A defender of the noble donkey

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33514, 20 April 1974, Page 6

A defender of the noble donkey

When Mrs Ann Walker came front Australia to judge the first donkey classes at the Canterbury Show last November, she altered many preconceived ideas about donkeys. Neither stupid nor stubborn, they were very intelligent, sensitive and most affectionate animals, she said.

She now has much more to say about their qualities as mounts and load carriers in her new book “Australian Donkeys”, published by Humphrey and Formula Press, Australia. Her advice on breeding, breaking in, and training donkeys to ride or use in harness is drawn from her own experience. Donkeys taught her almost as much as she taught them ip her early years of trial and error when working with the wild ones from the Northern Territory which formed the basis of her stud. What she has to say in her book, was written as if she were giving a talk to a group of other donkey fans, will be invaluable to New Zealand breeders, some of whom have imported stock from Australia. Buy why breed donkeys at all? Ann Walker gives many

reasons why she prefers them to ponies: When pro- . perly trained the donkey makes an ideal.mount for a small child learning to ride. They are quiet and gentle animals, not nervous, and have a built-in regard for ’children. They seldom buck, Irear or do anything frightening. They may be' maddening and need a lot of ■patience, but are never ■alarming, she says. They are narrower than little fat ponies, and a child can -learn on its first donkey mount how to sit correctly and learn to use its legs the right way, instead of sitting straddled out on a poney. For adults bigger donkeys make a delightful ride she has found. Between the ■ shafts of the right vehicle they become showy harness animals and never seem to tire. And they also make ex- ; cellent pack animals.

I NO SHOEING ■i Donkeys can be trained to jump well if they so desire. They are quick to learn any- ■ thing. But they seem to think it is sheer lunacy to jump over something if they can walk round it, she says. They have minds of their own. Donkeys are cheaper to keep than horses or ponies: ' For one thing, they do not need shoeing. In Australia the donkey : has had a chequered career.' It was introduced in the!

country as a work animal, then motorised transport made it redundant. So donkeys were left to run wild and became vermin with a price on their ears for huntsmen. Next they became pets — a kind of status symbol and a gimmick.

“It is only now, when a few people are really beginning to train donkeys, that their real potential is’ becoming apparent; that is, as a pleasure animal par excellence,” she says. Ann Walker admits to being “hooked’ on donkeys, and is often asked what they are really like, as if they were some strange freak of the animal kingdom. “They are like horses because they have many equine [characteristics,” she says, [“like dogs in their affection [and attachment to human {beings, like cats in having [within them that strange, independent, untouchable core. All this added up makes the fascinating, sometimes maddening, but wholly lovable creature that is a donkey.” STUD ESTABLISHED Mrs Walker became interested in donkeys in England when she was about three years old. After she married she bought a donkey as a first mount for her children. When the family moved to Tasmania they could not buy a . replacement anywhere, After a fruitless search, Mrs Walker agreed to take delivery of six wild donkeys from the Northern Territory, and their arrival was hailed in a Tasmanian newspaper as “the animal story, of the year.” And so began the establishment of the Keysoe Donkey Stud; which was moved with the family to Victoria early last year.