I’ve recently gotten a 10 year old standard gelding rescue donkey.
He’s my first standard sized, Ive had a mini before.
However, I’m running into some issues with handling him.
He is such a sweet donkey he’ll let you love and kiss all over him, but when you bring a rope or a halter out he will not let you ANYWHERE near him.
He’s gradually getting less scared of the halter, but he still has major issues with lead ropes. Certain things set him off too, if you step the wrong way, make to loud of a noise, roll the muck bucket a little to close to him he’ll get scared and run.
Does anyone have any advice?
My little mule was like this when I got him a year ago. He was afraid of a squeak of a boot, gloves, halters and ropes, manure carts and buckets. I would go about my business in the barn and ignore him while he skittered around doing his best to avoid what he thought was coming. I purposely wheeled the manure cart around in the paddock, not looking at him. He’d take flight but then stop and watch me when he realized I wasn’t coming after him. He had been chased and cornered and forcefully handled prior to me getting him.
Same with a rope and halters. I’d carry them around with me and jangle them; again all without looking at him. I’d also go out into the paddock and trail a rope and swing it around a bit. He’d do a fair amount of dashing away from me, but I’d ignore that and just walk past him and then put the items away and leave the barn.
When I’d come back into the barn later he’d be very curious about what I was going to do next. Ha. It took months, but he now doesn’t react to things in his environment and is no longer afraid of halters or lead ropes.
I also did this once he was approachable, because he’d become a coiled spring anticipating things; I’d put the halter on and drape the lead over his neck. We’d work on “whoa” and then when he was standing quietly I’d remove the halter and rope. He learned that bad things weren’t going to happen to him each time he saw one, or when a halter was put on him and once he understood that I then could work on things like standing for grooming, picking up feet and so on.
Photos below. Here is Gunther upon his arrival at my place, and then a photo this fall, confident in himself and his surroundings.
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Donkeys are like the “cats” of the equine world in the sense that they have very strong self-preservation and minimal drive to please anyone but themselves. Once they get it in their heads that they don’t like something, it can be a challenge to change their minds.
Food is my #1 training tool with my donkey. Mine came to me completely feral, but is now a pretty reliable citizen. Clicker training training works well, but for me, a pocket full of cookies is just as effective.
Do you feed him any hard feed/grain? Donkeys don’t need it, but for getting him over his fear of halters/leadropes, a temporary (small) daily meal routine would probably work well. Put the halter and lead on him while he’s eating, or work your way up to it. Gradually work towards putting it on him and leading him to his food each day.
With the skittishness, I sort of did “sacking out” type routines with my girl, with lots of cookies as rewards.
Basically, patience and positive reinforcement are key, as with training most animals. Once they trust your intentions are usually good, they are more inclined to do what you ask without the bribery. But the process can be a lot slower than with horses.
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