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Gelding a Terrified Mini Donkey

Horse Care
#1

I will, of course, be discussing this with my vet as well.

Two weeks ago I brought home a mini Jack. He is a pitiful sight to see with large and small scars all over, parts of both ears missing, missing hair, etc. He’s really been poorly treated to say the least. An acquaintance of mine got him from the local auction and put a bit of weight on him to start. He is still very timid though I can pet him and lead him just fine.

He is not studish at all, too scared I think!

I have my vet coming out to examine and vaccinate him next week in preparation for gelding.

I’ve only had mares and geldings so I’ve never dealt with post-castration and also never with something semi-feral! I know walking him is important which should be no problem. My issue is the possibility of needing cold hosing. Should I wait to geld until spring? Can you go without cold hosing in cold temps? Alternatives? Should I just wait until he’s been given time to relax and trust me or get it over with?

I have all mares and a mini Jenny so he’s been kept separated and will be until gelding.

Advice because I’m nervous for this little guy!

This photo does a poor job of showing how beat up he really is. This is his true body condition though. Cute little fella, just needs some serious TLC!

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#2

Sweet-looking guy. Thank you for taking him in!

Sorry, I have no advice.

#3

Long ago, a barn I worked at acquired several young unbroken pony stallions, not a rescue situation but they were both semi-unhandleable and studdish. As I recall, the owners opted to geld immediately to address herd safety and behavioral issues as much as possible before getting into training. The vet had a bit of a tough time getting them sedated but nothing he couldn’t handle given their small size, though neither he nor the ponies were thrilled about it! They definitely didn’t get cold-hosed afterward, probably not walked either, though I believe they ate bute in a handful of delicious sweet feed for several days to help prevent pain and swelling. So it can be done.

If your poor little guy isn’t acting up or causing herd issues, and you would prefer to be able to cold hose after gelding, I don’t know why you couldn’t wait for spring weather and see if you can get him more handleable by then. Though cold weather is an anti-inflammatory too I would guess. Definitely see what your vet says.

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#4

I would be hesitant to geld if you have very cold weather because I am a firm believer in cold hosing after the procedure. We have done early spring gelding, still a bit chilly, but not below 40F night or day for a week or so. Body is a bit weakened with gelding, open to easier chilling, so why tempt things? Up between his hind legs is a “hot spot” on his body, one of the first places to apply cold water to cool an equine when they overheat! So in cold weather it could easily chill him when his body is stressed, has weakened resistance.

Donkey is different than horse anyway, so watch his drug of choice for sedation. They often need LOTS more than expected. Even safer is tying up a leg during the process to KNOW he can’t cow kick the Vet. They can stroke from muzzle WAYYY out past his rump faster than you can blink. Be safe! Local Vet thought he had BLM donkeys sedated for hoof trimming but Farrier said they were not sedated enough, watching him too hard. Vet laughed, called him a baby, went to pick up a hoof when donkey kicked and gave Vet a new hair part! Vet DID give another shot before heading to ER for stitches with the BO driving. Farrier got donkeys trimmed easily, they did not care anymore after that second shot.

If you can, walk him 3 times a day. More effort on your part, but better for him moving to drain. Time the walks, 30 minutes each session if possible, and keep moving the whole time. Actually just walking is fine, I would time the 30 minutes each session to KNOW he got exercised enough. With colts we can free lunge them walk and gentle trot to get in the time, but I never saw a mule or donkey cooperate with lunging. You do NOT want him running wildly in a round pen situation trying to force his exercise. Leading him is probably the easiest way to exercise him. You also get in “together time” helping him know you better! I do this about 7 days, expecting reduced drainage after the 4th-5th day. Keep any crusty stuff, bloody drips washed away to prevent hair loss. Bigger incisions drain better, take longer to close, so keep checking him for infection.

We have had very good healing, no infections or swelling with this exercise program on our young horses. You do not want to need the Vet making a second visit after gelding is d9ne. Best to get Tetanus, other shots done well before gelding time, to give donkey extra protection with immunity.

It sounds like he will be a nice guy with time, and being gelded will make his life easier anyplace he goes. Too bad he is so beat up, ear nicks and damage may get covered with fuzzy hair in time. Just be very careful, scared animals can act badly, don’t need you getting hurt!

#5

Is there a reason to do it right away? I’d surely wait a little bit- so long as he is well secured (they can jump, and well) I would build a relationship first.

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#6

Well… when they round up mustangs and wild burros, they get gelded right away. Not quite sure how they do it, but I’m betting they don’t get anything in terms of aftercare. Not that you should go that route, just sayin’…

But I’d probably wait, too, if you can. Donkeys have memories like elephants. A bad experience with all of this, and you may have problems with shots and the vet forever. Plus, if something does go wrong with the castration and it gets infected, it would be nice to be able to handle him easily for treatment.

He is so adorable, though!

#7

Thanks all! No, no real reason to geld right away. Only reasons I wanted to do it sooner than later: 1) is to be able to put him in with the rest of the herd and 2) while he is pretty mellow and showing no rank behavior, I wanted to chop those boys before his comfort level increases and he feels fine with acting studish or potentially dangerous. (No history on the little guy so he may have never acted like that in the past and won’t in the future, I do not know).

But I am concerned with the procedure weakening him even further as @goodhors mentioned. He is still a bit frail (his fluffy coat hides it in the picture) and in need of some more fat and muscle.

Sounds like waiting is the best option.

I can tell he’s getting tired of being stalled so much, I’ll have to re-configure my turn out situation…this damn rain/mud doesn’t help that issue! I can’t even get stone brought in! Ugh :sigh: I digress…

#8

Glad you are waiting. Do plan on continuing to keep him alone AFTER gelding for 6 to 8 weeks so his sperm are dead or gone. They ARE fertile after gelding with sperm already in place. Experts say wait 6 weeks, so I add another 2 weeks to be on the safe side, letting testosterone diminish more, sperm die off. Then out with geldings a while.

He does not look small. What do you guess is his height? Asking because normal donkey height animals (12h or so) can be terrible fighters left ungelded. Like alligators, they only let go to get a better bite hold. They win in stallion fights over bigger animals because they just won’t give up. You sure do not want any over-fence fighting!

We stall new animals beside our other animals for several days, before turning them out together. Boards take abuse better than fences, not going to catch a striking hoof like wire or pipe. Just want things safe when he is allowed company. We only turn new guy out with one home horse at a time, big field so no cornering either one. They get 2 days together before home horse removed so then I can swap in a new home horse, getting in one to one time again. Being stall friends helps some, usually just some squealing and running. New horse rotates being stall friends, then pasture friends, with each horse here, one at a time. Seems to work pretty well, bite marks happen but no " Gotta teach new horse who is boss" kind of things, even with my very dominant geldings.

#9

The resident burrito at my boarding barn was never gelded! :eek: Oddly, he shows no studdish behavior. Even when a new mare was brought in (and went into heat) he showed no interest. :confused:

#10

In regards to sedation, from my own experience…my two donkeys are day and night. One needed sedation for trimming and needed extra for his small size. For floating teeth, the other one was given supposedly what is normal for his size and he was so zonked out after having his teeth floated we had to wait a really long time before we could load him to go home and even then it was a struggle. Different donkeys, possibly different drugs, but something to think about.

#11

And he’s in with your mares? I do wonder if my guy will be the same. But don’t know if I want to chance it! :lol: All my girls show no interest in him what so ever. He is curious about them but just pokes his nose through the fence and then returns to his hay.

@goodhors He is pretty small. Well below 36" I’d guess. That photo was taken at the farm who pulled him from auction. The fence must be short! My 5 ft. 4-board fence only has him at about the 2nd board from the bottom.

@stressgirl37 good to know. I always get nervous with sedation, I’d rather increase it as needed vs wallop with a big dose right off the bat. My mare’s last float she broke out in hives and was SO zonked she almost fell over, I was freaked!

#12

The burro originally was in a paddock with his OTTB gelding buddy. But it turns out that the fence wasn’t burro-proof in spite of reinforcements. So now he wanders within the outer fence. There have been 3 mares and he never showed interest in any. Only one mare right now and she has chosen her gelding companion and is nasty to other males!

#13

My understanding is that most jacks will not pasture breed a mare under their own volition. It’s like they don’t recognize horses as a possible mate. Usually it’s not until a human encourages the process that a “light bulb” goes off that they can breed the horses, too. I’ve heard the same thing about mares in heat generally not being willing to accept a jack in the pasture, unless a human has encouraged a mating in the past. By encouraging I mean putting them in close quarters and/or restraining one or both somehow (hobbles on the mare, etc.).

BUT…

There are exceptions to everything. Obviously some combinations of donkeys and horses must get the idea on their own, or you wouldn’t see so many seemingly unplanned mules and hinnies ending up at auctions and feed lots.

It’s kind of the same type of risk of putting weanling aged colts out with other fillies or mares. Yeah, they probably won’t do anything… but every now and then, one especially randy weanling gets something pregnant.

And you mention a jennet; unless you want a donkey foal, I definitely wouldn’t put those two together.

#14

I know of a local donkey jack who used to get out, wander the neighorhood. Very gentle, QUIET, ending up in paddocks or pastures of horse owning neighbors, who then called his owners to come get him after finding him. The next spring there were a number of mule foals produced, surprising everyone!! Evidently no one ever LOOKED under the donkey to see he was fully intact, they just sent hIm home. He was not big, 12-13H. Obviously a good jumper, never had a mark on him getting inside those fences!

I bought one of the mule foals, owners of very nice QH mare were embarrassed by the foal, wanted her GONE NOW. Quite pretty, refined by the mare. Alas, we are not mule folks, so Becky moved on as a 2yr old, to a man who adored her and a productive life as a driving mule.

So do not think quiet means donkey is gelded, look under there to KNOW he is! Ha ha No interest doesn’t mean anything. That wandering jack never looked at a mare, some of those mares were maidens, so he was a smooth operator. No marks on the mares after he visited either. He was good, knew exactly when they were fertile, got them bred even as little as he was. Some of the mares were 16H. He was gelded shortly after the first mare foaled a mule. Not sure if his owners had to pay damages to mare owners or they just wrote foals off as a bad deal.

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#15

You don’t say where you are but in our area by March the worst of winter is past and it would be okay to gelding during a predicted mild stretch of weather. And March is only 7 weeks away. :slight_smile: Getting a little more flesh on the guy and building trust with him would be a bonus but he would work through it if you had to do it now because you are already providing more food to him.

This morning I’m going up to a friends farm to check out her mini stud donkey. He’s 9 months old and she thinks he has finally dropped. She wants me to confirm that Santa gave him a pair before scheduling his castration. FTR, he did just start mounting his jenny paddock mate but wasn’t completing the process. She has them separate for now.

Good luck with your guy and for providing him a soft landing.

#16

Whenever you decide to get the gelding done (I’d wait a while too- continue to boost his health and strength, and your relationship with him), don’t be turning him out with females too soon, it takes a few weeks before it is safe to avoid pregnancy, should the act occur. Good luck with the new donkey boy.

#17

Yup- occasionally the BLM will have mules for adoption.

#18

I’m definitely going to keep him separated! We do have a little jennet and as cute as a donkey foal would be:love-struck:…Not happening on my farm!
Trying to imagine a little donkey jack mounting and successfully breeding a full size mare…:uhoh::confused::eek: I just don’t understand the logistics. Determined little guys!

@SLW agree. Same with my area. 7 weeks doesn’t sound so bad.

He’s becoming more curious and confident by the day. I’ve been letting him wonder the closed off barn while the girls are out and he found his way into the feed room yesterday (bins are impossible to access) :eek: The girls have never attempted that because there are a couple steps. He allowed me to easily lead him back into the barn and continued munching on his hay. Learned I need to close that door now! He’s so much better with his head-shyness already and learning to pick up his feet!

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#19

@longlanefarm, I had a 12.2 Hackney pony that was gelded at age 10, and probably had been used at stud prior to that. By the time I got him, he was 22, so it wasn’t a recent event. He managed to do the deed with my 15.2 Paint mare, multiple times, but since he was gelded. nothing resulted except small hoofprints on her backside. I used to get outraged phone calls from my neighbors: “Do you know what your horses are doing???”

The mare would put herself downhill from him and squat down a bit. Poor thing was desperate for a boyfriend, but I had no interest in breeding her.

Rebecca

#20

You already have a jenny so maybe you already know this but I’ve learned with my donkey they learn the good AND the bad in ONE shot. A stall door not latched while you are in the aisle selecting which blanket, they nudge it open and from then on every.single.time they will nudge the stall door to see if it’s unlatched. :slight_smile:

I used a clicker with my donkey to train a couple things and it worked very well. Training task complete (like move haunches when tapped with my fingers), click, treat and she had her PHD in that task. Prior to that I would have to brace against her side and rock her to get her to move her rear feet over 1/2". :slight_smile:

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