# Behavior and management differences between horses and donkeys



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I halter broke the mini donkeys at my barn. I tracked our "progress" off an on in my general journal. This is where I started:








Me + Three


Wow, the weather changed. It was cold, windy, and drizzly today. My guys were the only ones out in the pasture. Their hooves were full of bad clay mud that's hard to pick out. And none of them wanted to stand still to be picked out. IDK, maybe it was the weather. I got a little frustrated...




www.horseforum.com





These donkeys were very intelligent, very calm, and very treats motivated. Basically I just explained to them that they would be getting treats for working with me, then I took things as slow as they needed.  It actually went super fast, way faster than I expected. I think the key was getting them to want to do it. I've heard you can't force donkeys. Working with them was a lot like working with my Pony, except that they never spooked at anything. I have never halter broken an horse or pony, but I trained Pony to pull stuff (also in my journal). Well, we're in the middle of him learning to pull stuff. I think the donkeys were much more rational than he has been. They have all been very smart and very fast learners, and they have all needed me to get them to want to do what I was asking.

These mini donkeys are out on pasture 24/7 with the ponies. They don't get their feet done ever. They are overweight but have not foundered and their hooves look more or less OK, not forgetting that donkey hooves are supposed to look different than horse hooves.

Disclaimer: I'm not a trainer and I honestly have limited equine experience. This is just my personal experience from working with these two mini d's and my Pony.


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## Crossbreeder (Jul 14, 2021)

Donkeys Are Different: Addressing Their Unique Needs - The Open Sanctuary Project 

https://www.vasci.umass.edu/sites/vasci/files/donkeynotahorse.pdf 

https://www.aspcapro.org/sites/default/files/donkey-care-handbook-5th-edition.pdf 

All excellent resources regarding the care, behavior and management of donkeys and how they differ from horses.


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## Dehda01 (Jul 25, 2013)

Donkey’s tend to think more but that isn’t to say they will not panic if you do not properly set them up or if something spooks them.
They also tend to have to fully understand something before they will do something which makes them seem stubborn so you have to have a lot of patience when training a donkey in the beginning, but they tend to be steadier but slower than horses in the end.
I find I can often push a horse into taking some steps if they are confused to get them going. You can’t with a donkey

but each donkey is an individual and training needs to be done with that in mind. Most of my Donkey’s have been very sweet and gentle, but some haven’t or have been spoiled and not expected to behave well. But if you are talking about a BLM donkey, that is a totally different animal. Remember that they have not been handled from day one, and are wild animals and need to be treated as such.


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