Donkeys and horses

[fredpuli47]

Do donkeys and horses mix happily? A neighbour has asked whether she can put a donkey in one of our grazing meadows. One field is over twenty acres and presently has four mares and the other one is about 8 acres and presently has just one ,very old, horse.

And are donkeys noisy? If so are they a nuisance? The locals might not take to constant hee-hawing!

[E.R.]

I am not too sure about the mares. I do know that a donkey was often put into a field with a horse to keep it company, so so I imagine your old horse would welcome the donkey,
As for the neighbours! It might be a problem if it's given to braying very early in the morning.

[lankeela]

Biggest problem is making sure the donkey is wormed, as they can carry lungworm which can be passed to any horses and bad infestations can make them cough. They do bray loudly, I was taking one for a walk late one night (don't ask!) on a golf course for some grass, when he started up and the lights all came on in the neighbouring houses so I had to leg it dragging a very reluctant donkey behind me.

[fredpuli47]

That's very helpful. I'd never have thought of the worming question , Lankeela, ( what would we do without you on dogs and horses?).

Giving the old horse a companion would be an idea, because he lost his companion, a Suffolk Punch, last year.Not sure that a donkey is perfect, considering the braying. Do they normally bray at night?, I may give it a try, as a favour, subject to it being removed if anyone complains. (Anyway,it belongs to the wife of the local publican.She could always answer by refusing to serve any complainers LOL That would make the local paper! )

[coccinelle]

There's a donkey in the field at the bottom of our garden (must say it's 100m away) with horses and quite honestly we hardly hear it. Funnily enough it brayed half an hour ago!! It sounds just like a somebody pumping something up and can quite imagine some people would wonder what the noise was. It always makes me smile when I hear it, much perfer that to a dog yapping all day...

[echokilo]

They mix fine as long as intriduced properly and worming is carried out effectively

[fredpuli47]

Thanks, coccinelle and echokilo. Was expecting someone on AB to have had direct personal experience of a donkey next door ! Quite reassuring.

[heathfield]

A donkey is sometimes put in a field alongside horses to provide a calming influence. If something happens that alarms skittish horses, when they see the donkey just standing there and not bothering, it seems to reassure them and they quickly settle down.

[Clanad]

Our experience here in the western U.S. parallels heathfield's post. We live on a cattle ranch and have several cow ponies (working horses). We keep two burros of Mexican variety in with them. The pastures are quite large and the donkey variant does tend to keep the horses more content. The burros adopted the horses almost immediately.
We have to keep in mind that all donkeys, but especially burros do not have the rain shedding coat that horses do. They can get wet and cold and they don't travel into the wind during a storm the way horses do. The result is they tend to get seperated in a bad storm. We have small sheds for them in the horse pastures to allow them to get out of the wet and wind. They head for those immediately when they sense a storm brewing.
We have sheep ranches nearby (ewww...) and they keep burros in with their flocks. They are naturally curious and have a protective herd instinct so any coyote or even stray town dog that's looking for mischief is immediately investigated by the burros and the errant canines soon depart. (Unless they stay around long enough to meet one of Mr. Winchester's children).
As far as braying... I've only heard ours once in several years and that was from a jenny that had been seperated from her foal... (foal was being treated for a wire cut)...