2023-09-21 13:06:41
The donkey is a stubborn fellow, Robert Louis Stevenson was right when he wrote about his “journey with the donkey through the Cévennes”. But the donkey is also a loyal companion and resilient pack animal, which Don Quixote’s companion Sancho Panza appreciated, as did many people before and after him. And the donkey is an “eating machine”. In any case, our donkeys, Cappuccino and Mini, two shaggy dwarf donkeys who don’t miss any dandelions or delicate clover on the side of the path. That’s why they stop very often when you’re out and about with them. But the donkey owner Susa Winter had already told us that, and we suspected it anyway when we set off to her donkey farm deep in the Bavarian Forest to hike with donkeys. It became an exercise in patience that, depending on the day, felt like submission.
Unexpected choice for father-child weekend
However, the teenage daughter’s wish to travel was too original to be rejected. After the two siblings had wanted to spend the father-child weekend away in previous years in the expected destinations of London and Paris, donkey hiking was an unexpected choice. But why not? Offers can be found quickly, many of them in France, where solitude and high mountains beckon. The Deggendorf district seemed more appropriate to us, because as a donkey beginner you expect challenges and assume that you would be better off on less demanding terrain and in a familiar language area. And it is deserted there too.
The donkey, however, doesn’t care in which language he is urged, begged or reprimanded, he does what he wants anyway. When we set off at the remote Daxstein donkey farm with other guests and their rental donkeys for our first introductory tour through forests and meadows – also known as a donkey driving license – the reliable stop-and-go begins that we have to obey from now on. Either the donkeys are eating, or they are waiting for seemingly no reason. That doesn’t take you far. It’s still enough for a few kilometers around the farm, and after that we know how to handle our donkeys, physically and mentally.
There is a good reason for persisting
The short lead rope is mandatory because donkeys want to follow, it is said, after all they are herd animals; The donkey walker’s place is next to the animal’s head. Above all, however, they are cautious, even fearful, and therefore wait-and-see by nature. Unlike horses, they cannot escape too quickly – especially since they have small hooves with which they move more carefully than recklessly. And because they have a faint smell of their own, it has always been evolutionarily worthwhile for them to remain silent when something seems uncomfortable. Predators then miss them. So the donkey stands at almost every fork in the road that he can’t see, moves his ears in all directions and takes the opportunity to see if there is anything else to eat nearby. So one thing leads to another.
You don’t need many tools to go hiking with donkeys. But once you’re on the move, the difficulties just begin. : Image: Uwe Marx
The lynx has been at home in the Bavarian Forest for a long time and the wolf has recently returned, but this is not a danger to donkeys or people. Apart from that, donkeys know how to defend themselves. They often fight among each other, nibble on each other’s sides and like to kick, which is why you should not approach them from behind. Dogs should also stay away from them. They also smell good and therefore, apart from potential dangers, have another reason to stop: the excretions of previous conspecifics are always worth a break for them and are then sniffed intensively.
The donkey is a niche animal
It is not surprising that children have a lot of patience and understanding for this, but donkeys also have fans among adults. For example, the young couple in our leisurely donkey-human caravan who have always wanted to try such a tour and are not yet confident enough to tackle the high mountains; or the two older semesters who were gifted this hike by their adult daughter, a donkey lover, as they say. Susa Winter confirms this. The donkey is a niche animal, she says, not as popular as horses or as popular as alpacas. But he is appreciated.
#fight #meter