I can’t say enough good things about having an equine obstacle course for your donkeys (or other equine of course).
I use mine for every donkey and I plan to make multiple courses as I can. They are not only a fantastic training tool but they are really fun for the donkey and you.
My other favorite part about them is they can be anything you want. Your equine obstacle course can be large or small, it can be full of expensive obstacles or DIY free or inexpensive. I like free or inexpensive myself!
Why Have an Obstacle course for Training?
Not only is it fun, but there are so many benefits to using an equine obstacle course as part of your training.
- Enrichment. Gets the donkey to use its brain and think.
- Exercise. Movement is always a good thing.
- Confidence with new objects. If you want a donkey, that’s good with going through, over and under things on a trail than this is a training method you will want to utilize.
Pre-Training for Obstacle Training
If you just build a course and expect your untrained donkey to go over, under or through all the obstacles with you, you’ll likely be disappointed. You will need to train your donkey prior to expecting them to just go through the course you build.
- You will need to build a level of trust
- Your donkey needs to lead really well! You can train an obstacle course on line or at liberty.
- If your donkey has been through basic movement ground work (like in my Level 3 course) this can also help your donkey understand moving when you ask.
- Not necessary, but it helps if your donkey has been trained with a foundation of +R.
All this training and more can be found in my Donkey Training Membership Group if you need help.
The DIY Obstacle Course
I’m doing a video series on what obstacles I’ve made for my beginners’ course and I’ll add links to all the DIY obstacle videos as I get them made and edited. Then I will make videos for my membership group on training with the obstacles.
Activities with Donkeys
Training donkey and activities with donkeys go hand in hand so many times. For more ideas with donkeys that also help train your donkey, you might want to read this article. Hiking combined with training is one of my favorites!
Love Donkeys? Want more on information?