# Need help why does my mini donkey do this?



## I3Emommy

My donkey has a strange habit. In the past I have seen him drag around his pasture mate by the mane. She has since moved to a different home and now he is pastured with a 5 month old filly. I have noticed him doing this to her. He DOES NOT SEEM TO BE TRYING TO HURT HER. I just don't want to see her get hurt, I am not terribly worried as he is not much bigger than her. He is a 30" mini donk and she comes from a B sized mare and a shetland daddy. She is just absolutely the sweetest little girl and I want to make sure he isn't emotionally scarring her. Is this a normal behavior? He is such a love I can't imagine him trying to hurt anyone. Please tell me this is some normal horse behavior!!!


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## Field-of-Dreams

Is he gelded? Sounds like a dominance thing to me and either way I would separate them.


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## I3Emommy

No he is not gelded he just turned a year old in May and while I know that is old enough to be gelded when the vet was last out in August she palpated and his testes are not descended yet so she reccommend waiting until it was cooler for flies and until he was dropped. He also has never shown any well for lack of other words "horniness" I don't have a farm this is just my childrens backyard pets. I had him before with 3 year old mare. I bought the donkey and the mare for each of my 2 daughters. Well his is the sweetest "puppy" ever follows you around, loves my kids, and my dogs and he is just about the best thing ever. Well after giving the mare 6 months she never warmed up and let anyone near her. I decided that while she was beautiful she was not a fit for my girls. Long story short I thought if I got a baby we could have her nice and friendly if my girls gave her a lot of love right from the start. So fast forward now I have the filly and my donkey who are both awesome have great personalites who my daughters love. I know I guess everyone thinks there stud will be the exception to the rule and be the one that is fine without being gelded, well at least that is what I was hoping. I don't want to seperate them unless I absolutely have to since they are the only ones together and I have read and heard that mini's and especially donkeys do not do well being alone.

No he is not gelded he just turned a year old in May and while I know that is old enough to be gelded when the vet was last out in August she palpated and his testes are not descended yet so she reccommend waiting until it was cooler for flies and until he was dropped. He also has never shown any well for lack of other words "horniness" I don't have a farm this is just my childrens backyard pets. I had him before with 3 year old mare. I bought the donkey and the mare for each of my 2 daughters. Well his is the sweetest "puppy" ever follows you around, loves my kids, and my dogs and he is just about the best thing ever. Well after giving the mare 6 months she never warmed up and let anyone near her. I decided that while she was beautiful she was not a fit for my girls. Long story short I thought if I got a baby we could have her nice and friendly if my girls gave her a lot of love right from the start. So fast forward now I have the filly and my donkey who are both awesome have great personalites who my daughters love. I know I guess everyone thinks there stud will be the exception to the rule and be the one that is fine without being gelded, well at least that is what I was hoping. I don't want to seperate them unless I absolutely have to since they are the only ones together and I have read and heard that mini's and especially donkeys do not do well being alone.


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## chandab

Separate them, whether his testes are down or not, he's starting to show stallion like tendencies and you don't want him to breed your filly, and he likely will try. While I don't have donkeys, I've heard and read they are fairly rough when breeding. I'd put them in separate adjoining pens (the very least til after he has been gelded, if not longer to let the hormones settle), so they have company, but the filly is safe.


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## I3Emommy

Alright I will have to have my husband put up a barrier. Poor baby girl I really thought he was playing. Like I said he never seem violent about it I just thought it was "horsing around"


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## Helicopter

I have 4 donks, 3 of which are geldings. They are always leading each other around by the neck and always have.'' I'll drag you then you drag me'' sort of thing. They are about 8 years old. They don't do it to the Jenny. She is the leader of the pack. They are much more interested in her rear end and she is happy to have it that way.


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## I3Emommy

So you don't think he is trying to hurt her. Do you think it is a problem?


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## ohmt

My gelded donkey also does this to my mares. They do not appreciate or tolerate it. He is not trying to harm them-just 'play'. Even though he is quite a bit bigger than most of them, my bossy girls are pretty good at letting him know it's time to stop. I very highly doubt your filly would ever be receptive at her young age, but if he gets studdy that could cause her a lot of stress and he could injure her, so get him snipped as soon as you can.


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## chandab

I3Emommy said:


> So you don't think he is trying to hurt her. Do you think it is a problem?


While to him its probably just play, she is younger and probably smaller (for now) so could get hurt being on the receiving end of his rough play. Colts tend to play rougher than fillies, doesn't matter if they are donkeys or horses, the boys tend to be rougher. I'd still probably separate them til after he's gelded, and she's had a little more time to grow.


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## I3Emommy

Thanks everyone I am glad to know that most of you at least feel he is not trying to hurt her. I just could not wrap my head around the thought of my little teddy bear boy trying to hurt anything. Obviously with that being said intent means nothing and I don't want her hurt and will get them seperated asap. In a few months though my boy better watch out I know she is gonna top out way above his size hehe!!!


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## I3Emommy

Thanks everyone I am glad to know that most of you at least feel he is not trying to hurt her. I just could not wrap my head around the thought of my little teddy bear boy trying to hurt anything. Obviously with that being said intent means nothing and I don't want her hurt and will get them seperated asap. In a few months though my boy better watch out I know she is gonna top out way above his size hehe!!!


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## LAZY J MINIS

MY MINI BOY HAS A MINI MARE FOR A GIRLFRIEND. HE IS WITH HER 24/7 AND I'VE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM ( HE IS GELDED)HE WILL YELL WHEN WE TAKE HER OUT, AND STANDS AT THE GATE UNTIL SHE IS BACK. SOMETIMES HE WILL GRAB HER NECK BUT HAS NEVER HURT HER. DEPENDS ON THE PERSONALITY AND SOCIALIZING (SP?) OF BOY.


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## Bingo's Buck

Helicopter said:


> I have 4 donks, 3 of which are geldings. They are always leading each other around by the neck and always have.'' I'll drag you then you drag me'' sort of thing. They are about 8 years old. They don't do it to the Jenny. She is the leader of the pack. They are much more interested in her rear end and she is happy to have it that way.


We have 5. We have four jacks, and a jenny. I have not only seen the jacks do it, but one day we saw her grab the younger jack by the neck. They never seem aggressive when they do it. They just lead each other around. Is it just some donkey quirk?


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