todays stuff....

Cleaned out Daisy's hooves, she was very good, no resistance at all today. she got one pellet for each hoof. maybe that helped?? LOL a little incentive for being a good girl.

then I haltered Martha, who was in the stall, she was very good, let me put it right on her. Then i used the carrot stick to start touching her legs. Going very slowly and praising her when she let me put it on her legs. She did step back a couple times but nothing big, she soon let me touch them with no resistance.
I gave her breaks in between. i'm going very slow with her. She seems to get overwhelmed easily if you go to fast or ask too much.

She then was standing in the doorway of the stall. I petted down her left front leg a couple times praising her for when she stood still and accepted it. I was very soft with her. Then one time she picked up her leg, so i gently held it for a second, gave it back and praised the crap outta her! LOL. I did it a second time but held the leg a little bit longer! I praised her for the smallest amount of try.

I repeated it on the right front leg, i didn't get to hold it, but she got rewarded each time she let me pet it down to her pastern. Kept it all short, soft and lots of praise when she did well. I think she's getting it.

good day with the donks.

Daisy loves garbage cans

tonight on our walk with Daisy, my BF picked up a garbage can from my dad's house. When he first grabbed it Daisy was a bit startled, but did the slight 'jump in place' thing, then she was immediately interested in it. I suggested maybe he walk in front with it - i figured walking behind might freak her out. So he starts walking, i waited a second so he could get a head start. I circled Daisy around & she immediately wanted to go after the garbage can!! It was so funny, she had her front lip hanging over the lower & it was 'tense' looking. LOL. I almost thought she was going to jump on top of it!! it was pretty hilarious, she was walking behind it trying to get her head over it ( thats what it looked like any how). Steve stopped & we let her sniff it some more. by that time we were home, so i brought her in the yard. I couldn't believe how interested in she was!!

another really neat thing is that we were walking past a side street/driveway and she was really interested in that direction. So I let her look a bit, then a little while later I saw a car coming down the road. She heard it & it was neat to see her almost say 'something's coming!'

she did it again when we stopped by the neighbors house, she didn't want to go out to the road yet & kept looking down the road in the direction we were just coming from - another car! Smart donk.

she was very good, she doesn't try to veer off to eat grass that much anymore - I'm try to teach her walking is for walking - its our 'work' time, not eating time. She was walking pretty brisk tonight, more so than our last walk.

Every once in awhile she'll try the whole - raise her head and try to push me off to the side, and I just tell her 'we're not doing that' and redirect her. then she stops. she'll do that whole thing maybe once every walk. Always testing LOL.

Hoof Trimming Clinic

Yesterday I got to attend a Donkey Hoof Trimming clinic. Its was a great experience, I got to see some difficult donkeys be handled well. A scotch hobble was used on the kickers.

These donkeys originally were great with their feet, but had a experience with a BAD farrier - from what it sounds like the farrier actually hit these donkeys or mistreated them in general. But it made them sour to having their feet to be handled - they went into was defensive mode when it was time to handle their feet. They're proof of rough handling/mistreatment can make an animal 'bad' or act worse - which usually ends up in more abuse if kept with the same trimmer. This is a man made problem. The animal acts up so the farrier gets angry ( which you DO NOT do with donkeys!!) and abuses the animal making things much worse. and it progresses. Many farriers will not deal with donkeys, mostly because they think they're like horses, which they're not. You can't force or scare a donkey into anything.

So I got to see how to help the animal overcome its fear while making sure the human is out of harms way.

I didn't get much pictures of this little gelding, but here he is after his session getting trimmed & standing quietly.






Here the guy isn't making her kick, he's asking her to pick up her foot using the rope as an extension of his hand. This is her kicking out in disagreement. he's not being forceful with her at all. The whole time he worked with her he was very low key, calm, patient & NEVER got upset, angry or agitated. Notice he's using his free hand to help keep the donkey from entering his space & getting close enough to land one of those kicks.





Here's what i call the *rodeo* ( this was a lucky pic btw) Here the Jennet is having a little melt down & trying her hardest to evade the trimmer or possibly kick him. This jennet is known to crowd you & squish you up against anything that she could.


after working the scotch hobble, the trimmer has gotten her to realize that it's ok to have her feet touched.