Dr. Faith Burden

And as they say, the rest is history.

Donkeys are stubborn or stupid.

We've all heard those, kicks like a mule or stubborn as a donkey.

Donkeys are not stupid.

And anyone that thinks a donkey's stupid has simply been outwitted by them.

That's what normally happens.

So we always judge donkeys as

by what we know about horses.

We're all bought up with Western films and horses in battle and they're fast and incredibly expressive animals, aren't they?

And then we think the donkey is like a small horse with big ears and we can't understand why it doesn't go when we ask it to.

We can't understand why it says no.

And actually, donkeys don't run away from problems.

That's part of their evolutionary background.

Donkeys will stand and they will consider what's in front of them.

So they will think, is it in my best interest to run away?

And I might do that.

But more often what happens is they either freeze or they fight, which again is that whole kind of misconception that donkeys can be quite feisty, they can kick.

It's absolutely natural behaviour for the species that they are.

They're calm, they're thoughtful.

and if you wanted to put your most precious cargo on the back of any animal put it on a donkey or a mule really because it will be safe because they're really really calm and think about what they're going to do before they do it whereas a horse is you know it's long up the dusty road before it's realized there's nothing worth running away from what are you running from nothing