First time with a pack saddle

This is the first time I've saddled these boys. It's not that difficult to train a donkey to pack. They naturally carry weight. The hard work is teaching them good ground skills to respect the halter and lead well.

[@princebuster93]

Thank you for sharing your lovely Donkeys with us Eric, We have adopted one this year called called Charles II, he comes from Southern Ireland and is now at a sanctuary in the South of England. Yes, it seems they pair up as buddies. Definitely one of my favourite animals....🐴🐴🐴🐴🐴❤️

[@natesnowc21]

Great video! look forward to every new one. And they are a great resource

[@MrSanteeclaus]

Great progress- I know these have some age - but I am trying to keep in order of releases

[@kellykelvin9287]

Love your videos , just adopted my first ever BLM Burro. He is 7 . Pretty awsome guy. Do you do any prep work to get them use to those pack saddles , or just throw them on and go ? Thank you

[@franciscomorales4760]

👍

[@FreeRange1234]

I'm 1.5 to 2 years away from getting my first mules. I'm wanting two, one to ride and one to pack. Going to be using them for hunting, upland birds, and back country elk/mule deer, and maybe trail riding also. I have no experience with mules, and very little with horses, so I'm taking my time and doing my research. I have tons of questions as you might expect. Here is one, how important is it to make sure both the one I'm riding and the pack mule has the same gait? Say I get a gaited mule to ride, will it put to much pressure on a non-gaited pack mule to keep up? Will a gaited mule make a good pack animal too?

[@mountainridgegear8172]

FreeRange1234 Most guys like to have a gaited mule to ride because of the smoothness but it’s not imperative. The main thing is not to have a mule that’s going to out-walk your pack string. You want a steady pace but you’re not running a race. Too fast will get you into trouble.

[@jefflahman5579]

What do you do if they lay down? Just wait them out?

[@mountainridgegear8172]

Jeff Lahman They’ll stand back up after a few minutes.

[@comomexiconoaydos1411]

👍👌👋 🇲🇽

[@BurroGirl]

Hey Eric, thanks for your videos, you and the donks are so cute lol! Hey I have to agree w you big time on the age factor - many folks go for the younger BLM burros, but my experience has been that the older ones, say 6-12 at least, are much calmer, wiser and still, i.e. less reactive and wiggly.

[@mountainridgegear8172]

Cynthia Nielsen It is a double edged sword with age. The younger ones, because they aren’t mentally mature, can be a challenge. It’s got to be really short sessions and a lot of patients from the wrangler. You’re right, the older ones because they are more mature can be more Docile, easy-going however they can develop some bad habits that could be hard to deal with. I guess the younger ones are more moldable in some respects.

[@BurroGirl]

@@mountainridgegear8172 always helpful to hear your experiences! What kind of bad habits have you had to deal with in older ones?

[@mountainridgegear8172]

@@BurroGirl Mostly trust issues mostly.

[@tomislavbranimir1374]

.i don't like Camera work

[@bajadan2769]

Put up your own video so we can see what good camera work looks like