author

Harvey Riley

Best known for a practical 1867 guide to breeding, training, and caring for mules, this writer argued for patience and humane treatment long before that was common. His work blends hands-on animal knowledge with a clear, no-nonsense voice.

1 Audiobook

The Mule: A Treatise on the Breeding, Training, and Uses to Which He May Be Put

The Mule: A Treatise on the Breeding, Training, and Uses to Which He May Be Put

by Harvey Riley

About the author

Harvey Riley is known for The Mule: A Treatise on the Breeding, Training, and Uses to Which He May Be Put, first published in 1867. The book presents him as superintendent of the Government Corral in Washington, D.C., and it has remained the work most closely associated with his name.

Riley wrote from practical experience. His book focuses on how mules are bred, handled, trained, and worked, and one of its most memorable themes is that these animals respond best to steady, kind treatment rather than cruelty or force. That humane, experience-based approach helps explain why the book still circulates in reprints and digital editions today.

Reliable biographical details beyond the book itself are limited in the sources I could confirm, so this overview stays close to what is clearly documented: Riley was a nineteenth-century American author of a durable livestock manual whose reputation rests on a single influential work.