Equines: Horses and Donkeys

  Every morning my Arab gelding greets me with whinney while my Anglo mare snakes her head at him, curling back her lips and generally behaving more like a dragon than a horse. When I see her acting like this, I can’t help wondering if she’s jealous of the relationship I have with my other […]

  Long-time donkey owners understand how affectionate donkeys can be. But unless you’ve spent a decent amount of time observing and interacting with them, donkeys appear to be stoic, aloof creatures. And even affectionate donkeys take time to develop their attachment and trust in humans. How do donkeys show affection? Like their wild ancestors, donkeys’

  This article is the second part of a 2-part series on Horse Hoof Care. To see how to prevent hoof issues, check out Part 1: Guide to Horse Hoof Care: Preventing Hoof Degloving. When you look at a horse’s hoof, you only see the surface of a hoof. The hoof wall or capsule is

  There is an old saying among many horse people: No hoof, no horse. This is a timeless truth. A horse with bad hooves that are overgrown or badly worn or whose hooves are cracked will inevitably go lame. If the damage is severe enough, such as a serious degloving of the hoof capsule, you

For an experienced rider, a hyper horse can be a welcome challenge. An unfocused or skittish one, however, can be a danger to themselves and everyone around them. I’ve had horses bolt, rear, spin, and buck with me while leading a trail. This resulted in scattering my clients’ horses in the process and upsetting the

  In the past, I believed that only bad, abused, and neglected horses bit. After all, I have been around horses for many years. I’m no beginner; I have fixed bucking, rearing, and running away behavior. Even shying and the ninja-style kicking of my gelding proved no issue. But, when I ended up with a

  Humans and donkeys have lived together and worked side by side for 6,000 years. In many depictions of them, donkeys are stubborn, thick-headed, and especially stoic. When I got my first donkey, I wondered; “Are donkeys as stoic as they appear, or are they able to express their emotions?” Do donkeys show emotions? Donkeys

  For thousands of years, horses have pulled heavy loads. Historically, horses hauled artillery wagons, survival supplies and carried military riders into battle. In the 1800s, horses pulled plows, transported goods from one town to another, and were valuable burdens for various manufacturing processes. Today, many draft horses still work on farms, compete in pulling

One of my friends mentioned that since horses and donkeys are very similar, they should be considered the same species. It’s an interesting thought and one I wanted to clarify.  Why are horses and donkeys different species? The scientific definition of a species is whether or not two animals can interbreed and make offspring also