Walkies!

I'm so happy and pleased to report that I am back to daily walks with a donkey.  For a while there, we were all becoming a bit slovenly ... well, they were, I was just plain busy with other things!

But now a donkey walk has become part of the routine again.  If it's a short walk, I might even manage to take one donkey out early in the day and a different one in the evening.  I love these long days - there's even some light in the sky at 10:30 PM!  I hate to think that we are approaching the summer solstice and will slowly see that daylight shrink ... but that's later.  For NOW, we have lots of it to enjoy.

Yesterday Dorrie and I went to the mailbox.  We're expecting a package of hoof boots!  The road crew has resurfaced all the side roads here and they are just horrible to walk on ... grit and sharp stones and dust - UGH!  I was so concerned about digging gravel out of the white line and frog areas, that I sprung for some hoof boots, at least to get us to the pavement or trail head.

No package yet, so we tootled up the road a bit and went to investigate an old decaying cement sculpture that had once scared the heck out of Dorrie. This time she was okay with it, though clearly not too impressed.  I love how Dorrie has this wonderful connection to me while we are out walking.  This is something we have been working on and she really gets it - as though there is a thread between us, she walks with a lovely soft neck turned slightly in my direction ... not always but mostly.

Later in the evening, I took Heather up a lovely trail nearby. It's a good climb to start with, leveling off to a beautiful woodland trail and then steeply downhill back to our road.  There's a fallen tree across the path, quite high for a little donkey.  Heather has jumped it before but last night she really didn't feel like it so we bushwacked our way around. Did I take a camera?  No!

I used to think I had to "make" a donkey do stuff - now I listen to their needs and if it's not an emergency or an issue of safety, I will usually honor their wishes.  After all, what I want with my animals is a partnership not a dictatorship.

Heather was really great about walking down the very steep hill.  She matched my pace and listened to my request for "slowwww!"  A donkey running downhill with you on the end of the lead rope can quickly
gain a lot of speed and leave you in the dust.  Plus you don't want them to think that every time you come to a hill, they get to run!


What to do about grazing at this time of year?  Well, that's something we've been working on too.  I do allow some grazing but under controlled circumstances!  Generally I try to walk somewhat in the middle of the road and not too close to the grass along the edge (I don't really want them to eat that tall, dusty roadside grass anyway)  but here's how I teach them about grazing:  (have I posted about this before?)

1. Shorten the lead rope (but still leave some slack) so that if the donkey drops her head she can't reach the ground.
2. Walk over to some grass and ask the donkey to stand and wait (teach the cues for this separately.)
3. When you feel your donkey is relaxed (no tension in her neck, no pulling) say "OKAY!" in an excited, enthusiastic voice and allow the donkey to graze for 3 or 4 bites.
4. Ask her to "LIFT" her head (teach the cue for this separately.) and
5. Walk on.
6. Repeat.

I find that the donkeys quickly understand that they will be allowed to graze a bit and so they are quite happy to oblige.  I incorporate clicker training by clicking once just before I say "Okay!"  The grass is their reward.  But if you are not a clicker trainer, this still is a great method!  And remember, don't pull or yank on the lead rope ever - an "ask" is better than a "tell" which is why practice is so important.

A wonderful donkey journey linked here

A friend recently sent this link to me and I have watched it several times.  Each time I have tears in my eyes - it's partly because this is something I have longed to do (on a smaller scale that is!) for many years (and probably never will, sigh) and also because the accompanying poem expresses her sentiments in an honest and passionate way.

Have a look:

http://www.upworthy.com/to-prove-humans-could-be-happier-with-simpler-lives-she-came-up-with-an-elaborate-experiment?c=ufb1


Then have a look at:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hannahme/seaside-donkey-1000-miles-around-wales-with-a-donk


If you're interested in more, there's also a Facebook page and soon a film and book!  This journey seems to have inspired many people.

Dorrie's Day Out

Well, as per my New Year's rez, today was a promised walk for Dorica.  She was waiting by the gate ...

when a neighbour showed up ...    

so she waited some more ... sigh ...

Finally, we hit the road!
First stop - the mailbox, where we read about a sale at the bookstore.

Then we thought about checking out the house for sale on the next street:

but decided against it.  

Ran into a bizarre (and rather scary) old cement sculpture ... weird!

Yikes!















We enjoyed some trails through the woods and studied the flora ...

And, finally a chance to do some grazing ...

Then up the road and home!

Hiking adventures & how Clicker training helped!

Dorrie and I set off this morning on a hike which I predicted would take close to two hours.  It's been so foggy (I used to love fog?) and gloomy that I figured we needed some air and exercise.  Up the road we went, me chattering away to Dorrie who was doing her cute "almost" trot with a nice flexion of her neck towards me.

At a property at the top of the road, we cut through a trail which would lead us to another road when low and below, we found ourselves about 10 feet away from three VERY startled horses!  I didn't know they were there.

Dorrie has met horses before, no big deal but these three became completely unhinged at the sight of us - stampeding, snorting, blowing and charging the fence line.  Dorrie, in her steadfast donkey way, simply stopped to take it all in and figure out what to do - we in no danger (Dorrie was not so sure!) I doubted very much that any of the horses would try to jump the fence, but they were truly FREAKED OUT!

In order to continue our walk, we would have had to turn our backs on the horses and no way was Dorrie doing that, so I figured out a way we could cut through another little trail that would eventually take us out
to the next road.  That way, Dorrie could keep her peripheral vision on those horses.
Dorrie, who is normally pretty bomb-proof was very tense and didn't want to move at all.  I did have my clicker with me and that acted as a great target to help change her focus.

I asked her trust me, I asked her to soften and relax a little and I asked her follow the "target."  It worked and we got to the next path, which actually was a long and winding driveway.  She was still tense and listening to the thundering hooves and snorting (which had not abated!) but at least willing to move.

Then ... oh no - the property owners had put cement sculptures all the way along their drive.  Dorica HATES cement sculptures - I had found this out once before!  Poor donkey had to negotiate the long driveway with these sculptures looming through the murky fog and it was like walking through the house of horrors for her.  Her eyes were like pizza pans each time she saw another one!

I actually found it funny (sort of) but also felt sorry for her!  There was no way I wanted to put any pressure on this already tense little donkey - I didn't want to pull, prod or drive her forward.  I was VERY grateful to have my clicker training problem-solving skills at the ready.  It's not so much about "getting behaviour" as it is about attitude.  With positive reinforcement training, attitude is everything.  And because it builds such a bond of trust, that trust is there when you most need it (hopefully!)

I wish I had remembered my camera - you would have been able to see the changes in attitude (sigh) - maybe next time I'll remember to take it along!