Training Happens All The Time

 Jeremiah had a day off yesterday due to some personal business and the heavy rain from Tropical Storm Sally.  So, in the meantime, I'll go over one aspect of his training I don't think I mentioned.

The first morning Jeremiah arrived, I lined up the corral panels to create a chute he could walk through form the trailer into his pen.  He moved cautiously and picked the corner furthest from me, as any prey animal would.  Throughout the day, I peeked out at him through the back door window or glanced at him as I walked to the barn to attend to the horses.  He remained on full alert.  He was tense and nervous.  His eyes wide and apprehensive.  His nose taking in the new smells and sounds, his head high, and his ears flicking back and forth.  This was the moment when I could most likely frighten him.  I thought the best thing for him would be to establish a routine right away.  I also had cleaning to do in his pen, beginning after evening feeding.  

I clean the stalls and paddocks twice per day.  It helps me spot trouble early (less poop than normal, watery, dry, etc...) and interact with the horses to check on their well-being.  I need to be able to enter their pen, or stall, without spooking them, and scoop using the manure fork, sometimes close to their hooves.  In fact, our horses let us scoop under their bellies without batting an eye.  

To decide how to establish this with a wild burro, I thought about all the things that are most likely to upset him when I step into his 20 foot by 30 foot training pen.  The list includes directly looking into his eyes, waving arms, moving fast, moving towards him, getting behind him, the manure fork itself, and any loud noises.  With that in mind, I entered with the manure fork close to my body, looked at the ground, moved in straight, predictable routes, and gave him as much room as possible to move away while I was going after one of his poop piles.  Over the next few days, he understood that when I entered while looking towards him and talking to him, it was a training session, but if I entered looking at the ground (for poops) this was not a time he would be asked to do anything.  Though watchful, he quickly relaxed in my presence twice per day for cleaning.  This was ideal because these short cleaning sessions gave him the opportunity to study me without me looking at him or making him too nervous.  He could get used to the way I moved and the way I spoke quietly to him.  Over time, he no longer worried about the manure fork I carried and I always gave him plenty of time to move before I picked up a pile near him.  I didn't think of it as training, but it was!  It taught him more about me than I realized.  

During his day off yesterday, when I cleaned his paddock, he approached me and reached his head out. He clearly wanted attention, so I stopped what I was doing and scratched him for a few minutes.  When he was satisfied, I went back to work.  This was the first time he felt brave enough to solicit attention.  This is big for JJ.  He is the shyest donkey I have ever worked with.  It's no surprise he chose a cleaning moment to do it.  This is his safe time.  

This morning was another step.  I always park the wheelbarrow in the same place in his paddock, just outside the stall, but not blocking the doorway, so he can exit the stall before I clean.  This is what he has been doing ever since I moved him into the stall/paddock.  But today, he chose to keep eating in his stall, so I quietly worked around him in the stall, always ensuring he could leave, if he wanted.  I was closer to his hooves than I have ever been with the manure fork and I even walked behind him briefly.  

Now, I really appreciate how important these little twice per day house-cleaning tasks are for training.  It's helped him become more comfortable with me. Soon, he will be as relaxed as the horses.  He might even become like our son's gelding where I have to practically wake him up to ask him to move his foot so I can get all of the pile he's standing on.  In fact, the other donkeys we've had were notorious for garnering attention during cleaning time.  They would move between us and the wheelbarrow to insist on scratches.  Our first donkey even knocked the wheelbarrow over, if he could!   He thought it was very amusing.  Perhaps they wonder why it's so important to us to collect their droppings!

The Meeting

 After thoroughly grooming my horse, right where JJ could watch, I put her back in her stall and brought JJ into the barn aisle.  We worked with the brush and the fly spray.  JJ also took a treat from our son and allowed him to pet him.  This was a big step for him.  He's learning that there is more than one person in the world ready to be kind to him.  Then we walked past the other stalls and around the corner of the barn to Marty's pen.  There was no dramatic expression of emotions, but they seemed to recognize each other as travelling companions.  Then, JJ took and I took a walk around the farm.  He was not interested in grass, but preferred to browse on small tree branches, (I had to keep him away from my fig and mulberry trees).  He especially liked the wax myrtle.  He was extremely efficient at biting and chewing up the small branches.  It was easy to picture him back in Nevada chewing on the white sage and needlegrass.  

I'm still working on finding a properly fitting halter for him.  His halter training was done with a rope halter, but I'd like to find a more comfortable flat buckle halter for him.  I have seen horses pull back and loosen a properly tied rope halter, plus, for long hikes, we'll want something that isn't as thin and harsh.  He might fit a yearling halter. I'll try that tomorrow.  Of course, with halter changes, he is a bit more apprehensive, but it just gives me a chance to reinforce his training.  I went back to the approach and retreat method a little to introduce the shiny, new halter to him.  He accepted it quickly.  At no time did I insist or try to trap him with the lead rope or halter.  I think that's important when training a wild burro.  

I'll back up a little and explain, in more detail, how we approached JJ's halter training and what we're using on Marty as well (our son spent much more time petting him this morning).  

We approach and retreat while looking for signs of tolerance from the burro.  The idea is to approach, which puts pressure on him, and then at the slightest discomfort, turn away and retreat from him, to take the pressure off.  We approach them at the shoulder, and give the hind end plenty of room.  If we push too hard, they will move their hind end towards us, which would be a fail moment.  After many, many tries, the burro will eventually allow us to touch his shoulder.  With our two boys, it seems that they will allow touching on the shoulders, back, hips, and neck, long before they allow the head to be touched.  Just as Rome wasn't built in a day; we don't rush them.  It seems better to do daily, or twice daily, short, sessions.  An old cowboy once told me to watch for them to make chewing motions towards the end of the session.  He said that means they are thinking about it.  That seems like a good place to hold steady where you are and end on a good note.  I think they appreciate getting the chance to think things over.  Processing it overnight seems to help, with the harder portions.  If we did the session right, they will be ready for a new element the next day.  This is how we try to train at the burro's pace, rather than our own timeline.  It certainly seems to lower the risk of being kicked, or actually scaring the poor burro.  Their world has been turned upside down.  They need time to adjust.  I'm certain there are other ways to train faster and more effectively, but this seems to be working for us.

Walking around the farm with JJ was a big step and one that I've really been looking forward to.  That's the crux of what we want to do with our long eared friends.  We have trails we can walk to from our farm and beautiful state parks in our state with equestrian trails.  That's what we do instead of expensive theme parks.  We like to be on the trails with our beloved pets, be they dogs, goats, horses, or burros.  

Settling In

 Tropical Storm Sally is moving away from us, so our skies are overcast, but not rainy.  We'll see if the weather holds.   I took advantage of the drier weather to do a good training session with Jeremiah this morning.  

The last few days, I have done short sessions with Jeremiah because he was still getting used to the move into the barn.  Yesterday, he rolled and napped in the shavings inside his stall.  He is also going in and out freely to eat his hay and get out of the rain.  

Whenever you train, you need a goal.  Sometimes, especially for us novice trainers, those goals change as the session goes on.  With more rainy days in the future, I wanted him to be comfortable with the inside of the barn (which is very different from anything a wild burro has seen), so my rough outline of goals were to walk him through the door from his stall to the barn, work with his feet a little, and attempt to fly spray his legs (he has little rough areas where the flies are getting him).  

JJ was amazing!  We walked back and forth next to the other stalls and he stopped to look at several things inside the barn.  He picked up both front feet for me (I did not hold onto them, yet), and he let me fly spray his legs (prime fly feeding zone on donkeys).  He likes being touched on his shoulders and neck the most, but he also let me hug him.  He was nervous about many of the new experiences, especially the fly spray, but he trusted me.  As a reward, I took him out for a little hand grazing and shared a carrot with him.  

To appropriately reflect the burros roots as the companions of prospectors, their formal names are Jeremiah Jack (JJ) and Martin McBray (Marty).  They sound like a couple of old prospectors themselves!

Marty's training is going a bit faster already.  Our son already pet him on both shoulders this morning.

Second Burro

 When we signed up to do this TIP Challenge, we originally wanted two burros, but only one was available.  However, one burro was returned and since we were still interested in getting a companion for Jeremiah (burros do better in pairs) I picked him up this morning.  We are calling him Marty, but that might change as we get to know him better.  He is reported to be very food motivated ('a piglet' is actually how we was described) and pretty easy going.  He is 11 years old and from Yuma, Arizona.  His color is called 'burro pink' by the BLM.  He also has a star on his forehead.  

It's hard to believe this guy was passed over for adoption too many times.  He was directly sold as a sale authority burro, which means he could be resold.  However, our plan is to keep both burros.  

Since I'm busy with JJ, our son will start training Marty, with supervision.   

He was moved into JJ's old training pen while JJ watched with interest from the barn.  Once he is halter trained, they can be together.  I love the contrast between the two burros.  JJ is 12 hands and Marty is 13 hands, so both are good sized burros.

Poor JJ had no training session this morning because I had to go pick up Marty.  I hope he isn't jealous.  I'll work with him after chores tonight.

Jeremiah's New Home

 We made it to the paddock this morning!  He has access to a stall now and a paddock with a rock base, which should help his hooves toughen back up.  He did well walking over.  We took our time and I let him graze a little.  Tropical Storm Sally has some outer bands dumping a lot of rain on us, so I'm glad he has a dry place to get in, when he's ready.  I placed some hay inside the stall and some at the entrance.  What a good boy!

The Outside World

 We missed our morning session because the rain came down in heavy spurts.  As I looked out the window at poor, soaking JJ, I planned a way to move him from his pen into the barn so he could have better shelter.  The tree in his current paddock provides great shade, but it can't stop these soaking rains.

The solution was to get him ready to lead outside the pen.  His pen is next to the horse paddocks, which are adjacent to the barn.  It's actually set up in a small pasture that has a gate leading into the paddocks.  JJ's future home is easily accessible, but it does require him to walk through the small pasture on the lead. 

He allowed me to halter him easily again and I started with leading him a few steps at a time around his paddock.  Then. my son opened the gate and, after several minutes, JJ mustered up the courage to step outside.  We slowly made our way along the outside of his pen.  I gave him an occasional carrot treat.  He is beginning to show more personality as he wiggled his lips towards me hoping for more carrots.  At some point, he will probably nip and I will probably scare him a little to make sure he knows he can't do that.  It's perfectly normal behavior in a herd of burros, but human skin is more fragile.  

He also reached down for a few swipes at the tall grass as we walked.  I didn't discourage it, nor encourage it, but quietly urged him on.  About halfway to our destination, the sky poured down again.  He looked at me a little apprehensively the further we moved from his sanctuary.  I sensed that he had enough for the day, so we gradually worked our way back towards his pen.  I was really hoping to move him tonight, but it's more important to move at the appropriate pace.

We made some great progress, but JJ also demonstrated his intelligence.  A few days ago, I led both my horse and the pony individually into the same area to show JJ.  I let both graze a bit before taking them back to their stalls.  My motive was to let JJ see halters and lead ropes on others before I asked to put one on him.  Donkeys can learn by example.  One of the first things JJ tried to do when we moved outside of his pen was to graze.  Hand grazing is very useful for equines to know, so we will take a little side trip and learn this while getting him more comfortable with leading and moving him towards his new home in the barn.  I teach the horses a visual cue to tell them when it's okay to graze and I say "heads up", when we're done.  It's important to control the start and stop to keep your horse focused.  We'll start on that tomorrow.

My birthday is coming up.  My present is a burro sized, neoprene, pack saddle.  It's actually a burro racing saddle for competitions out West (indigenous sport in the Colorado mountains).  We won't be heading out there to race, but they make lightweight, comfy pack saddles specifically for donkeys.  It will come in handy for taking JJ on our family hikes and camping trips.  

Breakthrough

Yesterday evening went much better.  He took several more steps and seemed more at ease with the lead rope.  I removed his halter quietly and petted him for awhile to encourage him to stick around after the halter came off.  It was a good end to the day.  

When I went out to work with JJ this morning, I started by setting up the wedge and preparing to move him in to halter him.  He balked at it and gave me a quiet, appraising look.  So, I draped the loops of lead rope over his neck (no reaction) and haltered him easily.  What a good boy!  He got a chunk of carrot for his efforts.  I also petted him for awhile as a reward. We did a few steps on the lead and then he let me rub his forehead several times.  Things were going so well that I ended the session early.  His halter remained on for the evening session, but he can go back to relaxing and finishing his breakfast now.  

He has a much quieter look in his eyes than he did before.  He is interacting more, rather than simply tolerating me.   When I attempted to move him into the wedge, his look seemed to say 'trust me', so I did.  I think he's teaching me as much as I'm teaching him.