Horses and Donkeys

I had never heard of this and no idea that you should not put the 2 together.

My cousin has kept a pony a donkey and her foal together for years, has she just been lucky that nothing has happened?
 
There's no problem grazing horses and donkeys together. Just use the same worming programme for the donks as the horses and there is no lungworm problem.
 
Bertie_Boo nailed it! Your worming programme should be the same for your horses and donks. I have had horses and donkeys for year with no problems. My only gripe is that the donks like to dig holes in the paddocks on which to roll. A dedicated area for dust bathing might preclude the pasture desecration.

Hope this helps.
 
I've kept horses & donks together for years. A good worming programme is all you need to keep the possibility of lungworm at bay. I tend to use Ivermectin based wormers for that reason.

They do better on dryer food such as nuts and hay, don't give them anything too rich and let them get too fat, its not good for the little guys. A rug and a dry stable in winter are always appreciated.

Donks are much smarter than horses and can undo bolts, catches & gates. I have left the horses in the yard and the donkeys outside and come back a few hours later to find the donkeys inside, the horses outside and the gate shut again. I was puzzled until I saw them do it one day (I was hiding round the corner, they won't let you into their donkey secrets!).
 
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Donkeys are awesome, I have two that I love to have in the paddock nearest the house as they are the most cheerful creatures. Here are some helpful hints.

1. The Donkey Sanctuary are brilliant for advice, they have some good fact sheets on their website.
2. I rarely feed hay, Barley Straw is much nearer their natural food.
3. They are very laminitic prone and prone to abscesses ..... hence diet is v important. Most donkeys are either laminitic or sub-laminitic due to the grass/diet we tend to keep them on.
4. They are very bright and love to play, i leave old rubber feed bowls and sticks in their field, which they play with.
5. In the winter I put branches from Willow, Ash and Beach trees in their field - it amuses them to strip the bark off them (Ref Donkey Santuary).
6. The lungworm thing comes from the fact that people used to worm their horses, but not their donkeys and heyho the donkeys got worms. My vet (who has over 100 on his books) has never once seen a lungworm case due to donkeys.
7. They mix well with horses and it stimulates both of them. But be very careful when introducing, especially if the horses have iron shoes on!
8 When catching, use their curiosity. I always pretend to have found something very interesting and they can't help but come to find out what it is!! If you march up to them - no chance - they thinks its a fun game to escape you!

Good luck and enjoy.
 
Aw, i'd love to have another donkey - we had one years ago who came with a blue cross horse we took on. They were inseperable (well as far as the horse was concerned anyway!) We never had any worm issues at all but you do have to watch their grass intake as they are not meant to have the rich grass we tend to have in our paddocks. saying that we never had any lami issues with ours. He did get seedy toe a bit though so you have to watch for that. Oh and they need decent shelter as they don't have the same waterproofing to their coat like horse (so i believe anyway).
 
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