Training a donkey

[Lane Linnenkohl]

Do donkeys respond to controlling movement the way horses do? Can a person use some of the same techniques typically employed in a round pen on a donkey with success?

I have a friend who has a donk and has asked me for advise on training. I know what I would do with a horse, but I have no experience with a donk.

Thanks for any help

Lane Linnenkohl

[Rod]

We have worked in a round pen with our donkeys and also have a couple of donkey training videos that use round pens. One of them says you can use the same techniques on horses so it sound like the same procedures will work either way although I have never trained a horse so can’t say from experience.

[Robert MoonShadow]

When I got my pack donkeys years ago, my neighbor tried to round-pen them for me (I had to be right on them to control them), but he ran across what I later found to be a common occurrence w/ donks… they get bored really easy & once they “get it”, you need to move on quickly. So, roundpens work – as Rod indicated – but too much will cause problems, too. My problem was solved by the simple expedient of just getting to know each other & building trust. I’d suggest having your neighbor contact American Donkey & Mule Society at http://www.lovelongears.com –> they have videos, books, and their magazine “The Breyer” = all focusing on long-ears.

[Demented Donkey Dame]

Lane, you won’t find round penning a donkey very successful. A little round pen goes a long ways. Donkeys need a purpose and they’ll soon figure out going in circles serves no purpose. I start out with basic ground training, add the harness and begin ground driving. Pull objects, my favorite is metal eveners on gravel once they are use to having them pulled all around them before hitching them to the eveners. Attach a tire and really if everything is going well you are ready to hitch. We like to hitch to a been there done it mule, horse or donkey and let them learn to work as a team. I started a donkey in May and did a refresher on one that had been driven. I posted their progress to a blog at http://www.2011teamdonk.wordpress.com You may want to check it out. Here’s the best way to describe working with a donkey:
You tell a horse what to do,
You ask a mule and
you negotiate with a donkey! Good Luck!

[Robert MoonShadow]

Um Kristi, ya forgot the other step in the middle: me pulling the metal evener, then the tire through the gravel & rocks, to convince the boys
1) It CAN be done
2) It can be done w/out the donkeys getting eaten!
:p

[Demented Donkey Dame]

Hey Robert that was a really important part of our playing with the donks. I’m still healing from the little road rash… when I hollered WHOAAAAAA, they stopped and I kept going till I hit the ground. LOL! Glad we weren’t hitched to that evener! Couldn’t have done it that day without your help…thanks!

[Robert MoonShadow]

Kristi – It was fun, really – but it seems that although the donkey boys know “whoa”, their driver needs some remedial work on it, herself…:p

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