# how old is too old??



## krissy3 (Jan 31, 2009)

I have been playing around with my 30 year old donkey, and just for fun tested his boundries on his "fear factor" tolerance. To sum it up you could show him a triple feature of Friday the 13th , then show up in his stall later that night wearing a hocky mask , and he wouldnt be bothered.




I tried everything I could think of to get a "spook" out of him....even made the "Ougga Booga..sounds, "Boogy mans gonna get you" not a flinch...Hmmmm...I am thinking open class halter obsticle....what do you think? now how do I get him not to plant his feet if he decided he doesnt want to walk in the show ring...how do you show an old stubborn donkey to be shown. I can just imaginge him planting his feet , and not leaving the arena, because he doesnt want to go. It would be cool to do this , but I dont want to embarrase myself either. He does know a few tricks , like playing dead , but he has had no formal training, he is just an old sheep herding mountain donkey, he did pull a slead once but I am sure no one trained him , they just stuck the thing on him and forced him to do it , he has NO idea what pressure -release is. any ideas??


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## disneyhorse (Feb 6, 2009)

Well, just go and have fun! As long as your animal is healthy, fit, and well-cared-for/groomed it doesn't matter how old they are.

As to the "stubbornness" thing... I think that's what makes donkey and mule classes so darn FUN to watch  At our local draft horse/mule/donkey/carriage shows, they have many different classes for donkeys/mules. They are very versatile and some are so well trained! However... particularly in obstacle and jumping... their "donkeyness" really comes out and the audience really loves it





Have fun,

Andrea


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## minimule (Feb 6, 2009)

Thus the appeal to donkey and mule shows!






You can't predict when they will decide to be donkeys you just deal with it and let them be donkeys. Age doesn't matter either. Most folks that show longears do it for the fun of it. Go have fun and just go with the flow.


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