Libby woman's donkey wins world championship

Kit Branch of Libby knew exactly when she fell in love with the breed of equine she refers to as “the 4x4 of the horse world.”

Branch, who led her prize jack Lone Branch Bugsy to a world championship in the halter division of the Bishop Mule Days last month, said her introduction into the world of mules and donkeys came when she was invited to ride with her cousin, Jack DeShazer, many years ago.

Coming from California, Branch said Montana always called her name because her great-uncles had homesteaded in the area. She used to return for family vacations growing up and had always been a horse-lover. But it was DeShazer who got her on to the unique abilities of mules in the backcountry.

“He asked me, ‘well you ride, don’t you?’” Branch remembered. ‘I told him, ‘I do.’”

And off they went.

“We went places I’d never taken a horse,” Branch said. “Straight up a mountain, and they never missed a step. I got back and said ‘I gotta get myself a mule.’”

Since then, Branch and her husband Norm, have become experts on looking for jack stock to breed with horses, so that quality mules are in good supply in Montana.

The couple look for mammoth jack stock to breed, which is what Lone Branch Bugsy – or just “Bugsy,” as he is called around the stable – is entered as when he competes.

Bugsy’s size is one of the defining qualities of the breed, Branch explained about the mammoth jack. At 56 inches high  - jennies, or females, are typically 54 inches – Bugsy defies the misconception that donkeys look like desert burros. Donkeys can be a variety of sizes and colors, Branch said.

Mules are the offspring of a male jack, or donkey, and a female horse, Branch explained, for people who aren’t familiar with mules. A horse has 64 chromosomes and a donkey has 62, so the mule ends up with 63. Because of the odd number of chromosomes, mules – which can be either male or female – can’t reproduce.

Branch said after years of breeding mules and donkeys, she had a good feeling about Bugsy when he was born.

“He was a big baby,” Branch said. “If we weren’t there to pull him out, he wouldn’t have made it. He just had a really good color, and watching him grow we knew he was special.”

In the Bishop Mule Days competition, Bugsy was competing against 20 representatives from around the country, including Maine, Oklahoma, Arizona and Colorado. His highest scores were in the halter division, in which he was made “world champion,” Branch said.

Back on the ranch, Bugsy is resting after the Montana Mule Days in Drummond and will be continuing on as a stud, just like his sire, six-time world champion Jack-of-Spades, who lives in a neighboring corral.

Branch said putting her energy into the donkeys and mules on their property is incredibly fulfilling. But that’s not to say life with a mule is easy.

“They have their quirks,” Branch said. “There is always a conversation with a mule.”