Frightened / Scared Donkey.

[Celtic Hill Farm]

Ok, I have been working with Leia, and i did some halter, some ground driving, some coon jumping. And she wasn't eactly responding as good as a was expecting. So i just started doing halter, and she is really weird about it. After working with her i think she is frightened/scared. I don't know what would have caused this, But i need to start with basic training (really basic) but i don't know where to start. anny suggestions?

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

If I have any donkeys in for training I always start them out like they no nothing, and work them thru there problems right from the very beginning, such as ground work. Keep your hands low or you will come across as aggressive to your donkey. Donkeys are fast learners and have a great memory, so it will take time, but you will also have a much more confident donkey in the end. It sounds like your donkey has some trust issues going on. She needs to learn trust. Corinne

 

[Celtic Hill Farm]

so where do i start?

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

I would start with your donkey learning to trust you so the donkey knows you wont frighten her. Take a chair and just sit with her for awhile everyday, using alot of praise. Then start with the basics groundwork..if your donkey has been trained properly, you should be able to move along at a reasonable speed with his retraining, and keep going forward to where you are teaching her new things to do, and she is comfortable and trusts you to them. But, dont ever push your donkey into doing something they dont want to do, work them thru it. You mention you did some halter, driving and some jumping with her. Was this her first time doing ALL Of this? Has she been trained in all of these disciplines? Did you train her yourself?

 

[Celtic Hill Farm]

Then start with the basics groundwork..if your donkey has been trained properly, you should be able to move along at a reasonable speed with his retraining, and keep going forward to where you are teaching her new things to do, and she is comfortable and trusts you to them.

ok, you said you don't use whips in you training (correct me if i'm wrong) so if i want her to go forward, how would you do that?

You mention you did some halter, driving and some jumping with her. Was this her first time doing ALL Of this? Has she been trained in all of these disciplines? Did you train her yourself?

Yea, we did some halter stuff, And some Ground driving, and Some jumping. She's only 38in, So it was all in hand. But i was planing on stoping the ground driving, and Jumping, because i started to realize that she was frightened. She LOVES to be praised, and LOVES food!

 

[Celtic Hill Farm]

Here are some stills from a video (from the other day)

 

[Celtic Hill Farm]

Bump, any one? i'm at a dead end with her!