A lot of people know that donkeys and horses are not the same although they do have some similarities that will allow them to have similar features. Donkeys are known to be different from horses because they were bred in Mesopotamia.
This happened around 5,000 years ago. Mules may look sort of similar to donkeys but they are more like their parents. The only thing that is different about them is they will not be able to reproduce.
You will also notice than donkeys will have longer ears as compared to mules. You would need to breed a donkey and a horse in order to produce a mule.