# Mini horses and goats and chickens?



## mama24

I have been looking for a mini donkey to keep in with my goats b/c we have a fox that gets my chickens that go into the goat pen. There's no way for us to fox proof the whole goat pen, and some breeds of my chicks will just fly out of any pen I build, all the ones I have left are at least smart enough to stay close to the goats. But there is enough grass and space for a few donkeys or horses, etc, in my goat pen. I'm having a hard time finding a non-registered mini donkey at a reasonable price, but there are gorgeous mini horses for sale all over the place here for very cheap. I am experienced with horses and am willing to put the money and time into their care (as long as they aren't shoed. lol. That adds too much to the farrier, and my dh would kill me!) Plus with hearing horror stories of donkeys going crazy on people's goats and chickens, etc, I'm a little worried about that. Would it be a bad idea to get a mini gelding or 2 to keep in with my goats? As a bonus, I could teach my kids to ride on them, and maybe train them to pull a cart. I miss being around horses. I suppose horses are just as much risk for killing chickens as donkeys. What do you think?

Is it a bad idea to keep a mini horse in with goats and chickens? I don't want to risk it if it's a bad idea. I've only been around horses kept separate. I did have a friend that had a horse in with all sorts of other livestock, but that horse was like 30 years old and just slept in the sun all day. lol. But I already found a nice looking mini gelding, 2 years old, fat and healthy in the pics, ridden by small children at his current home, just had a hoof trim. I'd like to go take a look at him. But I don't have a separate space. I'm also a little worried that he's listed as ridden by children already and is only 2 years old. Doesn't seem healthy... We always waited till they were 3-4 years to ride, but they weren't minis. Do they mature faster? Maybe if it was just kids being led around, not real riding, that's different, too... Anyway... We have over 30 ac of nice nice pasture, grass, alfalfa, and lespedeza, few weeds, but we only have 1 barn where the goats are. We rent our property, so I am not willing to put the money into building anything. I would add more fencing to the goat pen. Right now it's mostly fenced in wooded area, but I would add more fencing to include more pasture. Our pasture is nice enough I doubt we'd have to supplement whatever we decide to get much. We don't get much snow here, either, and have warm winters, so the pasture is pretty good through most of the winter, but we have good hay, too.  Our grass stayed green almost all winter this past one, only turned brown for maybe 6 weeks. One thing I love about living here in the South. I do miss those Southwestern PA mountains cool summers, though!


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## goodhors

Sorry, I am going to advise AGAINST getting a mini horse.  ESPECIALLY a young gelding.
They are not usually protective against dog-like animals, the way the long-eared equines
are.  So you will then have a VERY PLAYFUL young horse chasing your other animals 
around.  He may develop a liking for playing roughly with them, damage or kill a few.

Even small, he is armed with four HARD hooves and BIG teeth to grab things with.  He 
won't have other outlets for his energy, so playing with his companions is probably the
way things will go.  It is FUN to watch them run when chased, scatter when attacked, grab
and FLING them when he can.  Young horses need other equines to keep them orderly, 
discipline them when needed!

Even with the donkey, NOT ALL make good herd protectors.  The females, a Jenny, usually
are the best, like to eat, unwilling to work at playing.  The ungelded Jack or even gelded males, usually 
are much rougher with stock than the females.  Just busier, motivated to "be the boss" and 
go ofter things that don't get out of his way.  I would NOT advise getting any Mule, they LOVE 
chasing things smaller than they are and often hurt them.

Something to consider with the smaller equines, mini or pony-size donkey, is how EASILY they
get overweight on even poor pasture!  Good pasture means you will need to confine them
to prevent obesity, or learn to work them to keep animals fit.  It can happen VERY FAST, 
because they are bred to be extremely efficient with their food in the harsh lands they 
originated from.  They get 150% food value from EVERY blade of grass!!  The obesity can
and WILL cause hoof issues, which are usually permanent changes.  Even putting the animal
out on new spring grass for a few hours can hurt the hooves, with the huge change from hay.
Laminitus is the name of the problem, seems to happen worst with those fat little animals
during food changes in pasture, over eating and having so much fat on their bodies.  30 acres
 of pasture is way too much for the animal you want.

You will need some kind of shelter for him to get out of the weather.  Donkey hair DOES get wet
to the skin, doesn't dry well.  So donkey could get wet, cold and chilled, if left outside all the time.
Then they get sick, may need a Vet if it goes into pneumonia.  It also will need regular hoof care,
with someone who does donkeys.  They are NOT horses, need a different trim.  YOU THE OWNER
will need to keep donkey trained so he is easy to lift hooves for trimming, learn to tolerate the 
"stupid, stubborn donkey" remarks.  Donkey is not hard to train, but needs to TOTALLY understand
what you are asking, to get him to cooperate.  NOT the same as horses and ponies, needs a different approach.

Lots to consider here, before you continue towards getting an animal.


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## secuono

If the goats have horns, I wouldn't add anything else that does not have horns as well. 
Horses don't protect anything, maybe the feed bucket. Not all donkeys protect anything either, maybe you can find one that is already protecting something. 

Is the fox killing chickens during the day? If not, lock the birds up at night.


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## mama24

Thanks. Very helpful info. Sounds like getting a mini anything is a bad idea with how nice our pastures are. Looks like I'll be looking for a standard or mammoth Jenny.  they don't have access to the full 42ac property, btw. The only fences are what I put up around my chicken coop on one end of the barn, and the goat pen on the other. I just need to make the goat pen bigger before I add more animals. Or maybe I shouldn't so I can get a mini donkey. 

Yes the fox is getting my poor chickies during the day, he comes at all hours to keep us guessing. He even doesn't run when he sees us, unless we have a gun, and he's usually gone before we even see him if he hears me click the safety off. Smart little sucker. First thing I did when we moved in here was pour a concrete floor in the 100yo existing chicken coop. Nothing gets in there at night!


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## secuono

Didn't notice the mini part, nothing mini can do a good job protecting, just too small. 

We also have a fox who comes by no matter the time, never runs from me or even notices me! It's darn right freaky! But, I've wired the small critter yard, only thing that stopped the killing fast enough for me. 120x148ft yard for the ducks, chickens and rabbits. Sheep and horses have the rest, 4.5 acres, but no coyotes to worry about the sheep. 

Are you sure you cannot put up an electric fence?


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## mama24

Its a gray fox, he just climbs something and jumps in when we turn the electric on. I guess he can hear it. My son saw him. The barn is in a heavily wooded area, lots of mature oaks. Necessary to keep the animals cool in the summers down here, but sucks for keeping a gray fox out. They can climb and jump like cats.


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## secuono

Guess y'all need to start hunting some fox! 
You can make a path for it to get in and on the small end put a snare to catch him.


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## mama24

I'm honestly about ready to give up on chickens if I lose the rest of what I have. I also have 8 ducks, but the fox leaves them alone, probably bc of our 2 geese. The 10 of them stick to each other like glue. I had about 75 chickens 2 months ago and I'm down to 26. He took out 30 in just one week. My puppy digs one up once in a while if we walk in the woods in the back of the property with her. My neighbors are almost as upset as I am and are trying to shoot the fox too. There have been some bad tenants here in the past and they all say they love hearing my roosters.  I haven't lost any since that bad week, though. Like I said, all I have left are the ones smart enough not to fly over the fence to forage. Funnily enough, most of them are my easter eggers who would forage up to 2 properties down before we started having the fox troubles. My ameraucana  and penedesenca roosters were always taking them far and wide, but they stay in the pen now with the wyandottes and orpingtons who never flew over the fence. I lost every single one of my purebred Ameraucana hens and penedesencas, though, and they were expensive.  

We also have coyotes, but I only saw them once, way in the back of the property.


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## mama24

Yeah I have snare catalog on my counter right now.  we've tried hunting him, he disappears so fast we can't figure out where he could possibly have gone.


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## secuono

If you want to keep the birds, I'd put up a smaller yard of solid electric away from things they can climb. 

I've lot a lot of ducks to foxes and coons, flying ducks and fat land ducks. Eventually, if the chickens run out, they will go after the next group.


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## margies misfit menagerie

hi i have a 2yr old mini mare in with my goats and chickens and they all get along great. granted the first 2 weeka were hectic but shes very protective of the goats especially the nigerian and i have caught her with chickens roosting on her rump. good luck.


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