My mare was absolutely petrified of the donkeys

exracehorse

exracehorse

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Yesterday, I hired a local schooling ring. I hadn’t been there before. The ginger one is usually pretty good about most things. And been out to shows etc. I couldn’t understand why she put the brakes on as soon as we arrived. I had to walk her into the school as she was going backwards. There were two small donkeys. In fly sheets. And fly masks. Right next to the fence. Let’s just say she was so bad that I couldn’t even ride her. Planting. Going backwards. Rearing. Had to just walk her around in hand on the other side of the ring. For ages. Did eventually get on. And we got near to them. But by then my allocated time was up 😀. Are donkeys that terrifying to horses ?
 

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Totally terrifying!

I have 3 next to my paddocks so my horses have got used to them (in fact they're all friends) but the other side of the donkey paddock is a bridlepath and many, many a rider has come unstuck when the donkeys are by the fence. I have thrown a headcollar on my littlest cob and given someone a lead past once and another rider has built a mounting block further along after having to dismount and lead her horse past them for months.

When I moved to my yard littlest cob was scared of them too. She used to hide behind a tree and watch them from a safe distance. Thankfully the other 2 had been with donkeys before so she could see they weren't bothered.
 
SEL said:
Totally terrifying!

I have 3 next to my paddocks so my horses have got used to them (in fact they're all friends) but the other side of the donkey paddock is a bridlepath and many, many a rider has come unstuck when the donkeys are by the fence. I have thrown a headcollar on my littlest cob and given someone a lead past once and another rider has built a mounting block further along after having to dismount and lead her horse past them for months.

When I moved to my yard littlest cob was scared of them too. She used to hide behind a tree and watch them from a safe distance. Thankfully the other 2 had been with donkeys before so she could see they weren't bothered.
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I can understand fear with pigs. But why donkeys ? They look like a pony….
 
My current horse loves donkeys. We ride past a field with them in and he drags me towards the fence line and is obsessed with them.

One of my good friends has a big yard with lots of horses coming and going. She also has a pet donkey. They tend to be either petrified or in love. Some are obsessed and will scream for the donkey they have known 20 minutes if it wanders out of sight.

Wait until they bray, that’s normally a deciding factor for the horse 😂
 
exracehorse said:
Yesterday, I hired a local schooling ring. I hadn’t been there before. The ginger one is usually pretty good about most things. And been out to shows etc. I couldn’t understand why she put the brakes on as soon as we arrived. I had to walk her into the school as she was going backwards. There were two small donkeys. In fly sheets. And fly masks. Right next to the fence. Let’s just say she was so bad that I couldn’t even ride her. Planting. Going backwards. Rearing. Had to just walk her around in hand on the other side of the ring. For ages. Did eventually get on. And we got near to them. But by then my allocated time was up 😀. Are donkeys that terrifying to horses ?
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Perhaps it was the rugs and big ears masks?
 
My very well bred trakehner from a reputable breeder would have nothing to with donkeys, or pigs and would get hysterical at the slightest whiff or sound of either, generally long before I knew what was going on. She kind of got used to sheep but was always wary of cows. It did make me think that perhaps horse breeders should consider a little sideline in scary animals that roam around with the mares and foals 😀

My previous TB was raised on a farm and was very good at shooing cattle and sheep out of the way.

I suspect that, inadvertently, having farm animals roaming around may be what happens in Ireland as I have met a few imported Irish horses that never turned a hair at any livestock, including pigs and donkeys.
 
planete said:
You should have seen my little herd when I bought a coloured shetland. They all bolted to the other end of the field! They were ok once they realised what he was though.
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The only time Tali has spun and ran off was seeing miniature shetlands. Her field mate was with her too. She’s also gotten over them after going past several times and she’s accepted they are indeed equines (of sorts 😉) alpacas were perfectly fine though 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
Mine live with donkeys and I have kept them together for years, so donkeys have never been an issue. However.....when my humongous Suffolk Punch cross came across a small child on a small shiteland out hacking one day he completely lost the plot and made a huge show of himself and me!🤭) In the end I had to get off, walk him into a stubble field a good distance away to allow the Mum and small child on small shiteland to get past. Honestly the child and her little mount could easily have walked under his belly and out the other side.😅 So I guess it all just boils down to what they are used to.
 
Yes my ex racehorse thoroughbred mare was. She jumped at big shows, hacked out round town but a donkey no no no. Took her on holiday - hacked out round the forest and moor. Heading back to where we were staying - donkeys. Had to do huge loop round to get back.
 
My old boy never got over his fear of donkeys - even being turned out next to one didn't help. He eventually got used to it being in the field next to his... but if the owners brought it onto their yard, he was deepy suspicious as it had MOVED!
And we never did quite achieve walking past the other donkeys at the end of the drive sensibly. Different donkeys, you see - much more threatening.
 
I rode and shared a lesson mare who was terrified of shetland ponies. Even if she was working in the outdoor arena and the shetlands were outside. Later I shared her to hack solo and the polo teams had a miniature horse as a mascot which they put out to graze tethered in a field alongside the track. There was a dividing hedge between.
Mare hated that horse. I woud turn her head away from the hedge (which she liked to nible) and push her on, ignoring the miniature horse.

I myself fail with Shetlands too. I cant lead them with authority and dont really like them. Didnt even like grooming them.
 
At Appleby time a family annually teathered their animals on a local lane. Some cobs and a donkey stallion. When the donkey saw horses approaching you could see him start to inflate then produce the loudest bray you've ever heard. That really put the wind up the passing horses 🤣. Fortunately my old boy was used to him and just glared back but a lot turned and ran.
 
My old boy who was literally bombproof, bless his dear old bones, totally lost his sh!t (the only time he ever did) when he saw a bloomin' donkey pulling a cart. Oh my goodness that was a really scary experience; in fact all of the horses I've had have been terrified of seeing another horse pulling a carriage if I think about it.

Pigs: that's another thing that a lot of people's horses are terrified of. My first pony adored them and couldn't get enough of them, and (may the Lord be praised!) my current little pony-mare loves them too - there's this horrendously obese pot-bellied pig thing up the road from us, and every time the greedy thing sees us it waddles across and they both have to rub noses. It really is hilarious. Now every time we go up the road pony starts looking for this blessed pig. You couldn't make it up. But I'm actually very thankful she does like them!
 
Thanks guys. Makes me feel a lot better knowing she’s not the only one scared of them 😀. But they must smell different as these donkeys all had fly masks on. And fly sheets. In fact I didn’t realise they were donkeys until the yard owner told me. But ,, Bella knew and that’s why she was panicking to even go into the school
 
My old boy was bombproof - except where donkeys were concerned.

The first time he saw them he completely lost the plot. He planted, spun around and tried to leg it home. I had to get off and lead him past them as it was the safest thing to do.

I just persevered with him, and we got to a point where he would stand calmly by the fence next to them for a while, then we would carry on with our hack.
 
Our old welsh boy lives with a donkey.

People say that donkeys need to live with donkeys, but these two are inseparable. They play like a pair of colts.
 
Petalpoos said:
I suspect that, inadvertently, having farm animals roaming around may be what happens in Ireland as I have met a few imported Irish horses that never turned a hair at any livestock, including pigs and donkeys.
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My imported Irish cob of unknown history was absolutely petrified of sheep. Until one day, a group of them were clustered round the gate of a field we were riding past. Eyes on stalks, she approached on tiptoe, sniffed noses, and then let out a huge sigh and relaxed. Since then, she's been absolutely fine.

Cows and heavy farm equipment have never been a problem, though, so I suspect she grew up on a cattle farm.
 
Rabatsa to her dying day was convinced that white sheep carried machine guns. Great at Markington when sheep ambled out from behind the x country jumps. She loved donkeys.

I took a donkey into the village for freeze branding and someone after him was having her broodmare done. As I led the donkey away the broodmare went crackers and we had to return so that she would stand to be branded.
 
They seem to be either terrified of them or ridiculously in love with them. I had one who was terrified he would spin and leg it straight for Inverness at high speed if he saw one from about 3 fields away! Nightmare at shows. Never had one that worried about pigs though.
 
I once did a joust at a country fair right next to a hot air balloon display and was all prepared for that to be a problem. Turns out humongous, slowly growing balloons, flappy streamers, noisy burners, etc. are just fine and dandy, but MINIATURE HORSES in a pen at the end of the jousting arena are the work of the devil to be dramatically avoided at all costs. We've always had various mules, donkeys, pigs, goats, geese, peacocks, etc. around the farm so they were all good with non-horse animals*, but tiny ponies? Nopety-nope.

*I won't mention the camels.......
 
we had a donkey and all our horses loved him. We then put him in the field across the road. Narrow single track road and he came up to the post and rail fence as riders went past, or didn't in some cases. :D He didn't scream he only had to stand there and look at them. A lot of people had a lot of trouble trying to walk past a donkey.

rabatsa said:
One reason that horses are afraid of donkeys is the ears. Ears are a means of communication and donkey ears are shouting.
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I've never heard that before.
 
We had a mare in the riding school who refused to walk passed the donkey field. she was terrified. She'd rather go on her own, away from the others in the ride and walk round the other way than go anywhere near the donks.
On a slightly different tack, when I was aged about 3 at nursery school, Marmalade the donk lived in the next-door field. If we were naughty Mrs Ringshaw would say to us we would be put out into the field with Marmalade. Despite the fact we had many ponies at home I too was terrified of donkeys for many years after. Even now after nearly 60 years I wince when a donkey bray.
 
Our old boy was petrified of donkeys, full on phobia, and nothing would convince him they weren't the devil incarnate.

If we met some we had to turn around, there was no way he'd go past them, and he would forever remember they were there.

I had to call mum to come and pick me up with the trailer as we'd ridden up a dead end lane and not seen the donkeys till we were on our way home. Even after the owner had moved them out of sight there was no way we were passing the yard.
 
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