Thread by @homemadeguitars

I got this tweet from a friend yesterday. I can't exactly tell you how I do it, but I can tell you stories about how I do it, and I think I will.

https://twitter.com/HinojosPat/status/1390767929881415682

2. As I told her in reply, I've been taking videos since the first day, and there is a 151 vid (currently) playlist on YouTube. But - it's not complete. The subtlest parts never get on videos. youtube.com/playlist?list=…

3. I'm not an expert, either. Abe was the first work animal I ever trained. This whole project started on Thanksgiving of 2018. I'd worked draft horses back in my 40s, but - I wish I'd have started with donkeys then. Draft horses were way more power than my little farm needed.

4. In a very real sense, your tool defines the job you do. You know the one about the person whose only tool is a hammer. Draft horses seem to mean tillage. I do some tillage, but on a very small scale.
Anyway - for me, donkeys are the best work animal.

5. In March of 2020 my friend, farrier, and mentor Sydney brought Miss Kitty and Clara over. We had agreed that I would try them and probably buy them.

6. These girls were completely untrained. Miss Kitty, whose name later evolved to Missy, was a young adult who had spent most of her life living entirely wild in a large pasture complex. Clara was her daughter, not yet 3 years old.
Their first day here: youtube.com/playlist?list=…

7. Sydney had taught them to halter, lead, and accept foot care. (She's a farrier, so... This was a given.) Clara, the little one, was born on Sydney's farm and was tame as a kitten. About as sensible as one too.

8. Sydney had watched me bring Abe, a 16 year old pasture pet, in (Thanksgiving of 2018) and teach him to pull carts and sleds. To drive on lines. But he wasn't in good enough hoof health to do real work all the time like a professional, and I was needing that. Tired of tractors.

9. So she chose me for the girls. I am honored and grateful. So - how I train them.
I treat my donkeys like you'd treat your dog, assuming she's too big to sit in your lap.
I cuddle them. I pet them. I talk to them. I hug them to my face.

10. YouTube and Twitter are full of videos of donkeys loving on people, running over to old friends, listening to music. Those are not unusual donkeys, they just got recorded.
Donkeys are lovey.
So - like you do your dog, you get commands like c'mere and scoot over. Back up.

11. I tell Missy "Scoot over, babe," every day. Twice a day. I thought I had that videoed but I don't seem to.
She stands crosswise, parallel to the wall, and I need her perpendicular to the wall to put the hay where I feed it.
So I come out with a forkful of hay, and I say,

12. "Missy, scoot over, babe," and she scoots over.
I used to have to poke her gently on her haunch or hip, bump her with a gob of hay on the fork when I said it. She'd move to not get bumped, and I'd put it where she eats it.
Took her about 3 days to get it down verbal.

13. The direction commands are "Gee" and "Haw". I started them on those the day they got here. If I had them on a lead rope and wanted them to turn, besides pulling the rope I'd say the word.
By the time I had bits in their mouths they knew the words. Gives you a head start.

14. You cannot force a donkey to work for you. Period. You make it seem like a good idea to them, convince them they're not going to get hurt, and they'll do stuff for you.
But they're kind of wilful. And it does take some pressure. They move away from pressure - mostly.

15. The deal is, by the time you get to harness it's just another day ho hum. One more tiny lesson.
In my personal case, I make my harness. And I use the animals as dressmaker's dummies. I make the harness one piece at a time, fitting it on them, putting pieces together.

16. So by the time it's all harness they've had it on a hundred times, and it's ho hum. Take them out and walk them around the barnyard in it, maybe for a day or two. Then I put a singletree on the harness and hitch a log chain to it. Drag load. Just chain youtube.com/playlist?list=…

17. But all this time I'm taking them out on walks on a lead rope, walking around the farm, walking down the public roads. Like walking your dog, you know.
Donkeys are pretty nervous. They are incredibly alert and aware.

18. At first when you take them for walks, you spend a lot of time persuading them that it's safe.
Donkeys don't like lines. And perceptible visual change.
The first time Missy ever ran away from me was when I tried to get her to step from the road to the green grass hayfield.

19. No ditch, no fence, no hill - gravel to green.
I'd been maybe fifteen minutes trying to persuade her to take that step from gray to green and finally she said, Nope, screw this, I'm outta here.
If they run, let go.
You can't stop them.
Trust me on this.
By this day I knew.

20. Now, of course, we cross that line every day. But - you've got to get them comfortable in their environment.
There's a horse trainer named John Lyons who I've seen work, and he had a memorable phrase.

21. "Get the feet moving. Get the feet moving consistently. Get the feet moving in the right direction."
That's an order of priority. "Right direction" is the last thing you worry about.
I've spent a lot of the past two years pulling and pushing on donkeys.

22. If they won't go forward, sideways will do. If they won't cross the railroad tracks, well, you should plan on several trips to those tracks before the first time she ever crosses them.
Just plan on it. Then you won't be annoyed.
That's my experience, anyway.

23. The way I got hurt in that wreck was, I tried to push Missy through her fear instead of just saying, well, we can go up and down the road a few times, sooner or later we'll pass this point.
Instead - I got hurt.
Lesson learned.
They're happier in a team, though, every time.

24. I hand feed and I think it's important. I don't put out a big bale and let them have free choice. I feed concentrate plus hay in the morning, and concentrate plus hay in the evening.
They eat *all* the hay.
Oftentimes I tie them to be fed. I used to always. Now random.

25. You'll see equines, when somebody shows up with a halter and rope, say, "Nah, I don't think so," and wander off to the other side of the corral.
My donks say, "Goodies," and come stuff their noses at me. And if they don't get a meal they at least get a goodie.

26. The details of this or that task become secondary. It's the overall relationship within which the work takes place. Like a dog, but different.
Donkeys like to walk. They're not crazy about standing.

27. Donkeys evolved in deserts in Africa. Life was hard. There wasn't much to eat anywhere. So they take a bite, take a step, take a bite, take a step - when they're in harness they'd rather walk than stand. This is the hardest part of our current progress.

28. Just one example. Y'all know I bought this 4 wheel cart. You see this pole that goes out between them, with that crossbar on the front. That's called a neck yoke. It's the brakes, via straps under their bellies and to those ones across their butts. How they stop the load.

29. So, the way you get those donkeys and that pole attached together is, you lay the tip of the pole on the ground. In this pic there is another obstacle, but it's not there during hitching.
You drive the team in from the side, perpendicular to the tongue.

30. As you reach the pole you do this complex maneuver where they turn 90° to their left and the far side donkey (Missy) simultaneously steps over the tongue and into place on the far side.
This is communicated to them with the lines and verbal direction.

31. Missy, as you might suspect, was dubious.
I think she said something about "crazy as a pet coon".
No sweat.
I drove them back and forth, a couple feet away from the tip of the tongue. Then closer. Then Missy had to step over it, but out by the tip.
She was OK with that.

32. They're not as slick at it as they will be, but we successfully got arranged on the pole, and hitched up, in the barnyard today. You can't rush them. If you can think of a smaller step, do that.
Donkeys are not small horses with long ears. They're not big dogs either, but...

33. They're a pleasure.
I've gotten myself hurt twice all told.
You can't rush them.
That's all tonight. G'night.