Mini Donkey behavior advice.

[kaitsmom]

Another boarder at the barn got a mini donkey as a buddy for her mare obsessed gelding. Not sure a gelded mini donkey is going to help with distracting him from mares, but I have no experience with those issues. Mind you this horse STILL wants to trample my mini horse that totally ignores him after 9 months around each other. Obviously I have concerns about the mini donkey’s safety, but barn manager is approaching them living together with caution.

My main concern is the donkey’s behavior. He is 4 months old, was pretty much untangled (***edit because I meant unHANDLED) and was a stud when he was brought to the farm about a month ago. Well, he and the horse are turned out in 2 small paddocks that adjoin and gate is open for part of the day. The donkey chases anything smaller than him with a foot stomping and kicking fury. The barn owner and owner think it is hilarious and cute. I do not think it looks like playing at all. The chickens are the main focus of his attacks right now, but I have seen him go after the medium sized dog who was just laying in the grass and act aggressive towards the dogs in the adjacent yard. Anyway…I have standard donkeys with my cows, but their sole job is to look cute and chase threats to the herd. I imagine they make good guard animals because of this tendency. My questions really center around the fact that this mini is supposed to be a companion for a somewhat neurotic horse in the hopes he will be calmer and happier. Isn’t allowing this behavior counter productive? Am I over thinking this? In my mind it seems like allowing the behavior to develop further is setting this whole scenario up for failure. Will he outgrow this? Anyone have any good links as to the best way to help him into his role as a companion? I would really like to see this work out for the horse and the donkey. Everything I come up with is telling me how to use them as guard animals.

[Mosey_2003]

Well, a couple thoughts.

First, it’s not your donkey, so probably not your problem to worry over.

Second, how would you propose curbing this behavior in the not-your-donkey? Stay out in the field with him all day?

I doubt there’s much to be done for it.

[Calvincrowe]

The “stomping on small animals” thing is pretty much donkey behavior–guarding their territory. The owner must handle this mini donk, now and often. Feet, face, body-all must be touchable. I live next door to a 2 and 3 year old pair of brother donks who are feral. They cannot be touched and their feet are horrid, they’ve never had shots or worming. It is pathetic. The owner of my pair does nothing to fix it. And, yes, they attack any smaller animal like my dogs, coyotes, cats, the goats that live their, the calf that was born recently. Sigh. Getting a donkey foal for a neurotic gelding? Why?

[kaitsmom]

Well obviously I wouldn’t be messing with not-my-donkey. I am asking because when I talked to the owner she didn’t know what to do about it either and thought behavior was cute, then when I mentioned my concerns she, like me, wondered if allowing said behavior now would be a problem later.

While it isn’t my problem, it kind of is since my horses have often been placed so that they have to walk through the paddock. I also watch this horse pace the fence line and drop weight, make himself lame and I would love nothing more than this to be the answer for him to be more content. I care. Maybe I shouldn’t.

[Mosey_2003]

Ah, gotcha. Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound so snarky.

I really don’t think there’s anything you could do to suppress the stomping though.

[kaitsmom]

[QUOTE=Calvincrowe;8064087]
The “stomping on small animals” thing is pretty much donkey behavior–guarding their territory. The owner must handle this mini donk, now and often. Feet, face, body-all must be touchable. I live next door to a 2 and 3 year old pair of brother donks who are feral. They cannot be touched and their feet are horrid, they’ve never had shots or worming. It is pathetic. The owner of my pair does nothing to fix it. And, yes, they attack any smaller animal like my dogs, coyotes, cats, the goats that live their, the calf that was born recently. Sigh. Getting a donkey foal for a neurotic gelding? Why?[/QUOTE]

Thank you for your experiences. I guess she had a horse before with a mini donkey companion and liked the combination. She is working hard on socializing him and handling him and he had his feet done for the first time under mild sedation, but I am sure he will come around with the way she is working with him. Obviously this isn’t the companion I would have chosen for my horse, but since it is what she purchased I wanted it to have the best shot of working out.

[Appsolute]

Yes, donkeys like to stomp things. I haven’t know a donkey that didn’t threaten to stomp things.

And I have never seen a horse pick up the “I am going to stomp things” habit from a donkey.

My old barn had two mini donks that lived in a paddock with another horse. They kept each other company.

And the whole group - 10 horses and two donks got turned out together daily, never an issue…

But the donks would chase away any chickens / cats / dogs that came into their area. That said, I never saw them actually stomp anything, just threaten and chase (and most critters had the wherewithal to get the heck out of there!)

[Libby2563]

I think you’re probably right that a very young, recently-gelded mini donkey is not the obvious solution for a neurotic horse. I have a 5-year-old mini donkey and he is bestest friends with my 2-year-old warmblood, who used to freak out whenever he was left alone in the barn while I was riding his big brother. It worked out great for me even before I got the donkey gelded. OTOH, my friend has a weanling mini mule and is still struggling to make him tractable and a good companion for her horses. Maybe I just got lucky, maybe age/maturity makes a big difference.

As you probably know, people have a tendency to let minis be jerks because their antics are usually cute instead of scary, but they’re certainly capable of becoming dangerous, so I’m glad to hear that your fellow boarder is working on socializing and handling him. However, donkeys are not tiny long-eared horses. I would recommend a good longears book like The Donkey Companion for the owner so she can learn how they think and learn and react differently than horses. The donk may become a perfect companion animal as he grows up, settles in, and gets handled more, who knows?

I guess that’s the best answer I can come up with to your last question…as much handling and socialization as possible. Maybe the donk could be introduced to herd life with a few solid citizen equines first? It’s possible he was kept alone other than his dam before he arrived and just doesn’t know how to interact. But if the girl-crazy horse isn’t interested, that doesn’t solve the original problem anyway. That I can’t really help with.

As to the small animal chasing, that’s pretty normal for donkeys. Mine will chase the dogs away but it has always seemed more token grumpy than “I want to squish the life out of you.” I honestly don’t think it portends bad things for “your” donk’s suitability as a companion for a horse. As Appsolute said, I don’t think the horses will pick up the habit. If it continues to be a bother, the owner could work on introducing him to smaller animals in a controlled way and reward him for not chasing them. Clicker training maybe?

One final word. It sounds like this is a fairly new situation. Donkeys, even more than horses IME, can have trouble adjusting to new routines. I basically rescued my donkey from a pretty dreadful concrete lot full of manure, dirty straw, and other horses/donkeys/goats/whatever. He seemed personable enough when I met him there. Then, even though his new home was a vast improvement, for the first two weeks at least he was despondent. He did like to be scratched and petted, but he barely ate and just wanted to stand under a tree all day. Slowly he started seeking human contact and then after his quarantine period was over he settled right in with the horses. After a month or so he was a whole new donkey! So if the little guy has been through a lot of changes lately, he may just need time. My donkey withdrew into himself, but maybe this one likes to act out instead.

Okay, that covers all the bases I can think of right now. Sorry for the long post. I hope it works out!

[FatCatFarm]

I think mini donks make wonderful companions for big horses, however, I would have found a mature miniature jenny donkey rather than a weanling jack, but he was probably quite cheap. At the very least, a mature gelded mini though ones that have been handled decently can be hard to come by. It seems very few people geld their jacks probably because gelding one costs as much as they are worth or more so, and the well-handled jennys can be a bit pricey.

Given that he is young, he may well acclimate to the farm’s inhabitants and settle down. I would handle him and give him manners, just like any other youngster. They are smart and learn fast though can be quite obstinate about doing things they don’t care for or perceive as being unsafe for them. I have a mini jenny and her 3 wk of jenny baby who is delightful and the friendliest little equine ever. Arrived that way too.

The gelding and the mini gelding may do just fine together after all. Give it time and hopefully someone will also give the mini some much needed handling and manners, and if also discouraged from trampling his barnyard friends, will likely learn to live and let live. I’ve found the mini donks very personable and affectionate if handled right.

[crosscreeksh]

I’ve had mini donks as pets and companions for over 40 years. #1 They are the absolutely MOST horney beast on the planet as Jack’s. #2 They REALLY need to be handled from birth and taught manners and rules…you DO NOT attack MY dogs, cats, chickens, whatever…only strays. The donkey in question has not been gelded long enough to have lost “THAT” trait, but more important…it doesn’t seem that anyone has taught him the manners and rules part!! I’d say he needs some serious handling/training intervention NOW or he needs a new home. Left as he is he will become a very nasty, dangerous pest. This behavior is unacceptable in a companion donkey!! No matter how cute he is!! JMO!!