Life with a big, opinionated donkey.
Nobody believes it when I say I have a pet donkey. Donkeys are rare and unpopular pets, at least where I live (Chapel Hill, North Carolina). I haven't seen another donkey closer than 45 minutes away. Jethro has not seen another donkey since he came to live with me. All his friends are dogs, people, or chickens.
I had to make twenty phone calls over the course of a few weeks to locate somebody with a standard donkey for sale. I finally located him - he was living in Iredell County, a couple hours west of here.
The first time I saw Jethro, at the very moment I got out of my car and watched him having a little disagreement with his then-owner Craig far off in the field - at that moment, I knew from his bearing that he had a poor attitude and was a proud and capricious beast (Jethro, that is, not Craig).
On the other hand, I innocently imagined that living with me would cause his disposition to mellow. How could I be so wrong? It doesn't work with guys, why should it work with a donkey?
My daughter came with me the second time I visited my future donkey and she took this picture. Jethro was in a very bad mood because - on my request - he had recently been gelded. He wasn't inclined to be friendly.
However, when Craig gave me a bucket of "sweet feed" to use as a bribe, Jethro deigned to come towards me and we began to make friends. Jethro's sweet tooth is a major stake-holder in his brain.
Over time I have come to realize Jethro's character is exactly the opposite of what you're looking for in a donkey. Brave and obedient: five stars. Cowardly and bossy: fail. That's Jethro. Oh well, I love him the way he is.
Contents at a Glance
- OK, you kibitzers, rest easy! Jethro now has a "friend."
- Why did I get a donkey?
- Donkeys of Bulgaria
OK, you kibitzers, rest easy! Jethro now has a "friend."
Or is Superman an annoying younger cousin he wishes would go home!?
I tie Superman's lead line to Jethro's bridle and we promenade through the neighborhood. Superman (who lives to eat) has figured out that if he hustles ahead on his little legs he can grab a bite of grass by the side of the road and munch it as Jethro and I walk past and then, when he's at the end of his rope, he trots forward again and repeats the process. This irritates Jethro.
Why did I get a donkey?
Everybody asks me that. I was in Bulgaria with my daughter, watching these guys amble down the road in their rickety home-made donkey carts. They were passing the day going along stealing weeds by the side of the road for their donkeys' dinners. My two thoughts were: (1) "I don't need to live any faster than that;" and (2) "I know some great places to steal weeds." That's how I knew it was going to happen, I was going to own a donkey.
Donkeys of Bulgaria
Pictures I took when I visted Bulgaria in 2007. That's when I decided to be a donkey-owner.
This donkey was spotted in a gypsy village.
Jethro takes a dirt bath
I didn't know that donkeys hate to be clean. He paws the ground to make some dust and then - rolls.
He makes little grunting noises just after he scratches up the dirt and as he heads for the ground.
Things Jethro was afraid of when we first went on walks. He still doesn't like them with one exception (see next module).
Where donkeys come from, they are dinner, and they still think they're everybody's favorite meal. Therefore most things look like predators to them.
Strollers with babies
One thing Jethro once feared but now loves: recycling bins
I started making Jethro go over and look at the recycling bins, and he started sniffing them, and then he discovered something: they have beer bottles in them. Jethro LOVES beer. If I let him, he will always suck on them and if possible he picks them up hoping to get a few precious drops.
I have Jethro merchandise for sale at Zazzle
Wonderful searches which brought people here this week...
Donkey enthusiasts are wonderful people
why is my goat walking sideways
beautiful fat woman and horse and donkey picture
why don't own a donkey
chicken for my donkey
"Did you know a donkey can hear another donkey hee-haw from seven miles away?"
Work I've tried to get Jethro to do (with informative captions).
The biggest problem is, he doesn't necessarily stop when I yell STOP.
My friend Bob (he's the other half of my British Isles duo the Pratie Heads) built this collar for Jethro out of hickory. I'll do a module on it later.
Some things your donkey needs
Farm Innovators Rubber 5-Gallon Heated Flat-Back Bucket with Guard Model FB-15R, 150-Watt
In the winter the water freezes at night. I didn't buy one of these because they are so expensive, but I wish I could.
Amazon Price: $54.99 (as of 12/09/2009) 
Simonds 10 Inch Little Hoof Rasp
Jethro got fired by the farrier so I rasp his hooves every few weeks. If you don't do that, they'll get too long, just like fingernails except he has to walk on them.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/09/2009)
Partrade Blue Hoof Pick W/Brush 245852
Every day, pick the mud out of his hooves and check for stones.
Amazon Price: $1.69 (as of 12/09/2009)
Tip #1 about donkey training
You must discourage the bad THOUGHT. Don't wait until your donkey has bolted or bitten you! Watch his ears and know the "bad" positions. If he lowers his head - or raises it intently - he may be having a "bad" or frightened thought. Deal with it while it's a thought! 550 pounds in motion - too late!
How the "fertile crescent" turned into a desert.
Jethro did it to our place, too.
They say if you have an acre of pasture you can keep two donkeys on it. So you'd think half an acre would suffice for one donkey. Not so unless your grass is very lush and you know how to do rotational grazing. This is a picture of "overgrazed" land but it's not my place.What happened here: I got Jethro in October after a summer of terrible drought. Where he had been living, there wasn't a scrap of green to be seen, it was like a desert. When he saw the green grass at his new place, he went crazy. He ate 24 hours a day until it was all gone, I was too dumb to stop him. Then, since it was still a drought and the grass wasn't going, he went around checking every blade of grass in every inch of his pasture. Whenever it grew 1/64 of an inch, he would eat that 1/64th of an inch. Consequence: his new pasture was soon a desert.
It took me a year to get the grass growing there again.
Now, he lives in three separate areas. The pasture he wrecked which is coming back. A pasture which adjoins that one, but is further from the house, so he can't monitor our activities, and he hates that. We call that pasture "Siberia."
Then, there's the area where he spends most of his time. It is a long area directly across from the house. He has reduced it to a wasteland, but he can see everything that's going on inside the house. When we get up in the morning, he hears my son and me if we talk or turn on the water or walk from room to room, and he brays. It could be, "good morning!" or it could be "get my hay!," it's probably both.
Stuff for feeding your donkey
You can't buy "sweet feed" on the internet either - that's low-protein (the cheapest) horse food. Again, if it's too high protein it will make a donkey sick, ask at your local Southern States or horse supply store for their cheapest, low protein stuff.
Northern Industrial 55-Lb.Hanging Spring Scale
When he is not in a grassy area, I feed my 550-pound donkey 5-1/2 pounds of hay in the morning and again at night, along with 1-1/2 cups of "sweet feed." Some hay bales are dense, others are fluffy, so if I feel doubtful I weigh the hay in the big yellow bag I feed him with.
He doesn't need sweet feed but he expects it and would fuss like crazy if we "forgot" to give it to him.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/09/2009)
Streamlight 61400 Enduro Impact Resistant Headlamp, Elastic Strap, Black
In the winter we often feed Jethro after dark. Our hay is out in the barn. My son Ezra thought of buying this headlamp so we would have both hands free to get the hay and get to Jethro to feed him.
Amazon Price: $14.58 (as of 12/09/2009)
IRWIN 2082300 Utility Knife Standard Retractable Hi Vis
Hay bales come tied with very tight twine and if you don't have a cutter in the barn, you'll swear and then have to go back to the house and get a knife or scissors. Better to keep a knife always with the hay bales.
Amazon Price: $7.19 (as of 12/09/2009)
Rotational Grazing
How to keep your donkey (or cow or goat or sheep) from turning your place into a desert.
The idea is, instead of your animal roaming all over the place ruining everything, he eats everything in the small area thoroughly. He eats his favorite stuff first, of course, but then - theoretically - he eats the less-favored plants too. He doesn't have time to go again and again to chew on the last 1/64 inch of his favorite plants, thereby killing them.
When he's had "first bite" on everything in the area, then you move the fence and move him. That gives the first area a chance to rest and regrow. If you have enough land to do this, eventually the grass in the first area is good again and he goes back in there.
If you don't have enough land to cover all his needs, then you need an area you can let him turn into a desert, and he lives on hay while he's there and the other land is growing back.
UPDATE: For more on feeding your donkey properly, see my other donkey lens, How to keep a donkey in the suburbs.
Having fun with your donkey and a clicker.
The idea is: I have treats in a fanny pack and a clicker in my hand. The clicker is an instantaneous sign to Jethro that he's done the right thing and a treat is coming. The reason the clicker is so helpful: animals don't have very long memories and a quick click helps them make the connection between their actions to the "good job" idea. It takes a little longer to fish out some fruit loops from the fanny pack.
The first thing is, don't let your animal "mug you" for treats. Donkeys are very focused on rewards and will rush you unless you train them not to.
The main thing I use clicker training for is to get Jethro over his various unreasonable fears, for instance getting into his trailer or letting me put fly-spray on him.
Other people train their equids to walk sideways, or rotate on pedestals, or all kinds of things (see youtube for some ideas).
Teach your donkey to play basketball using clicker training
Donkeys are extremely focused on treats...
From the donkey list: "My daughter thought it would be fun to try jumping our mule (half-donkey) and the mule was willing, and she clicked just as the mule was over the jump. Murry came down instantly, straddling the pole, wanting the treat! I don't know how Murry did that, it was out of a canter, there was forward momentum. .."
This donkey learned to play dead via clicker-training
Clicker training a donkey: links
- Clicker Training Nino The Mule
- Clicker Training Nino The Mule
- ClickRyder--Clicker Training for Horses, Mules, Donkeys
- Clicker Training for Horses. You can become your horse's best trainer--easy to learn, no equipment necessary.
- Clicker Training Little Man (Donkey)
- This blog chronicles, in great detail, one owner's work calming a donkey who had previously been abused.
- DonkeyClick | Yahoo! Groups
- Wow! A Yahoo group devoted to training donkeys with clickers. Very helpful folks.
Stuff for clicker-training your donkey
Clicker Training for Your Horse
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 12/09/2009)
![You Can Train Your Horse to Do Anything!: Clicker Training and Beyond [VHS]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Fqwr2Z7gL._SL75_.jpg)
You Can Train Your Horse to Do Anything!: Clicker Training and Beyond [VHS]
Amazon Price: (as of 12/09/2009)
The Art and Science of Clicker Training for Horses: A Positive Approach to Training Equines and Understanding Them
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/09/2009)
Kellogg's Froot Loops Cereal, 8.7-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6)
You don't actually need six boxes of fruit loops - one will last you a long time.
Amazon Price: (as of 12/09/2009)
Donkey treats
- Cookies
- Orange, grapefruit, and lemon rinds, with or without the fruit
- Banana peels, with or without the bananas
- Peanut butter crackers
- Watermelon and cantelope rind
- Pears, apples, grapes
- Froot Loops
- Failed wedding cake (see bake your own wedding cake, page two)
- celery, parsley, and of course
- carrots
A donkey bookmobile
The "biblioburro" in La Gloria, Columbia
The Biblioburro is a traveling library that distributes books to patrons from the backs of two donkeys, Alfa and Beto. The program was created in La Gloria, Colombia by Luis Soriano.Romero, Simon. "Acclaimed Colombian Institution Has 4,800 Books and 10 Legs", The New York Times, October 19, 2008. Accessed October 20, 2008.
Soriano became fascinated with reading as a child and obtained a college degree in Spanish literature after studying with a professor who would visit his village twice each month.Reel, Monte. "A Four-Legged Drive To Help Rural Readers", The Washington Post, September 5, 2005. Accessed October 20, 2008. By profession a primary school teacher, Soriano developed the idea after seeing the power of reading books to transform his students who had lived through a conflict even more intense than what he himself had experienced as a child. Starting in the late 1990s, Soriano would travel to communities in Colombia's Caribbean Sea hinterlands with a portable library that started with 70 books.
Soriano wrote to Juan GossaÃn after hearing him read excerpts of his novel The Ballad of Maria Abdala on a radio program, asking GossaÃn for a copy of his book to be distributed on the Biblioburro. Soriano received a flood of book donations in response to details that GossaÃn broadcast on his radio program. , Soriano's collection of books has expanded to 4,800 volumes. Construction of a small library building funded by a local financial company is half-finished due to lack of funds to complete the project. Soriano also receives funding for his project from the director of a community library in Santa Marta, located nearly 180 miles away on the Caribbean, which had hired him as a satellite employee and shares a portion of its $7,000 annual budget with Soriano.
Children's adventure stories have remained one of the most popular items distributed by the Biblioburros. In addition to encyclopedia volumes, novels and medical texts, other items distributed by the Biblioburro include Horacio Quiroga's animal fable Anaconda, the Dictionary of the Spanish Language of the Royal Spanish Academy (Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española) and a number of Time?Life travel pictorial books. Books lost from the collection include a sex education manual and a copy of Laura Esquivel's 1989 novel Like Water for Chocolate, both of which were not returned by borrowers; A copy of Paulo Coelho's 1990 novel Brida was stolen by bandits who tied him after a robbery attempt and discovered he had no money.
Colombian documentary filmmaker Carlos Rendón Zipagauta has been working on a film that tells the story of Soriano and the Biblioburros.Reinooso, Susana. "Leer de mil maneras", La Nación, January 3, 2008. Accessed October 20, 2008.
I loved this book: "Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago"
This is a picture of Tim Moore, a very funny travel writer, with Shinto, the donkey he bought or rented to carry his gear while he walked across northern Spain with oddball fellow travelers on a centuries-old pilgrimage. Everything he said about Shinto is right. I read this before I got Jethro and it cracked me up completely.
Two books about guys on long walks with opinionated donkey companions
Last of the Donkey Pilgrims
Subtitle: A Man's Journey Through Ireland
Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 12/09/2009)
Travels with My Donkey: One Man and His Ass on a Pilgrimage to Santiago
Amazon Price: $11.16 (as of 12/09/2009)
DIY! Make your own donkey gear.
Use Brian Beck's instructions for pack saddle, harness, and other fun toys for donkeys.
As you know from my other lenses, I'm a big "do it yourself" type, so I was willing to spring for the money and send away for Brian Beck's book on a cd; it's called Make Your Own Working Donkey Harness and Gear. See next module for info, because Beck does not have a website.The cd costs AUD$49.00 including shipping and handling and has clear instructions, illustrations, patterns, and dimensions for donkey gear used in training, packing, riding, snigging and driving. It has full instructions for making a pack saddle, including the "Equine Back Profiler System" and swivel bars to ensure the shape and angle of the bars can be exactly fitted to an individual animal. Kate and Brian Beck can be reached by email at bpdexters@spiderweb.com.au. See their description of the cd book below.
Visit (unrelated to above) Wildex.com: good pictures and an exploration of donkey pack saddles for explanation of the packsaddle gear and terminology.
The picture is of a pack saddle rig built using Beck's instructions by Allen Threadgate: Make Your Own Pack Saddles And Get Started Trekking With Donkeys. Allen writes:
One knows that if you own one donkey then this donkey attracts other donkeys and if you are not careful you will eventually own a whole string of donkeys. (To cut a long story short ) We finished up owning three donkeys. Three is a good number to take trekking as they can carry all your gear plus a bottle of port.
Working Donkey Gear CD from Brian Beck
Australia seems to be the teeming hub for people trekking with donkeys.
Since the picture isn't searchable or cut-and-pastable, here's the text:
The designs on this CD include driving harness, donkey cart, donkey dray, pack saddle tree, packsaddle, pack saddle bags and other packing accessories, snigging gear (pulling a sled etc.), sled and accessories, riding saddle, long-reining gear, bridle, halter, martingale drop noseband and a 'Donkey Back Profiler System' for shaping the pack saddle and riding saddle for any particular donkey. Available from Kate and Brian Beck, 3204 Ipswich Boonah Road, Boonah, Qld, Australia, 4310. Phone 07/5463-5106. Email: bpdexters@spiderweb.com.au $49.00 Australian includes post and packaging.
Mr. Beck accepts PayPal and will answer questions via email (he answered me via bpdexters@spiderweb.com.au).
I have built a few things from Brian's cd and am very satisfied with it. Totally worth the money. You'll need to find some strong polyester webbing (though he also gives instructions for using leather); I bought mine on the web.
Donkey resources on the web
- How to Care for a Donkey - wikiHow
- Yahoo group: Clicker-training the donkey
- Fabulous information from very knowledgeable people.
- Yahoo group: Donkey Burro Packing
- The guy who runs this group is a riot and regularly takes his donkeys out on the trail. I'd love to do it with Jethro but he broke his trailer so he isn't going anywhere.
- Yahoo group: Donkey and Mule info
- Email list for the exchange of information about donkeys and mules, run by Vicki Abbott who knows everything about donkeys.
- Vicki Abbott's Donkey Training Information and more
- This might be the best resource out there. She knows everything
- Yahoo group: Donkeys
- This one is so chatty I had to stop getting its mail in my inbox, but if you want a sense of what life is like with donkeys (most subscribers have more than one), this is the place.
- Harnessing Guidelines for Single Donkey Carts
- I poured over this article many times. I do take Jethro driving but I didn't make his gear myself. This articles shows practical gear for developing countries, where using donkey power can really make an economic difference.
- Let's Drive Our Donkeys
- Teaching your donkey to drive - part one of four
- Rotational Grazing
- This publication introduces the concept of rotational grazing for livestock, managing stocking rates to improve forage.
- The Proper Diet for Donkeys: A dietary Guidline for Optimum Health
- Donkeys need to be on a low protein and high fiber diet. If donkeys are fed the wrong diet, they can develop severe health problems and even die.
To send me an email click the "contact" button:
The 2010 "Surrounded by Asses" calendar.
Somebody sent me this link! It's a tired old joke but the pics are funny.
You can visit the calendar site.
Donkeys in children's books by Katherine Dunn
and one by Nancy Munger...
Somebody wandered over to my site here looking for "donkey goat low-hanging fruit." I got curious about that, so I googled it. I didn't find any fruit, and in fact this goat looks like a sheep to me, but I think maybe this book illustration is what they were looking for. It's from a book called "Farm Holiday" or "Holiday Tree," by Katherine Dunn.Katherine Dunne also wrote "Grandmere Mouse," with this picture of a cute donkey and mouse:
This one is from her "Pie Party" -
Here's one from the book Donkey by Nancy Munger:
Donkeys on Flickr
wet pregnant donkey
Who shall I stalk to...
Man with cart in sou...
Whatever ...
Even corporate shill...
Second helping of th...
Miniature Donkey
40
30
Burro
From the children's book "Political Circus" by Brian Ajhar
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The Conservators' Center: helping endangered animals in North Carolina
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Essential for free-range chickens: electronic door opener
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When I decided to get chickens, it was so they could keep my donkey Jethro company! So they had to be free-range chickens - if they were locked behind chicken wire they wouldn't entertain him very well. I got my chickens in early September and...
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What is a miniature horse?
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In this picture, Superman the miniature horse has climbed up on my porch, having escaped from the enclosure (see the envious donkey behind him, to his right) during the night. Superman was hoovering up chicken food when he was apprehended and returne...
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What to feed a donkey in suburbia? I'll show you how to keep him fed!
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The donkey in this picture lives in Bulgaria. As far as I can tell, his owner takes him around to various weedy places during the day and he crunches away as fast as possible while his owner cuts more weeds with a scythe and puts them in the cart to...
Finally Jethro has a four-hooved companion.
I gave in to peer pressure and found him a friend: "Superman" the miniature horse.
Sam Margulies, the best divorce mediator in Greensboro, gave me Superman as partial payment for the website I built him. Superman is astoundingly fat (you can't tell from this picture but he's as wide as he is tall) and very peaceful, but he has stood up to Jethro's bullying very well. He was living with several huge horses, so he knows how to take care of himself and competes very effectively (obviously) for resources. I'm glad Jethro is not an only child any more.
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How to be a mentor (my experience)
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I've been a Pratie Head for many's the long year... (Celtic Music)
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I'd been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, singing Balkan music with the acappella women's ensemble Laduvane,and singing American folksongs in a band called "Rank Strangers." In 1981 I married and my husband moved us to Chapel Hill, NC. This lens i...
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Make your own Punch & Judy puppets
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I developed an interest in Punch &Judy after recording John Pole's song by the same name. I love making masks and puppets and I plan to make a Punch, a Judy, and a Baby for the Pratie Heads (me and Bob) to cart to gigs when we plan to perform...
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North Carolina wedding musicians: live music is best!
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My two bands play for weddings in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, and people always love the live music. But I see, because my daughter is getting married next year and sends me links to various wedding blogs, that tips for economizing...
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I love Yiddish music!
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First, I fell in love with Yiddish folk and theater songs I've been singing music in Yiddish since the early 1980s, when I heard one of the first concerts given at the New England Conservatory by Hankus Netsky and his Klezmer Conservatory Band. ...
Comments? Or do you have a question about owning a donkey?
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Reply
- MikkiGVee MikkiGVee Nov 21, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
- I loved reading this lens. I really enjoyed your explanation on "why" you decided to get a donkey : )
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Reply
- Spook Spook Nov 21, 2009 @ 11:00 am
- Lovely, beautiful and humour appealed to me. Blessed by an Angel.
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Reply
- wilddove6 wilddove6 Nov 14, 2009 @ 9:23 pm
- I LOVE this lens!
I laughed till tears rolled down my cheeks!
Clicker training for donkeys too...go figure :)
A wing high five and this is going on my Favorites list.
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Reply
- MAC1953 MAC1953 Nov 4, 2009 @ 10:25 pm
- I have always liked donkeys. I especially like burros. I also think mules are beautiful for some reason. There was a time when I really wanted to own a donkey or a burro but I don't have the place for one. You are a good writer and I shall live vicariously through your donkey lenses. I will check back again and see what Jethro is up to next. Thanks for the info. too! ps. I have written about my scottishterrier and our two cats if you ever get a chance to check it out.
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Reply
- Tipi Tipi Nov 4, 2009 @ 10:51 am
- I love your donkey and this lens is so much fun to visit.
Great job on this one. Blessed by an angel today,
Best wishes ...
Susie
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Want to see what else I've been up to?
I try to keep the site with all my lenses current...
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More different than is absolutely necessary.
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This is a collection of the lenses I've built, and it reflects my lifelong attraction to things which are obscure or forgotten, or difficult, or unpopular. I was a queen of the "long tail" before it was ever invented. In 1984, when I was a part-time...
by ChapelHillFiddler
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