Update on Hudson the horse and Walter the donkey. For the last 8-9 days I’d been keeping them separate, Hudson was still charging the fence 
Well yesterday I had Hudson up in a little paddock area, and Walter was loose in the pasture. My husband had to repair some boards that had come loose, general fence repair…There is a small walk through gate that we close with a chain, just down in a slot. We finished up the repair, and I went back to the house to feed the dogs. When I went back down to the barn to feed 
what do I see? the little walk through gate is open, and there’s Walter and Hudson standing in the paddock together I about peed my pants!! I checked Walter for any damage (none) Right now, they seem to be ok together, Hudson still doesn’t like him, and if the donk, invades his bubble, he’ll charge at him…but he’s not harassing him or hurting him or anything like that so that’s a start. I hope with time they’ll warm up to each other…for now it’s just a relief not to have to shuttle horses, donks and sheep around everyday, twice a day…
I’m glad the impromptu introduction went well, OP!
Donkeys are pretty street smart meaning they know how to stay out of (most) danger. Unless Walter is a real weirdo for a donkey, he should have a pretty good sense of self-preservation and inherently understand how not to provoke Hudson, provided there is enough personal space. They seem to know when it’s safe to act like “asses” and when they are better off not poking the bear.
Yes, Walter is pretty savvy 
he also will defend himself. This morning they seemed to be a little better, feeding time seems to be the only issue now…but that’s easily remedied, and Walter is super smart, he knows just where his food bucket is, after just one day. I’m hopeful that after a while they’ll buddy up.
With time, Walter will likely wear Hudson down. :lol:
My gelded jack doesn’t care much for herd dynamics (he only cares about doing what he wants), but my jennet seems to think she should be “alpha mare” of the herd. This means usurping the current alpha mare, who is the mare I mentioned earlier who was initially so aggressive towards donkeys. There is not a snowball’s chance in h-e-double hockey sticks that this donkey will become the alpha, but it’s been pretty funny watching her try to move up the pecking order over the years. She is so smart yet persistent about it, knowing when she can push buttons and when she has to back off to avoid getting creamed by horses more than twice her size. Some days the donkey is #2 of the herd, most days the horses knock her back down to second to last. But all this happens with nary a mark on anyone.
I just opened your video and my three dogs went bat-crap crazy when they heard Walter! I couldn’t even watch more than the first few seconds because they were running around, barking and generally losing their mind.
We have a mini honk a donk. It took a couple weeks for our girls to become accustomed to the new tiny dictator. Give them time. It may not work. Some horses are genuinely terrified of them.
I was just thinking about my pony’s move to his last barn. I moved him from Colorado to South Carolina, so he was quarantined in a stall for a few days. I told the BO that he would be happiest getting moved outside as soon as possible, and to go ahead and move him when she was ready. He was doing OK in the stall, but it was clear to me he wanted out. Luckily there were a bunch of other horses being kept in at that time, so at least he had company.
I went out to see him often when he first got there, and one day he wasn’t in his stall. I looked outside, and the BO had moved him into a shared pasture. She called it the old man pasture (for which he certainly was qualified–he was in his 30s by then). When I got closer to the pasture, I realized my pony was rooming with a horse and a donkey. I’d never had him around a donkey, but he came from an auction with no background info, so who knows, he might have been around one previously. Anyway, the BO said she just led him out there and turned him out, since he didn’t react at all at the sight of the donkey. She kept an eye on them for quite a while, and they were fine. They got to be good friends very quickly. Unfortunately, we had to move him to his own pasture because he was such a slow eater and could only eat senior feed. This BO liked to move him around since he couldn’t keep the grass down in his pasture (not enough teeth), and he seemed to get along with all his neighbors.
Rebecca
