Noble Donkey

The donkey is a hoofed quadraped of the horse family. The most noticeable difference from a horse, is of course the ears. Donkeys ears are much longer than a horse’s. The necks and backs are straighter and the croup and rump are also a different shape. The mane and tail of the donkey are rough. The mane is still and upright, almost always standing up, and the tail is more like a cow’s, most of it covered with short body hair. Because their mane sometimes fly away, many donkeys wear their manes clipped short or shaved close to the neck. Hoof shapes are different as well, donkey hooves are smaller and rounder, with more upright pasterns. The legs should have good bone, but lots of donkeys have long thin legs with tiny feet. Larger donkeys may appear opposite, with big, heavy legs and large round feet. Good legs and feet are very important for mules that are trying to find a mate. This is because a good foot is more liked than a large body on small legs and feet. The donkey’s voice is a very raspy kind, and it makes the “Aw-ee aw-ee” noise.

Although many donkeys are the familiar gray-dun color, there are many other coat shades. Most donkeys, regardless of coat color, will have dorsal stripes and shoulder crosses, dark ear marks, as well as the “Light Points” — white muzzle and eye rings, and a white belly and inner leg. Leg barring (“garters” or “zebra stripes” may be present as well. Small dark spots right at the throatlatch, called “collar buttons” are a good identifying marking and occur occasionally. Colors in the donkey range from the gray shades of gray-dun to brown, a rare bay, black, light-faced roan (both red and gray), variants of sorrel, albino-white (also called cream or white-phase), Few-spot white, and a unique Spotted pattern. True horse pinto, horse aging gray, horse Appaloosa, palomino and buckskin do not occur in the donkey. The more unusual colors are the Dappled Roan, where the face and legs are light and the body is marked with “reverse” dapples (dark spots on a light background, as opposed to the horse dapple where the dapples themselves are light on dark), frosted gray (with light faces and legs and some white hairs in the coat) the pink-skinned, blue-eyed albino white, and the few-spot white. The few-spot white is off of spotted lines, and can throw either more Few-spots or true spotted colts. The animals are best defined as a spotted animal where the skin is spotted but the color does not necessarily show through on the coat. Few-spots can be identified from albino white by checking the skin around the eyes and muzzle. Albino/creams will have blue eyes and true pink skin, while few-spots will have dark eyes, dark “eyeliner” and dark spotting on the skin. Another unusual variant of the spotting line is the “tyger spot” pattern. These donkeys vary from the typical large spots over the ears, eyes, and topline. The body will be covered with small round spots resembling the Appaloosa type.

Donkeys vary considerably in size, depending on breed. The height at the withers ranges from 31 inches to 63 inches, 160 cm, and the weight from 180 to 1,060 pounds.