All equines react naturally and honestly to the people and things around them. So, when your equine is behaving badly, you need to ask yourself, “What was it that set him off?” It is important to have some general information about the animal in his natural state to understand why he reacts to things the way he does, but it is invariably the handler’s fault when things do not go well.

Even before training sessions, it is important to understand that you cannot put all animals together all the time. For example, because of their natural male aggression, jacks and stallions should be kept separate from other animals, in order to avoid injury. Though male mules are generally castrated, they, too, exhibit aggressive behaviors that can be injurious to animals other than those of their own age and stature. Foaling jennets and mares need to have their own space when birthing and raising their young to avoid stressful situations that result in bad behavior. Being aware of your animals’ needs and tendencies will help you keep all your equines happy and healthy.

You must also understand that during training bad behavior is generally brought on by fear caused by a loss of balance, be it mental or physical. Mules and donkeys experience mental loss of balance when their handler is often aggravated by them and rarely praises them. They need to feel that they are pleasing the handler and if he cannot be pleased, they eventually get tired of trying and bad behaviors start to arise.

Physical loss of balance is the most prevalent and produces most bad behaviors in mules and donkeys. When the training program takes into account the details of correctly developing muscles, tendons and ligaments over an aligned frame, and provides an adequate period of time for this to actually happen, the equine (horses included) will recognize that the handler is actually making them feel good all over and will be more willing to comply. Truly bad behaviors become non-existent, and simply annoying behaviors are no worse than those of a child testing his limits. It takes years to grow and develop properly, so be fair and considerate to your equine by setting him up for success. Give him the benefit of patience, kindness, respect and plenty of time to develop. Condensing the training program to teach “things” to your equine, with no regard for the time it takes to build muscle over a correct frame at any given stage is abuse and will produce bad behaviors.

Subject:

Braying
Bucking
Catching Mule Foals
Charging and Kicking
Dogs and Donkeys
Donkey Brays While Showing
Donkey Not Responding
Donkey Paws
Donkey Shows Teeth
Donkey Training
Escaping Mule
Fence Jumper
Gelded Male Or Female?
Gelded Mule Breeding?
Head Resting, Corralling the Handler
Herd-bound
Horses Attacking New Mules
Injured Mule Head Shy
Introducing New Mule
Jack Biting At Open Sores
Jumping Fences
Lazy Mule
Limiting Bad Behaviors
Loaner mule
Lunging a Wild Burro
Mare Suddenly Rearing
Molly Mule Cycling Behavior
Mule Biting Horse Foal
Mule Charging Back To Stable
Mule Clubs/Separation Anxiety
Mule Harder to Train Than Mustangs
Mule Kick Questions
Mule Trained/Owner Fearful
Mules and Dogs
Nipping and Biting
Pasturing Recently Gelded Jacks Together
Protect Young Goats from Donkeys
Punitive Training a Gentle Mule
Quicksand
Rearing and Pawing
Response to Claim of Abuse
Runaway Mule
Runaway Riding Mule
Yearling Jenny Hard to Catch
Young Mule Pawing