I agree that donkeys ideally should be placed with other donkeys… but… mine also seems just fine with horse buddies only. Believe me, she gets PLENTY of social interaction. She’s even higher in the pecking order than my TB mare!
I’ve observed that when you have two or more donkeys turned out with horses, they donkeys tend to pair off and keep to themselves. Then you risk sometimes losing the benefit of companionship for a lone horse.
I once boarded at a place where my WB mare lived out in a ~10 acre pasture with a herd of about 4 horses and 3 donkeys. The horses and donkeys NEVER interacted with each other. After months of living in that pasture, my mare would still spook and freak out when the donkeys came too close! Being left alone with them was like being left alone with horse-eating monsters for her. Yet she’s fine with my donkey, even when I take my other horse away.
but she’s far less cost and effort than a pony or another horse and cute as all heck.
However as youngsters they definitely seem to be more light hearted. There is a video on my farm FB page of Thistle, our 3 month old jenny, running laps around the landscaping in our front yard. And then I have photos of a prior little jenny, Vidalia, who was the companion of my big leopard Appaloosa gelding, who would go trail riding with us at liberty. So there we would be, three horses, three or four dogs and one minature donkey. :lol: It was priceless!