First Slow Feeder prototype

Donkeys and horses are grazing animals - they should be eating on and off during the daytime.  There is increasing evidence that intermittent feedings can cause all sorts of stomach upset - from colic to ulcers.  Knowing this, I have been feeding my donkeys four times a day and hanging hay bags filled with barley straw overnight.

Although great for the donkeys, it's quite a commitment of time for us!  While we work at home and can feed regularly most of the time, going away for the day or overnight means finding someone to come quite often.

I became aware of something called a slow feeder - this is some sort of container with a mesh grid across the top that the animal has to pull strands of hay through. The idea is to slow down eating, stop gorging and allow the donkey to pick away at small bits of hay whenever they feel like it.

Donkeys need lots of fiber.  Supplying that fiber through hay, gives them too many calories so barley or oat straw is also fed. Some people suggest unlimited access to hay and/ or straw but I haven't been able to bring myself to do that!  Dorica needs less food than Ringo and competition for food means that they scarf everything down in a big hurry.

Slow feeders, I think, are the answer!   Here is the first prototype.  It's a big round tub of heavy plastic with a rolled lip at the top.  A plywood rim was screwed into the lip with notches cut out to allow a heavy lid to be angled in and placed on top of a pile of straw and hay.  The lid is made from a grid of 1/8th steel rod, sandwiched between another circle of plywood and a round of thicker, heavier wood.  The openings between the grid are 2" x 4".It  slides down inside the tub as the donkey eats.

This is the lid:

Pros and cons to this model:

Pros:  Tub is a good height - donkeys can't step in it.  Without the lid on, tub is portable and easy to move.
Lid is heavy and can't be tossed out.  Tub holds a lot.  I don't think the donkeys can hurt their teeth on the metal grid since the top circle of wood is thick, they can't grab onto the metal.

Cons:  Tub needs to to anchored against a fence, as they can knock it over.   As they  eat between the grid, divots or holes get made in the hay, possibly making the strands harder to pull out.  I have fluffed up the hay several times but can't see any way to avoid this. The steel grid makes the hay rusty if it rains.
I will look for something in stainless steel for the next models.

You can see the notches cut into the top rim- the lid lifts up through the notches - humans can do it - donkeys can't!

I have used it for several days now and I like it.  Each donkey needs its own though as they tend to fight over it (Deenah wins!)

For the next models, I'd like to find rectangular containers that will fit in each stall.

Training Notes, May 25th

A break in the rain!  Time to do some work - started with Dorica and we had a long and wonderful session. I am focusing a lot on mat work these days - it's a surprisingly challenging thing to get right.  But in order to keep things interesting and avoid frustrating the donkeys, I mix it up and throw in other things (maybe too many ...!)

So we started with trotting.  Need to work on keeping Dorica in a straight line.  She's good for awhile, but then veers closer to me until she's steering me off to the left (funny she never veers the other way!)
Very good at voice cue "whoa."

Back to the mat (a truck floor mat)  and trying to square up her front feet.   I just watched Alex's Shaping On A Point of Contact DVD for the first time and will watch it again - excellent lesson about how to do this - I should practice my rope handling skills with a lead attached to a door knob instead of a donkey so I get it more fluid before working with an animal.

Dorica will paw at the mat just like Ringo - pawing is forward motion - back her up and reposition.  Higher rate of reinforcement for standing quietly.

Set up the cones in a circle and attached Dorica's new rope reins.  I am asking for lateral flexion as she circles the cones, then click and back her into hip-shoulder-shoulder.  This is sloppy though and could use some coaching.  I am finding it hard to ask softly for her neck and then drop the lead completely.

Took Dorrie into her stall and worked on backing around the corners for the first time.  Not bad - she was getting it!

Chasing the big ball - this is so much fun!  I turned Dorica loose and let her gallop after the ball.  She isn't the least bit afraid of it even though it's nearly as big a she is!  But I want her to follow the ball, not follow me and we have to work on that - she stays glued to my side.  Want her to take off after the ball then come to me (wherever I am, for her treat.)

Ringo's turn.  Worked a bit on self-haltering at his stall door.  The out to the cone circle for some WWYLM game and mat work.  He was a bit head-tossy and pawing the mat so we circled out and around 2 cones and then back to the mat.  Did this a few times.

Then into the breezeway for some simple forwards and back against the wall. The beginnings of 300 Peck Pigeon.  This is such good work - teaches control.  Short lesson for Ringo today!

Making rope reins

Today I made two sets of rope reins to use with ground work.  The advantage of this is that because each side can be clipped to the cheek rings on either side of the halter, the weight of the rope is evenly distributed across the donkey's withers.  You can also easily lead from the left or the right without having to unclip/ reclip the snaps on the lead.The rope reins can be customized to fit the animal and that way you don't have a handful of extra rope to deal with.

But most importantly, these reins allow the handler to use the lightest possible touch when asking for a walk off or lateral flexion.  You can slide your hand down the lead to the snap, gently and then at the slightest positive inclination from the donkey you can DROP the rein entirely - giving such an effective release to your request.  This is brilliant!

I started with a length of soft marine rope, two short snaps, electrical ties, hockey tape and scissors.

Then I haltered up a donkey and measured from the cheek ring on one side of the halter around the withers and over to the opposite cheek ring.  I let the rope lie gently on the donkey's back just behind the withers and added some length to allow me to thread on the snap, fold the rope back and attach an electrical tie. I taped the whole folded back section with hockey tape.  Did the same on the other side.

I used chrome snaps on this one and brass on the other. I was looking for short snaps so that my hand can slide as close as possible without banging into a big snap.

Deenah's mishap

The donkeys eagerly wait for their "grass time" which is usually after their lunchtime hay.  I open the gates toward the pond and they get to chow down for about an hour now.

My habit is to go and get Dorica first (she the smallest and is getting a bit role poly.) She comes out very nicely because she knows it's her lesson time and she would rather be clicker trained than eat grass (amazing!)  So we do a little lesson - Deenah is content without her for a while but eventually comes trotting off the grass herself to see where Dorrie has gone.

My habit is to then halter and tie both jennys and go and get Ringo.  Then with all three hitched to the fence, I set about grooming, picking hooves, etc.  Well, this time, I must have tied Deenah too long.  It was just a short pony lead but enough to cause a mishap.

I heard two bangs as though a hoof was hitting a fence - Ringo and I hurried back and saw that Deenah was down.  Poor girl must have stepped over the lead and tripped herself.  It looked awful!  She had her body crammed against the fence rail with her head twisted and one front hoof over the lead.  She was still tied of course so her head was held up - I immediately unhooked the lead rope and freed her foot but she couldn't get up.  She was breathing hard and in a sweat and I was panicky.  No one was home and I wondered if I would have to call a neighbour to help get her on her feet but I didn't want to leave her side.

Soon though, she had caught her breath and with me heave-hoeing from behind her, she scrambled to her feet and just stood as though stunned.  I asked her to walk to make sure her legs were okay - other than a scrape over her eye and another scrape below her nose, she was okay.

The whole incident lasted for maybe ten minutes tops, but it could have ended in disaster.  How easy it is to become a bit lax in how we do things.  Donkeys are generally so calm that I never expected something like this to happen.   Who knows how she tripped herself - but the awful truth is that it was my negligence that caused it.  Talk about learning the hard way!

Annual Vaccinations

I considered skipping vaccinations this year ... after all, tetanus lasts fro 10 years in people so why the need to do it annually for the donkeys?  But three vets that I spoke with were adamant about both tetanus and West Nile every year so I decided to go ahead.

Since I needed the vet out for Ringo's hoof, she did the tetanus shot for everybody then and returned 1 week later to do West Nile.  Usually we don't have the luxury of spacing the shots out like that although I'd really prefer to do that - it's so much better for the donkeys.

Tetanus shots went fine - Ringo was concentrating on his sore foot and didn't try to bolt.  But a week later, his foot was better and we had a hard time getting him to stand for the next shot, even with G blocking his view of the needle.  Dorrie was also scared and jumped around a bit.

Unfortunately Ringo had, what I would call a bad reaction to West Nile - a very large, hot welt on his neck for about 4 days and he looked miserable and couldn't turn his neck in 1 direction.  Donkeys tend to get very quiet when they aren't feeling well and when I didn't hear him bray first thing in the mornings, I was worried.  They were given the Fort Dodge vaccine and luckily not the Prevenile, which has been recalled! 

Put him on Apis 200 twice a day until I could see the welt recede - about 3 days.  Dorica had a small bump so she got a dose of Apis also, Deenah was fine.  She stands so quietly for shots.

Next year I will reconsider giving West Nile.

Hoof Abscess

How to convince a rather nervous donkey with a sore foot to stand in a tub of warm water!  I made plenty of mistakes but thank goodness for clicker training!  After trying to work with him in his stall, I felt a bit confined and the possibility of getting hurt has he would try to squish me against the wall - I re-assessed my options and chose a spot in the breezeway where Ringo could stand against a rail and facing a wall.

The soaking part was hard, so I created stacks of maxi pads, the plastic backing removed and attached a strip of duct tape to the outside of the bottom layer with tabs for attaching.  As soon as he lifted his hoof, I wrapped the pads, which had been soaking in the solution, around his foot and clicked and treated him on a high rate of reinforcement, for standing still.

He was so good and trying hard, and by the last day, he could lower his hoof into a large feed tub and I slowly added warm water.  not sure we managed 20 minutes though, But eventually he was weight bearing on both front feet and seemd okay again.  Gave him Hepar Sulphur too - 3 times a day for a few days
to deal with any residual infection.

Next time anybody is lame, I'll go straight to foot soaking, since abscess is much more likely in donkeys than any kind of joint injury.  Donkeys don't tend to do goofy things to hurt themselves like horses do!