Question: What about donkeys. I need to get the fat pads off this donkey so I can start riding him. Mine gets no grain and a timothy and grass hay mix. He is not in work but needs to be and would be if I could get the bulging fat pockets off his upper back and sides. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. With Twilight gone, I want to get this fatso boy into the work program.

Answer:  What your animal is eating can have a direct impact on his response to training. Many feeds can cause hypertension in Longears (and horses, too!) and an inability to focus for any length of time.  Mules and donkeys require a lot less feed than horses because they are half donkey and donkeys are desert animals. Too much feed or the wrong kind of feed and you run the risk of colic, or founder. We feed an oats mix to our average sized mules of 1-2 cups of crimped oats, 1 oz. of Sho Glo vitamins (by Manna Pro) and 1 oz. Mazola corn oil (for hooves, coat and digestive tract regularity). The oats must be broken open in some way (crimped, steamed, rolled, etc.) as equines cannot digest whole oats. We feed this once a day in the evenings, grass hay twice a day and we monitor weight gain with the hay and pasture intake. Young mules like human teenagers can eat a lot when growing and can have as much grass hay at each feeding as they will clean up. Miniatures get one fourth as much of the oats mix and grass hay, and draft animals will need twice as much. Do not alter or modify this with other products in any way for the best results. Also, make sure they have access to a trace mineral salt block for their salt and mineral needs. We worm our equines with Ivermectin paste wormer in January, March, May, July and September and then break the cycle with Strongid in November. We vaccinate in the spring and fall. Consult your veterinarian for the types of vaccines you will need for your area. You should never feed Longears (donkeys, or mules) any pre-mixed sweet feeds, or products high in alfalfa. Equines in general should never be turned out in a pasture with Fescue grass. Our pastures are seeded with brome and orchard grass and they seem to do best on that mix.

For those animals who are older and haven't the teeth to chew their feed, we add grass hay cubes Timothy hay pellets to their crimped oats mix. We mix the oats, vitamin concentrate and corn oil in a blender and add this to a bucket of hay cubes (amount will vary from animal to animal) that have been soaked in water. For minis, they would get roughly 3-4 cups of hay cubes in the mix. This produces a mix that is not too soupy nor too dry, so they have no problems eating it. They can have this mixture two, or three times a day in the morning, sometimes midday, and evening, depending on the needs of the individual animal.

Your equine should be kept in a smaller area for evening feedings, overnight and for morning feedings. This has several benefits: 1) Each animal can be checked every day for any injuries or anomalies, 2) He will not have to fight for his food, he can sleep uninterrupted and be more calm and fresh each day, 3) You will then be able to turn him out at specific times for grazing during the day and bring him back in each night. This way you can monitor his grazing intake so he will not be able to overgraze and colic, or founder, 4) the smaller area affords you a confined space for beginning training so there is no need to chase him, or be interrupted by other animals (It is best to begin groundwork training as described in DVD #1 and DVD #2 without working in a more confined space), and 5) having this definite routine lets your animal know what to expect and lessens adverse behaviors. You should always begin with DVD #1 and #8 (feeding, maintenance and advanced showmanship training) and take the training in sequence. When you feed the oats mix in the evenings, it makes it easier to call them back from shortened pasture time in the spring (they have to work into this slowly over several weeks) and they will be more apt to come to you easily after their morning feeding of grass hay only when they know you have fanny pack full of oats for them. If you do things out of order, the results will not be the same.

It's that time AGAIN!!  Cripes.

The seasons have changed up here in north Idaho.  We had a stunning fall--untill the rains hit.  By the end of the month we had had 10 inches of rain here in Sandpoint area!!!  Now, translate that to manure and mud and mules coated in it and you have an idea how sweet that was for all involved.  Last summer ('15  I made my dear hubby build a loafing shed for Iris the Princess and Lucille, the Empress to get out of the north wind and the rain and it got a workout in October this year.  Occupation can be measured in the height of the pile in there and it is still there to admire.