I love donkeys! I used to look after a grey one called Sammy, he was lovely and quite a character. I tried riding him bareback a few times (oi, I'll have you know that back in the mists of time I only weighed 7 stone! Which he could easily manage - maximum recommended riding weight for donkeys is 8 stone, which is why I went bareback to save a bit on weight) because he used to bray brokenheartedly when we took his horse friends out for a ride (he wasn't mine and neither were the horses, I was caring for them for an elderly farmer). Cheeky little bugger was adept at dropping his shoulder and dumping me in a puddle or a patch of mud, I swear he found it funny. Donkeys have very narrow backs so a quick heave to one side by lifting a leg up and dropping their shoulder blade down can easily deposit a rider in the mud.
Interesting fact about donkeys (sorry, it's like a compulsion for me to post triva like this) - unlike horses, water does not even slightly run off their coat (their coat is much softer than that of a horse and has a higher percentage of fluffy undercoat to smooth top coat), wet weather quickly penetrates to the skin and they can get soaked and cold when it rains, they should always have access to a dry shelter.
I used to have a donkey called Jezebel who although she had a nice dry shelter used to push the kitchen door open sometimes to come in out of the rain. Occasionally when she had got up before I did on a Sunday morning, I'd go downstairs to find Jazebel and a puddle of donkey piss on the kitchen floor. I did love her though
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