Gentling A BLM Donkey

Let’s start with this:  We are not professional or even experienced equine (donkey) trainers or handlers and don’t know much about what we’re doing.  We travel slow, write this tiny blog and attempt to race our donkeys when possible.  You should read my posts with a grain o’ salt and seek professional donkey training as needed.  IE:  This is NOT professional advice.  Gentling/Training wild donkeys is dangerous, physical work that should be undertaken by those who understand they are taking on a lifelong commitment (donkey’s live for 20-30 years) and can provide safe shelter and consistent access to feed and clean water.

We adopted our BLM donkey [Courtney D. Buttercup] in November and set about gentling her immediately.  Upon completing her journey by horse trailer from BLM Ridgecrest Regional Corrals in Ridgecrest (Ca) to the Adventure Base Ranch (our new place) our two new donkeys were separated and put into their own stalls for about 10 days.  This was to assure they could see, hear and smell each other for a bit before giving them complete access to each other and to allow us to bond with each new donkey.  (Same time we adopted Buttercup we adopted baby Micki from California Breakfast Burritos, a donkey training center in Ridgecrest, Ca).  

After about 10 days, we allowed both donkey’s full access to the larger paddock and the corrals, essentially opening everything up.  Within three weeks, I had arranged a large animal vet appointment and they were given a good health check starting off.  

In addition to visiting the donkeys every day, at least twice a day (to feed) I spent time just hanging out watching and learning their patterns.  They also had to meet and interact with the dogs- one very large Great Dane who quickly got used to them and didn’t go in the paddock and one smaller puppy Great Dane who still goes into the paddock with the donkeys to this day and gets chased around like a whirling dervish.  We quickly started hitting “firsts” and milestones….like first time Buttercup would allow me to get a halter on her, first time she would walk with me on her own, first hoof I could pick up, first time she left the paddock with me, first time she ran away from me (escaped) and the first time she gave me a donkey hug.  But the larger milestones have just come in the last couple months.  These include leaving the property to go practice walking/running, heading out with Micki and Michelle for a practice run session, getting into the new horse trailer on her own, getting out of the new trailer on her own and finally going to the big show, our first donkey race together.  

None of this has been quick or easy and we have a crapload of work to still do in order to continue to donkey race, but Courtney D. Buttercup has come a LONG WAY from the Panamint Mountains in Death Valley, just 6 months ago.  

What’s next?

We have lots and lots of work to do with our donks.  We’ve got to practice with hooves, we’ve got to get consistent with our race training, stay alert to keep them engaged and continue to work with them as often as we can.  We DID NOT adopt these animals to allow them to rot away in an enclosure.  We want to continue to race our donkeys and keep them active.

Donkey Training and Racing Advice/Guidance/Information:  I started off by finding and buying every donkey training book I could find, but they were all light on training wild donkeys and prepping them for racing.  I gleaned what advice I could and I read about every blog on the subject I could find.  I also asked lots of questions of my friends at California Breakfast Burritos…and finally ended up asking an expert a bunch of dumb but important questions….cause he has LOTS of race experience and has worked with wild and domesticated donkeys of all sizes.  I’m really glad I finally had the courage to look Hal up, admit I didn’t have a lick of equine experience and just let him laugh while he wrote his sage advice.  Because without some of his advice and knowledge, I may not have had the impetus to do some of the milestones mentioned in this post done…and get them done safely.

Next post:  DONKEY RACING!

So yep, as the post alluded to, we’ve now done our first donkey race and we’ve formed our own donkey racing team.  We’re the only ones in our local area (that we know of) who race donkeys and we’re gonna get better, faster and continue to train for longer race.  But, we’re in our fledgling stages.  We’re really thankful to the best practices and advice we’re gotten from our friends at California Breakfast Burritos and from Mr. Hal Walter, a champion athlete/runner and donkey racer from Colorado.  Thank you!