That's better ... Dad is in front, Cosmo ... and son, Merlin is in back ...

Now they are NEAT! How tall are they ? Are they Pets or do they have a wrok purpose? Sorry, I know nothing about Donks..But I know when I see something I like and those guys, I like!

Rickâº

I really like the mini donkey's and would not even mind one or even a mini horse (did I just say that!) however our farrier has advised us that he don't do donkey's or mini horses. He said a normal sized horse will kick out at him sometimes but the donkies all have rather good aim! He said the mini horses are just too hard on his back. My daughter had brought it up with the guy, not me I promise.

There is a mini farm near us that has mini donkeys, mini goats, and one other thing I can't think of right now and everytime we drive by the kids and I expect to see the 7 dwarfs or Snow White out tending to the place! It's really neat looking with all the tiny animals.

Jamie

These guys are just pets .. at the moment ... if I can ever squeeze an 8th day out of a week I want to train them to drive. I think it would be great to have them pull me in a cart... To be mini's they have to be 36" or under at the shoulder. They are VERY friendly critters..

Jamie ... my farrier thinks they are funny. The little one was a tazmanian devil until recently and he just laughed. Said it was easier when they are small to deal with than to deal with large horse size tamanian devils.

Pam

Gee Pam, not a daylily in sight, or are they on the other side of the fence? Donks probably don't like DL's anyway.

Don/wis

Jamie,
Funny comment about the 7 dwarfs.
I think my mother trims her mini's hooves b/c her farrier won't touch him... too hard on the back as you stated.
They are cute!
I'd love a "mini" farm (aka: a useless farm)! I already have a mini llama, as she's only about 175 lbs. I would guess... maybe less! She's going to be sheared in the next few weeks so we'll know just how little she is. That heavy coat is deceiving!
Erin

{{gwi:33599}}

This is our friend's mini donk, Wyatt Earp...a total sweetheart with a bray that totally belies his stature. Wyatt loves attention and doesn't appreciate us standing around talking when we could be petting him...

As for farriers, when we lived in Portland I had a terrible time finding and keeping farriersfor minis. Now that we are out in the boonies we have a great guy who loves the little ones.

You can get books and videos on trimming hooves correctly, and of course they're not shod, so with the proper training, doing it yourself can be done. Just keep in mind that they are still equines and depend upon those hooves, so make sure you learn the right way.

A lot of people that I know paid their farrier to teach and supervise them until they got it right. Perhaps your farrier who doesn't want to do it himself would be willing to teach you.