality grass hay (not alfalfa) and a 10-12% pelleted non-sweet feed (2-3 cups a day). Add a teaspoon of corn oil to his diet twice a week. Exercise, and tone him up. That's the best way to see results without stressing his system.


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## Dehda01

@colorquest a skinny mule needs calories. 2-3 cups of 10-12% grain and a teaspoon of corn oil twice a week won't put 200 lbs on a large mule. It may maintain one, but not aggressively get one back to good healthy. My standard donkey gets 1/2 cup of ration balancer to maintain. 

You want a nice low NSC grain. Or a ration balancer. He will probably put weight on quickly once he is taken out of the bad situation. Ration balancer a are nice, but may be slow to make him improve, particularly over winter, which makes me concerned. I would work up to 6 lbs of a good premium pelleted grain over 7-10 days and reevaluate him every 2 weeks and see if he need sto increase slightly or even reduce. Once he is a good weight reduce or switch to a ration builder.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## thecolorquest

We don't recommend putting weight onto a longear quickly. Different people, different advice, but I'd look into slow buildup over months, not weeks. Once they start getting fat, it's impossible to go back the other way. We recommend looking here for additional info as well. Ask Meredith – Nutrition & Diet


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## TessaMay

Think of a mule like you would an IR horse when choosing foods and you are usually pretty safe.


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## Corporal

Low protein, grass hay, free choice. Perhaps oats, because they take longer to chew, but no more than a handful/day to start, then increase by one handful more/day, and I wouldn't feed more than 1 pound/day total. Talk to your Vet! Donkeys and mules can founder easily if you put them on a typical horse weight gain diet!
If his weight loss was because they put him in a herd, than he kept getting run off from the HAY, so hay is what he needs most.


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## ChitChatChet

hfhopper said:


> Why is beet pulp bad for donkeys & probably mules? This is my horse knowledge showing since it's the go to thing for adding weight on OTTB's.


High in iron and it causes other health issues too I am told by a friend in the know. I dont understand it all.


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## stanbrown0125

Keep it simple. Remember; a mule will not overeat and founder. You can "constant feed" a mule (with the caveat that there is no such thing as always and never - there are ALWAYS exceptions) his/her favorite food and it will only eat what it needs. "Fattening up" mules and that terribly difficult task has been a universal complaint/ matter of discussion among the show mule community for a LONG time. Fattening up a mule is just plain hard to do regardless. Cake and candy don't tempt them much, if you get my meaning. My advise would be work it and give it lots of the normal fare. As much as it wants. The key is to WORK it and get it's BODY to crave more food. Mule's not like a horse in that respect. A horse will eat just because it wants to. A mule will only eat what it's body tells it, it needs. Maybe a few bites more w/ personality; but keep in mind - a mule won't founder (again w/ the always and never thing). If you want a mule to gain weight - you have to work it so it's body is hungry. Then the natural few mouthfuls that are excess calories, get to go to weight. Think about how YOU eat. We eat balanced diets of intake calories and calorie burn - we stay the same weight. We work out - we crave food after. DUH! We just burned off a BUNCH of calories. We will eat a little more calories than we burned, though. Think of it like this: What kind of weight do you want? That's the first question I always ask with ANY livestock. So what do we want? Fat or muscle? Both are weight. Livestock management actually thinks about that stuff. Sometimes I want fat (in cows) cause the beef companies want a blend - marbling. Sometimes I want lean (Winn Dixie likes their beef leaner than anyone else), sometimes I need the fat. SO: What'cha want? Fat weight or Muscle weight?
; cause you can put EITHER on. It's just a matter of exercising enough to get to the point of : "I'm HUNGRY ****it!!" Feed me!!" With Mules? It is TRULY more about exercise, I mean, don't think; I'll sweeten it up so much he/she can't resist it. Think; I'll work it so hard it will have a HUGE appetite and I'll give it all it wants. Then be patient. Nobody EVER beefed up a Mule in a month. LOL.


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## stanbrown0125

Ma'am; I guess I just took a lotta space sayin' is: you don't have to worry NEAR as much about a Mule's feed as you do a horse's. If you want it to gain weight; love and WORK it and give it all it wants to eat without overthinking it like we have to do with horses. You can't (again w/ the always and never thing) over feed a mule and if you have a skinny one? Work it more and it will eat more. BTW!! DO keep (if you are gonna constant feed it) ITS feed bucket isolated from the horses! He will eat HIS fill, go on a walk and all his food will be gone and it won't be hard to tell who the culprit is! The sick (over ate) horse!! LOL.


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