So far, I have only found one thing that Emma really doesn't like and that's being shut in a stall. The first day here, I had planned on locking her in one of the stalls until she had a chance to get acclimated a little and I could introduce her to the electric fence. I don't have normal doors in my stalls, finding that a piece of chain across the opening works just fine for the little time my horses are in their stalls. I knew this wouldn't work for a small donkey who had never been in a barn before or even worn a halter. Still, I got Emma in the stall and used my trusty cordless drill to put a few boards across the doorway. I went up about five feet and figured that ought to be enough to hold a donkey less than 40 inches tall. Wrong!
A friend had come up to see the new donkey and we were standing there admiring her when she did a standing leap over my hastily built wall. I had heard that donkeys were good jumpers but really...a 3 1/2 foot tall donkey neatly jumping a five foot wall??? Time for some rapid rethinking of the donkey containment issue.
Emma wound up spending her first 3 days here locked in my round pen, which luckily, has 7 foot walls. Not even the super donkey could leap over these.
Fortunately, Emma has absolute respect for the electric fence. In fact, I have even had some success with a dummy wire in the barn. Much to Emma's dismay.
"Let me out!!!!"
"There just has to be a way through this..."
"Ohhhh, a consolation prize"
"Maybe I'll survive"
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