Mules usually have brown or tan-colored points, where in the donkey the Light Points are a shade of off-white. Some donkeys and mules do not exhibit any light points at all - this is not usual (due to a recessive gene) , but is a good identification marker for registration purposes. Old-timers used to call a dark muzzled mule "blue nosed". Mules can be any of the colors that either horses or donkeys come in, along with some unique variations of their own.