Any donkey owners?

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AmberThePony

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Just wondering if there are any experienced donkey owners on here because I could do with some advice. Martha is my seven year old donkey which we've had for nearly two years. The problem is she is so fat especially on the crest. I think the previous owners let her get too fat as she was quite neglected and already in bad condition. When we first got them we let them onto a nice green paddock thinking that like horses their diet should be mostly grass. Over the summer she got fat all over to the point I would say she was obese. We learnt after our first summer with them that actually donkeys shouldn't have much grass, the base of their diet should be straw. So now they get mostly straw with a little hay. At the moment I am letting them onto small section of the paddock with not much grass in the day, then a flap of straw at night.but she still has a huge crest, about 7-8 inches wide across the top! Does anyone have any advice on how to stop her getting so fat and to reduce her crest?
 
Sorry I can't advise but I'm in the same situation with my newly acquired donks. The little guy was fat when he arrived and the bigger guy is putting on weight. They're on half an acre between them for 12 hours and in a biggish enclosure for 12 hours with hay/barley straw.

I think my only hope is to start walking them out a little each day to slowly burn off a few calories. I've read that hard dieting a donkey is quite dangerous, so any weight loss has to be very gradual. I'm hoping that once the grass growth slows down my 2 will have to work harder for their grazing and the weight will slowly come off as we head towards the colder months.

Good luck in finding a solution that works for you.
 
Sounds like we are managing ours in a similar way, I've also heard that you have to be careful with weight loss. It's just so frustrating because she only gains and never loses any!
 
AmberThePony said:
Sounds like we are managing ours in a similar way, I've also heard that you have to be careful with weight loss. It's just so frustrating because she only gains and never loses any!
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I can't say that mine are particularly greedy either - they spend a lot of time mooching around rather than grazing, but my grass has come through with a whoosh and it's obviously too rich for them. My two don't eat much straw as they're not used to it and they only get a thin slice of hay each to nibble on during their time in the enclosure, which has a small amount of grass for them to eat.

It's seldom I see my 2 doing anything particularly active, they're a placid pair, so I think some gentle exercise is the only thing I can do to help them shed a few pounds.
 
Walking donkeys can be hard, as unless you break them to bridle/have quiet roads they can be strong and just run off (not an experience to repeat)! We shut them in a starvation paddock in the summer and it just about keeps the weight off - it looks like there is nothing there, but they'll eat shrubbery etc. so I don't think you can measure it by grass quality alone... Although they don't lose weight, it stops most gain :) The aim is for them to lose some weight over winter to compensate for them gaining a bit over summer
 
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