Yes, my donkey situation really wasn’t promising 4 years ago! It was impossible to go anywhere near Pirlouit when I first bought him, he’d just run away and hide at the sight of humans (whereas Pampy could be haltered without a fuss). When he had that injury a few weeks after arriving here and nobody could catch him to clean the wound I thought he was going to die, it was awful. I contacted every vet I could (and it was one of them who told me “well either the wound heals on its own or the donkey dies, not much to be done”), and a donkey sanctuary, and a nature reserve in the region that has wild mountain goats, to ask if (and how) they catch their wild goats in case of disease, and I had the mason build a chute for the corral but couldn’t get Pirlouit in there... It was so stressful, and in the following year I spent so much time trying to get Pirou used to a) my presence, b) the halter, c) other humans, just so vet & farrier visits would be possible. But I didn’t think I would be able to do much with him beyond that, and definitely never thought I would ride him! 

I think he either grew up as a feral donkey, left to his own devices in his pasture with very little contact with humans, or was badly treated in some way. I remember making a relieved post maybe 3 months after I got him, saying I was now able to sit in his vicinity and sometimes after half an hour he’d come and let me pet his nose. Which was huge progress! But any sudden movement and he’d be gone, and I couldn’t just walk up to him, he only came near me when I was squatting or sitting down and if I stood up no matter how slowly, he’d run away. It felt a bit hopeless at times.

We’re good friends now but he’s still quite scared of everything and everyone—cars especially. For the past year and a half I’ve been taking him on little walks along the road (like in this video) and gesturing at drivers to drive past us very slowly. Occasionally someone we knew stopped to chat and Pirlouit would get a chance to gingerly sniff the car and realise it isn’t an apex predator with a donkey-based diet but just a big metal box. When it comes to riding him, we started inside the tiny corral where he couldn’t escape and start running and throw me head-first into a thorny bush, then when I was reassured that he had more or less predictable reactions when I was on his back, I started riding him in the pasture, then in my woods where there’s no chance of encountering anyone. This month was my first time riding him out in the real world—we met strangers! And a tractor! And chickens he doesn’t know! It was all very scary but Pirlouit got through it bravely :)

@the-puffinry​ This is the pic I was talking about where he looks like a stuffed toy <3