What is the best way to train a donkey to drive? What a great question and the answer is simple: You train with your heart and with a large dose of compassion. Remember this is a sensitive, loving and caring individual who wants you to be a leader and wants to please you.

RMS Lippyluver Luc is now five and half years old. He taught us what donkey training is all about. Luc came to our farm in November at 1 ½ years old. Our first winter was spent bonding with this cute little guy. Springtime found us ready to start playing with his young mind.

We soon discovered that a two year old donkey is still child like. We took our baby for walks, what a great way to start. Walking together brings you into the leadership role. You’ll soon discover where your donkey’s comfort level resides. Before you are left with nothing but a rope burn in your hand, stop the action and let your baby discover that whatever is scaring him will do no harm as long as you are there to protect him. These babies are strong and gloves come highly recommended. Continue with short walks establishes a trusting bond that will pay off in the future. Luc went for walks around the farm, and then to town; it was a good way to introduce many new aspects of life as a driving donkey. Ear scratches, treats and verbal rewards make it fun for your donkey and he gets to spend one on one time with his new leader.

Now is the time to begin your verbal commands. Whoa is the most important and I only use that word when I really mean it. We would take two steps I would give the command whoa and stop walking. You can expand this slowly by adding more steps but always the word whoa means stop and you need to make sure you can enforce it. Back, gee, haw, walk, trot and over are introduced the same way one at a time, one word commands I feel are best. Don’t forget to throw in lots of rewards for good behavior.

Our next step with Luc was the harness. Fitting the harness takes time and more patience that a young mind can stand. You need to know when to quit. Luc taught us short sessions are best. We continued our walks now wearing harness, even dropping the traces to the ground where they will drag and hit his legs are great training aids. Luc took it all in stride. What he really liked was watching his shadow… ‘WOW”, he seemed to say, “Is that really me?”

Ground driving comes next and is best done in a round pen with a person on the lines and you at the head. You are the leader and you’re needed to perform your duties. This is a good place to begin to fade back and let your donkey start to go it alone. I used a halter with a snaffle bit underneath and the lines connected to the halter sides. If you are just using a halter, your donkey can still see you. Communicate with the one word commands you used during your walks. That brings familiarly back to his world. Before going to the arena I introduced the lines connected to the snaffle bit. From here it is time go to the arena to repeat the round pen lessons.

You now have room to move. This is a great place to advance into circles and serpentines adding some spice to the recipe. Set up a fun obstacle course with poles and cones, keeping it simple and don’t stress if you find him walking on the cones, it will all come together. Our round pen and arena was located away from the farm which gave us an opportunity to end each session with a walk to see and experience new things. Always end on a good note and never make your sessions to long. Ten to twenty minutes is a long time for baby brains. We began each session with a quick overview of the past lessons and then moved on to one new item.

When Luc was ground driving well it was back to the round pen. Here is where we introduced a drag. Ours was a tire and it was pretty confusing to say the least for our young man. We repeated these sessions until it was part of the routine. The next step was to proceed to the arena with the tire. Taking one step at a time and not skipping will pay huge dividends in your driving future.

Back to the round pen, do you have a feeling that every time we introduce something new it is at the round pen where we have control of the surrounds? This is extremely important. Create a simple travois with a couple of PVC pipes and a crosspiece. Touching the donkey’s sides with the PVC sets the stage for shaves later on. Drive carefully in the round pen so as not to hang up a pole and then go to the arena as you have in the past.

You are almost ready to hitch, but not quite! You need to introduce the cart, what it sounds like, what it smells like and what it looks like. We parked the cart in the center of the arena and moved it from one spot to another so it became a regular fixture as we were ground driving. The time arrived to have our helper pull the cart all around Luc, in front, on both sides and behind him until it was no big deal all the time ground driving.

Now you are ready to hitch and this can be done several ways. Luc was lucky; he did not have to go it alone on this important step. The next spring Luc turned three years old, his mind and body was now equivalent to a young teenager. All the previous steps were repeated and the lessons were extended to an hour. He was ready to begin his driving career in June.

Our friends drive their mules many miles each year and are as solid as they come. Luc was introduced to Abby, their lead mule who would become his mentor. With Abby hitched by his side each step was repeated, except the poles. Luc’s first cart hitch happened in a large corral again with his leader at his head, Abby was hitched at his side with a driver in the seat. Short sessions here are still best. The 10 acre pasture was the next progression being driven in an open headstall. Finally Luc made his debut on quiet roads with traffic that is use to inexperienced driving animals still hitched to Abby.

Once Luc had the self confidence to go it alone Abby disappeared from the scene. Finally Luc was hitched by himself. His first drives advanced from the corral, going to the pasture and eventually to the road. It was at this point Luc changed to blinders to help him keep his mind on the job at hand. The drives were short and on flat ground giving his muscles time to fully develop.

The next spring Luc was four years old and was able to go for longer drives with a more mature mindset. Each year we have seen improvement in his driving abilities.