Fear of Donkeys

Passtheshampoo

Passtheshampoo

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Our lovely cob mare came to us last May. Her previous owner said she was frightened of donkeys so wondered if anyone else on here had managed to overcome their horses fear and what did you do? We have a show in June and the donkey classes are in the next ring. Is it as simple as finding the nearest donkey and going to say hello before sending off my entry? Or do we just enter and hope the donkeys give her extra ring presence?
 
My mare was absolutely petrified of them for 44 years. She was a very very extreme case as in she would bolt uncontrollably if she smelt one. A normal fear reaction is normally cured by exposure to it though. I would find some to say hello to first.
 
My cob was utterly petrified of them too...and shetlands. Tractors, combines, lorries etc never fazed him...eeyore on the other hand would send him into a quivering wreck. I found some fairly locally in a field on a hack...dismounted and led him over to the fence to watch them...they ambled over to say hello and after about 15 mins he was man enough to get within 10ft of them. He was much calmer but still suspicious of them...just without the feet planting and shaking when he saw them!
 
Our old mare was scared of them and god forbid they made a noise - We'd be in the next county in about 2 seconds. I panicked when I did a charity event and they mentioned Mary was going to be carried by Donkey as I had visions of me, supposedly a wise man, being bogged off up the high street :D
 
2 of mine are terrified of them too..and theres one we have to pass when we hack out. I'm sure It knows the horses are scared of it , and it deliberately brays really loudly when we pass it...my old tb is 27, and he has never got used to it.. apparently donkeys eat horses. Or so my horses think.. sorry not helpful.. buy good luck
 
OP. I think it'd be wiser to try and get her desensitised to them before the big day. Especially as it won't be just the one. If they all start braying together you might have a big problem on your hands :eek:

Any horse I own will just have to man up and deal with it as a donkey is definitely on my wish list. I had one throughout childhood and love them and their cute and cuddly ears :D
 
We used to have a donkey and our horses loved him! He was BOGOF with a Blue Cross horse we took on as they were inseperable. None of the horses who we took on were ever scared of him. I don't know if that was because he was already obviously accepted by the horse he was mates with and so they picked up on that maybe?

we did take him to the odd show - ie xmas ones - locally and were amazed by the reactions of some horses! It's like they cannot work out what they are at all.

So, I would say to you, the best 'cure' is get a donkey!! :D They're ace!
 
Try to locate some nearby an regularly walk past, try to get them (donkey and horse) to greet over the hedge/gate. Better still, try to borrow one for a while and put it in with your horse.
 
We hack past some donkeys and the horses are scared of them. I let Saffy sniff noses with the boy donkey and now she loves him. She wants to see him everytime we go past. Holly still thinks they are horse eating monsters.
A non horsey friend at work commented that horses being scared of donkeys is racist lol.
 
When I got my first donkey, the late Dave, my late, 18hh Clydie, Thunder, took one look at him, and I swear, he grew to 22hh! Thunder would not come near the field gate for four days because Dave was on the other side. Within a few months, Thunder desperately wanted to groom Dave, but the feeling wasn't never reciprocated. All my other horses viewed Dave and, later, Poppy donk, with utter distain, not fear at all. This past September and October, I acquired 2 Baudet du Poitou donkeys. The older one, Thea, is well over 14hh. The baby, Champagne, is much smaller, now, but is completely covered in very long hair, to the point that her eyes are even covered (not unlike a Skye Terrier, but with much longer ears and legs). I would have thought the horses would have been horrified when they first saw Champagne, but they weren't. My two broodmares want nothing to do with them...again, pure disgust at their existence. My two rising 4 year old geldings, however, love grooming the donks over the fence.

I agree with what other posters have suggested. Introduce your mare to a donkey or two for more than just a day. If you could possibly keep a couple for several weeks, your mare might just come around.

For years, at the East of England showground, when the Autumn show took place, the donkey ring was right next to the path where all the showjumpers and other horses walked to and from the rings and stables. So many horses spooked when they saw or heard the donks, that the decision was made to move the donkey ring away from that path.
 
funny stories!

My mare sniffed the donkey cautiously then contemptuously turned her back on him and backed up ready to kick - however she accidentally touched the electric fencing and got a shock, she then thought that every donkey had an electric fence around it!
 
We did one of the rides at the Cotswold farm park last year. All was going really well until from over the hill thundered a group of these scary long haired, longer eared creatures that were clearly breathing fire and brimstone. One of my boys wandered past without a care in the world, the other was having none of it !!!! Cue spinning, extremely fast reversing and everything inbetween to avoid going past the scary ******s. Stupid thing is we had already walked past a field of them grazing without bother, but moving was a different matter entirely !!!!!!!!!
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. Well it looks like I'll have to borrow a pair of donkeys. I'm in Holmfirth if anyone knows of any near to me. It's a large agricultural show I'm planning to take the mare to so lots of people will be about and don't want to risk my horse doing one!
 
my horse doesn't like them, we used to hack past a couple and they would always pick that moment to start shouting. I used to get off and walk past their field.
I went to a show last year with a donkey ring right next to the horses it was entertaining - 50/50 split of horses freaking out and those taking no notice
 
We had some donkeys move in next door, mass hysteria ensued. The bigger the horse, the more terrified they were. Turning out and bringing in involved fairly close proximity to the donkeys, so that was quite challenging. The water trough is on the boundary fence, so there was a not drinking issue, too. The donkeys just watched benignly from the other side. Had to move the horses over a field, so they could still see and hear the donkeys but they were unlikely to be murered by them, so they have calmed down a bit.
 
I took my donkey to a yard for a freeze branding session. Once done and was setting off for home I was called back as the next horse flipped its lid when the donkey disappeared.

They can be like marmite for horses. Too late for this year but get a beach donkey for the winter.
 
My horse is convinced that bikes bray!! He has a dislike of bikes, particularly tandems. One day we were hacking passed a couple of donkeys in a field. He couldn't see the donkeys but all at once a bike came around the corner and at the exact same moment one of the donkeys set up braying!!! My horse did a turnabout spin in total shock!!! He views all bikes now with extreme suspicion but has no concern over seeing a donkey. What would happen if one brayed at him I have no idea.
 
No helpful advice I'm afraid, except to try and borrow some! But I just have to tell my donkey story!

Used to hack past a field with 3 donkeys, a couple of sheep and a few cows. Never a problem. Until one day, when I was on my own of course, came round the corner to the field and there were only the donkeys in there. They were at the far end of their field and as soon as they saw us came cantering down, braying their little heads off :eek:. Cue 1 terrified horse, he spun round trying to take off, came up against a gate opposite donkey field, his chest was against the gate but his feet were still going up and down, then he spun again, luckily in direction of home and took off down the road. Manged to pull him up, we then power walked home, with my poor lad constantly looking behind him and snorting. It took him several days to get over being chased by horse eating donkeys :rolleyes:

Being a complete wimp on his behalf we never went that way again!
 
We had donkeys arrive and be put in a fenced area of our paddock (reduced it to even less for 11 horses :( ) and all the neds promptly had kittens. If they brayed, there was a mass bolt. But my old girl was a. incredibly nosey, and b. couldn't resist small things and eventually she incredibly bravely put her nose over and touched one. Well of course, the inevitable happened - she was obsessed! She turned and looked at me and I told her what a good girl she was and up came her front leg, begging because she wanted to go in with them. She hadn't begged for years. She was so disappointed when I said no, and from there on she would march up to the fence every day to greet them all with her friendliest low whinny (I hardly ever got that!!) and if they were play fighting, she would watch the proceedings with alarm as she wanted to go in and sort things out. She always hated trouble and in her younger days had always separated the two parties.
 
My mum owned the most even tempered horse I have ever met. She got him as a foal and I don't think I ever saw him put a foot wrong. My mum and I went to the royal cornwall show to do a in hand class with him when he was 3. It was the first big show he had ever been too and he was so well behaved.
The first thing that spooked him was a tiny tiny fallabella youngster that was trying to jump the stable door, but he gathered himself brilliantly and decided he was safest stay far away from the wall that separated them.
When it came to taking him into the ring a donkey class was just finishing and he went mental, we had never seen this side to him before. We finally got him in the ring and he settled eventually but I really took me by surprise as it was so out of character. It was not just our horse that went crazy with fear either, most of the horses became very flighty when the donkey left the ring which seemed to make all the horses worse.
I would see if you can find someone with a donkey to get him used to them, as for whatever reason a lot of horses really don't like donkeys.
 
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