Teaching donkey jack Ahsante to drive, lesson three

This time I added the loose shafts that make a lot of noise on the gravel and also some resistance in the harness. After this lesson, pulling the cart will be a breeze!
Start going short distances and make sure you do a lot of halts. This will teach him that the sound and resistance only happen when he is moving forward and that if he wants release from it he can just stop, instead of going faster.
Start by leading him by the head so you have more control and can stop him if he were to get scared. When you feel he is comfortable you can move back towards a long reining position and then to a ground driving position.
If I had felt he was a more nervous individual I would have started with soft lines connected to the harness. Please beware the dragging sound can cause a donkey to stress up and panic. If you are the least bit unsure about him start by dragging the thing yourself next to him and look for his reactions. Scuffling noises can be hard to tolerate for some donkeys. I always make little tests with them, dragging my feet in the gravel, jumping suddenly, and such things. Just to get to know the individual and how they react to things before adding it to the real training.
BTW With a horse, this would be about lesson 100.. Donkeys are smarter :)
Still, do not rush training over your or your donkeys' comfort level

[@kristinotto8196]

Thanks for posting your steps here, very helpful! Interesting that he was not interested in the oat reward. Do you think that is from the noise and stress of the shafts?

[@leineri84]

nah he is not very food motivated in generall. Also the experiance with chewing with the bit in his mouth was new and a bit strange to him. I found tail rubs worked better with this guy :)

[@karenpolenz249]

Did you add bells also ?

[@leineri84]

No bells, its the klanking of the pieces of metall at the end of the shafts (you can se them in 0:31)