Donkey - Herd mini mares?

[mizbeth]

HI all!

I do not have a mini donkey although she is the next size up but not the large size. Is it possible that these donkeys will herd miniature horses?

I know that when I first turned my mares out in the pasture with her (there first time out there), that she literally led them around the fence line to show them where it was - she was in the lead and they followed. It was amazing to watch this. Some other times I believe she herds them to safety. She could be playing with them of course and she certainly loves them, but curious if she is actually herding them?

 

[copperwood farm]

I have 2 Jennies in with my mini mares, and they do herd them. The older one guards the fence line, just in case anything comes by. She will also herd them into the corral area of the field if she thinks there is danger, or time for them to go inside. Sometimes you might think they are just playing.......but more times than not they are up to something, and watching 'their' herd.

 

[mizbeth]

Wow, I thought so! She is an amazing Donkey, I just love her. She was raised with cattle for 5 years, is not halter broken but can be caught(with considerable effort-but not nean nor does she try to kick) She has been with my horses for several months now and we just bought a new place. She has been out in the pasture by herself (until cross fencing could be put up), but next to my mares. When I turned the mares out in the pasture for the first time is when she lead them around the outer fenceline to show them where it was. I was OBVIOUS she was doing that! Another time or two it was fairly obvious to me that she was bringing them in, up to the holding pen near the house.

Thank you so much for information.

 

[copperwood farm]

They are great creatures. Maybe to get yours to be friendlier... you should go out and start to brush your mares with some treats and when she sees the mares 'all over you' she will be easier to catch. After a couple of days/week I be she will warm up to you even more.

 

[mizbeth]

She wants to be my buddy. She watches every move I make. When I'm feeding the others and she in that paddock she will "sneak up" to me and stand right next to me while I'm leaning over the fence. I do not hear her, she stands there for me to pet, but NOT OFTEN or for long, it has to be on her terms. I am trying to get her to eat out of scoop when I feed the mares at night. She is getting closer to the scoop. I talk to her all the time and I believe she understands me. Her name is Lilly............

She is cautious, not sure what happened to her, probably nothing just not used to having "people" around her. She was born in the pasture with cows and stayed there for five years until I got her a few months back. When I moved her to this new place we had to corner her, rope her, put the halter on and one pulled and three pushed and we got her on the trailer. Boy was that hard! She did not try to kick us, or bite or anything, this is why I think she can be tamed. When we got to the new place, I opened the gate of the trailer and told her "here are your girls Lilly", she brayed and jumped right off the trailer\, she had been with them about 6 months at that time. (When she was delivered the prev owners had to pull and push to get her off the trailer)

 

[Helicopter]

That is so lovely.

My donks don't do anything clever like that but there are 4 of them so I guess they have each other to run with. They share paddocks with the ponies and sometimes you do see one or the other chatting to a pony or a Standard bred on the next property but basically they keep to themselves.

One thing they do is when I'm brushing one, another one is always pushing in front......brush me...brush me....and so on. I enjoy it so I let them.