Ann Lennon with her mule ‘Jenny' on a lead, with the new celebrity foal called ‘Sally ‘in the foreground.

Carrigallen miracle mule produces a foal

Sean McMahon


Generally considered to be sterile, a Carrigallen mule has given birth to a rare foal - known as a ‘molly’. It’s understood to be the first such reported since another in Colorado, USA, in 2007. Information online suggests that there have only been about 50 reported cases of mules giving birth in the past 200 years.
The four-year-old mule called ‘Jenny’ is owned by Ann Lennon and it was born over four weeks ago in the townland of Camber near Carrigallen.
The Anglo-Celt paid a visit to Ann who told us that it is only the third such reported birth in the world in 12 years with the last reported ones in Colorado in 2007 and Morocco in 2002.
Ann told us that she bred the foal’s mother four years ago. Her mother was a Welch Section A pony and the father a Jack Donkey.
The father of the new foal is a Jack piebald donkey, brown and white in colour.
Ann told The Anglo-Celt that she could not believe it when the new foal arrived, as people had led her to believe that such mules were sterile.
Ann said it was a pleasant surprise and people have been calling to take photographs.
The new foal is one quarter pony and around three quarters donkey and it is interesting to note that in America a mule has been bred with a pony again and there are no characteristics on the donkey showing at all.
The little foal, which is called ‘Sally’, will not be fertile as far as can be determined.
Ann says that not much research has been done on all of this but now some research is going to be carried out in England.
Mules are much stronger than donkeys and were reputed to be the “poor man’s horse” in days of yore. Mules are believed to be less tolerant of dogs than horses and more like donkeys. They are also capable of striking out in any direction with any of their hooves.
When you google the word mule, you will find interesting factors like they exhibit a higher cognitive intelligence than their parent species.
Mules and Hinnes each have 63 chromosomes – a mixture of the horse’s 64 and the donkey’s 62. The different number and structure usually prevents the chromosomes from pairing up properly and creating successful embryos, rendering most mules infertile.
Ann has written to the Donkey Sanctuary in England, telling them about the happy event.