Creature Feature: Philip, A Honey Of A Hinny

It was not love at first sight when Jeanette Schwenk saw Philip the hinny at the barn of a Long Island horse dealer. She had instructed the dealer to find her a Sicilian donkey that she planned on giving her husband for his birthday. Instead the dealer produced Philip.

Alas, poor Philip was not looking his best. He presented a most sorrowful picture with head hanging to the ground and long ears at half-mast. Ms. Schwenk was alarmed to note that mucus was streaming from his nostrils - a sign that he was probably suffering from strangles, a very serious and highly infectious disease amongst equines. He also had the bulging pot belly and dull coat that indicate severe worm infestation.

"That is not a Sicilian donkey! And he's sick. I can't bring him into my barn," she told the dealer. But, halfway home, troubled by the likely fate of the sorry creature, she relented and returned to the dealer's to bring Philip home.

But What Is He?

Once home the veterinarian was called immediately. Ms. Schwenk's fears were borne out, her new long-eared friend did indeed have strangles, which necessitated antibiotic treatment. And not only was poor Philip's interior infested with worms, but his exterior was infested with lice.

Copious dewormings and a weekly delousing bath became part of his

regime. "It took six months of treatment until he was his spunky self," Ms. Schwenk said.

When recovered, he delighted his owners with his intelligent and extremely affectionate nature and was named Philip in honor of a close family friend, the late Philip Rosenquist, who was also designated as his "godfather."

But what Philip actually was remained a mystery. He was too sleek and leggy to be a purebred donkey and was smaller and more elegant than the average mule. It was Dave Birdsall, a blacksmith, who solved the riddle. Having been familiar with mules since childhood - his grandfather raised them - he identified Philip as a hinny.

And just what is a hinny? An ass-backward mule, actually. A mule is ,

the hybrid offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). A hinny is produced from the opposite arrangement, the mating of a male horse (a stallion) to a female donkey (a jennet).

Quite Rare

According to Lea Baton of the American Donkey and Mule Society

hinnies are generally thought to be more horse-like in appearance than a mule, but, because they receive their early life lessons from a mellow donkey mom rather than the more flighty and mercurial horse mom, more donkey-like in attitude.

Hinnies are quite rare and make up only about 5 percent of the mule population. The low fertility rate of the jennet combined with the usual problems in hybrid breedings result in only about 30 percent of the matings being productive.

Playing Soccer

Deliberate attempts to produce hinnies usually end in failure. Ms. Baton said with a laugh, "Most hinnies happen by accident, when the female donkey gets in with the stallion on her own. And then you say, 'Oh no, what am I going to do with the results of that!' "

Philip has lived in Ms. Schwenk's East Hampton barn for 10 years. At one point she did attempt to train him for riding, but "he was going to be a real tough nut to crack. I'd try to get him to go left, he'd go right!" So she let Philip devise his own means of staying fit and mentally occupied. He settled on the role of all-around sportsman and consummate schmoozer.

His favorite sports are "soccer" and "hit the fence posts with the Frisbee." Soccer Philip-style consists of knocking the ball rapidly around his field and then dropping down to catch it between his knees. The Frisbee game is more inventive and makes a lovely racket. Philip races about the exterior of his field smacking the Frisbee held between his teeth upon every fence post.

A Special Animal

When solitary games pale, Philip engages in energetic rassling with Tommy, Ms. Schwenk's elegant, strikingly tall thoroughbred gelding. And he's always available for pats, attention, and even costume-wearing if his humans insist.

A mule is the hybrid offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). A hinny is produced from the opposite arrangement, the mating of a male horse (a stallion) to a female donkey (a jennet).

"He's the most affectionate animal I have," said Ms. Schwenk - and that's saying a lot for Philip's sweetness, since Ms. Schwenk also shares her life with two basset hounds, notoriously solicitous creatures.

"I'd thought I was going to get an inexpensive, easy-to-care-for little pet," said Ms. Schwenk ruefully as she added up in her head the cost of Philip's medical care. "I could have bought another horse for what he's cost me."

After the initial expense of rehabilitating Philip, it turned out that he needed major surgery on his hind legs. He's past all that now and hale and hearty. And Ms. Schwenk has no regrets. "He's been worth every penny. He's a wonderful and special animal."