Gentling Donkey: The Ongoing Process

We’ve lifted two out of four hooves, we’ve brushed the beasts and we’ve raced both donkeys
(in one race).  But they’re not totally gentled or trusting yet so training and gentling must continue.  We’ll never gentle a donkey in the same way a horse is broken, but we need to be able to gain trust so we can work on the hooves, allow a farrier to work on the hooves and the vet to work on the teeth as needed.

While some donkeys will come right up to a fence line and accept a carrot or a treat and possibly let you scratch them, this is a far cry from that same animal holding still long enough to lift their hooves (to clean them out) or allow a stranger (farrier) that they don’t know to come up and start working with tools on the hooves.  Right now, I can’t even use a spray bottle around the donkey’s without them taking off.  In order to get some anti-fly spray on them, I have to spray onto a soft brush out of their sight, bring it into the corral and gently brush them down.  I also can’t get one of the donks to even lift hooves and accept a cleaning and the other donk will only allow two out of four hooves to be cleaned and won’t lift those hooves except for a minute or two.

This isn’t bitching….this is real life-right now and is just the stage we’re in with gentling.  With us humans (me) patience in the process isn’t always apparent and the process is just small steps forward over time.  There’s the saying in the donkey world about making sure that you have all the time in the world.  I don’t always show that calmness, but I need to continue to be consistent and calm; trusting that the gentling process will have long term results.      

A friend who reads this blog and knows lots about donks has commented that we’ve come a long way with the critters in six months, we’re continuing to work with the donkeys on a regular basis for their trust and understanding.

It took a bit but I fully realize now how much work goes into gentling and training equines.  We’ll continue to gentle the donkeys as we continue training to race.  In an effort to do my own work, I’ve started taking classes to become a farrier myself.  I’m really impressed with the academic rigor and professionalism of the course I’m working on…which is put out by Megan Hensley with Holistic Hooves. 

Other posts about the Gentling Process: 

Gentling A BLM Donkey