Or if not tonight, maybe I'll find time next week... sorry. Easier to find time to read than type - don't need my hands and brain so much for reading. :-D

So, conformation of the mare is more important than the jack's, since you don't want the baby to look like him much anyways? That can't make the jack's conformation unimportant, though. Still am not sure what is good conformation for a donkey - google is failing me. (First hit: "We won't discuss conformation too much here, except to say that good conformation is obviously better than bad conformation." That's very helpful, thanks.)
If the mare had an overly long back, the foal would have that rather than the short back of the jack.
Jacks have short backs? I must be looking at them totally wrong, cause they look long as busses to me. This is a consideration, because the one thing that really bothers me about my mare is how long her back is.

Disposition of the jack is very important, in any case, so it would be better if I could meet him or have someone check him out for me.

All of this is hypothetical for the moment. My mare is my trail buddy now. She'll eventually want to retire, hopefully not for about 10 years or so. When she does I'll want another sensible, sturdy trail buddy. Mules seem about as sturdy and sensible as animals get, so I'm leaning in that direction. Options that I've come up with so far: wait a few years, save my pennies, and buy a finished mule either locally (lots of $$); wait and save and buy a finished mule from back east (less $$ for purchase, more $$ for shipping, won't get to know mule as well before purchase); wait a somewhat shorter time and buy a weanling from back east - there's none locally I can find (even less $$ for purchase, still lots for shipping, still don't get much time with before buying); wait an even shorter time and breed my mare (not sure how cost of this would compare to above options); or lease a mare to breed - not sure how practical that is. Not seeing any gaited mares around for breeding lease.

The earliest I'd do anything is next spring/summer, but more likely the summer after. When I have time, sunlight, a camera, and a clean horse I will get confo pics of my mare to post. I can't seem to be objective about her - one day I think she's ugly, the next gorgeous. Either I only see her faults, or I can't see them at all. I got her from a rescue that picked her up at auction - I think she's been shown, so was likely registered at one time, but papers didn't make it through the auction with her if she was. People that see her are always complimentary, but maybe they are just being nice cause I'm standing right there. I would not breed her for a horse foal, because even gaited grade horses aren't worth much right now - be cheaper to buy one, and stupid to produce one when they're already out there - but I'd be able to register a mule, and even non-gaited mules seem to go for quite a bit here. I'm pretty sure this hypothetical baby would find a home even if it were ugly, even if I died and my husband sold off all the critters.

Still, not sure I want to bring new life into the world, even if I expect to be responsible for it until it ends. If I could buy a weanling here, I'd much rather do that, but shopping and shipping from 2000-3000 miles away seems like more trouble and maybe expense than breeding, and a lot of the mares I've seen pictured as mule mamas don't look any better than mine (which is not a good reason to breed mine, just I don't like the idea of paying more for less quality).

I am open to persuasion of any kind. Am I completely nuts for even considering the breeding thing?