herd dynamics

PaintedPromiseRanch · Mar 21, 2008

the folks who are adopting Fred, the rescue donkey, have asked me a question that i'd like some input on. they have 2 riding horse geldings, and have also purchased our foal Clementine and will be purchasing another mini donkey foal to be her buddy. the plan was for Fred to share a pasture with the big horses due to size. i know, and have told them, that a donkey's first choice would be to have a donkey buddy, but i also know from experience that if he doesn't have a choice, he will do ok with the horses too. i believe he will have fenceline contact with the minis although they will not be turned out together, again due to size.

i think they may be contemplating getting another donkey buddy for him, though, because they are asking whether he would prefer another gelding or if a jennet would do as well. my experience is limited, with special circumstances, so i thought for sure crackerjackjack would have input and perhaps others as well.

my question to you, crackerjackjack, is this: you had a gelding and a jennet who were together for quite a while, just the two of them. then you added your mom's donkey, another jennet. can you tell me if the relationship between your first two changed when you added the third, and if so, how? do the girls obviously hang together, excluding the gelding?

my personal experience is this: other than the jacks, which of course are kept separately unless breeding, our donkey herd started out with one jennet, Bonny, and one gelding, Flash, and they were in the same pen as several mini horses and a mini mule. they were best buds for a year. then we added two more jennets from the same breeder, Betty Lou and Susie Q, and suddenly Bonny was obviously hanging with the new girls rather than Flash. HOWEVER - the older of the new girls, Betty Lou, was born as the same time as Bonny, and the breeder had told me that as foals/weanlings the two were best buds (aned it was obvious that they remembered each other). and Susie Q is a full sister to Betty Lou so from the time she was born, she also grew up with Betty Lou, hence another bond there. so i'm not sure if it was gender, or shared history, that caused Bonny to choose Betty Lou over Flash.

what do you think?

MeadowRidge Farm · Mar 21, 2008

Susan, I know its not Crackerjack answering here but I can tell you from first hand experience..my jennys prefer to hang out with jennys!. I had two to start with then added a third and a fourth, nothing changed, as far as the realtionship between the first tow went. They are all great buds. ..where you find one you will find all four now. The same with the geldings..where one is you will find the rest. Those would be my hinnys, they are all out of one or the other jenney..but they still bonded with one another over the jennys. They are all in a pasture with 30 mini horses.

PaintedPromiseRanch · Mar 21, 2008

that's ok CeMom i was hoping more would answer, it's just knowing her herd since it's so small, i knew it would be relative. i'm sure lots more have herds with different dynamics that could sure add to this. thanks for the info!

Emily's mom · Mar 21, 2008

Oh, that is kind of sad, I guess I'm going to stick with just the two!!

I would feel badly if one got left out.

crackerjackjack · Mar 24, 2008

Well, I was so excited to see that I was asked for my input. When I got my two donkeys, I had them for 3 months before we added my moms donkey. My two are and have remained best of buddies. Lily, my moms donkey, really does not care for either of them. They all get along, but my two will play and lay together and they can eat together.

Lily(my moms donkey) likes to be on her own. She is 10 years old and came from a farm with a lot of other minis. I really thought that she would like these two. But she just seems to really not care for them. There has never been any fighting, but you can tell when she is annoyed with them. When the farrier came last month, I took Lily out of the fenced area. Crackerjack can be a real pain and he always has to have his nose where it don't belong. He was fine with Lily leaving, but I then took Chocolate out of the pen. He stated to bray and scream. This was the first time I ever heard him bray. You can take Lily out and he doesn't care, but don't mess with his buddy Chocolate.

Crackers gets along great with both girls, the girls are the ones that have the problems with one another. I just always tell them when they are acting up toward on another that they are both Diva's and that there is always room for the both of them. Poor Crackers, he just gets along with everyone.

Hope that this helps. I think that I probably just have unusual circumstances.

PaintedPromiseRanch · Mar 25, 2008

thanks crackerjackjack, that was EXACTLY the kind of info i was looking for regarding your situation, and lots of details... thanks SO MUCH!!!! interesting that Lily came from a place with lots of donkeys but wants her space...