JOY Miniature Donkey Stud

25/08/2024

Love…

24/08/2024

Only 2 days old but already a handful for his mum!

23/08/2024

Southern Skys Paladin making friends with Leonardo!

22/08/2024

JOY’s Diamond with newborn jack foal JOY’s Lil Daredevil, another Moon Dance special!

08/08/2024

JOY’s Eluisa and her new baby boy by JOY’s Moon Dance

05/08/2024

Mervin and Niki Norbert castrated, weaned and vaccinated almost ready for their new home with Leonardo - it’s always good when people have 3 donkeys so there is a back up just in case the worse happens. I get so many calls from people who had two donkeys and having lost one desperately looking for a replacement to help their grieving donkey. Unfortunately it can be very hard to find a suitable friend in a hurry.

29/07/2024

Donkeys are pure joy!

“ If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.”

29/07/2024

JOY’s Gaze such a pretty girl!

28/07/2024

JOY’s Edwardo

27/07/2024

Cousins Jock and Julia

26/07/2024

DABSA is thrilled to be hosting internationally recognised donkey trainer Debbie Street for one only 3 day seminar. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to learn from one of the best donkey trainers in the world! Register now!!

11/07/2024

Just can’t wait to learn more about harness, long-reining and driving at the upcoming DABSA workshop with world famous trainer Debbie Street 9-11 August. So much fun for Donkeys of all sizes catering for beginners to experienced drivers.

02/06/2024

Love this one too!!

Love this and yes, Donkeys have a magical effect💞

31/05/2024

Great story

Smart Donkey 💕

One day a farmer's Donkey fell down into a well. The Animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the Animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the Donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the Donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the Animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the Donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up.

31/05/2024

One day!

30/05/2024

Very happy customer! Huge thanks to Cheryl at Long-ear Gear Australia for creating the perfect saddle for Southern Skies Sultan!

28/05/2024

I couldn’t be more pleased with Sultans saddle huge thanks to Long-ear Gear Australia

21/05/2024

Well done Prudence and Da Vinci - looking for a girls name starting with P

15/05/2024

Is it just me or is this baby girl super cute?

29/04/2024

Thrilled to see Al Pacino, Kevin and Donatello safely arrived at aged care home where they are already a huge hit with residents!

27/04/2024

Heathcliff loves following Gabe around

09/04/2024

Welcome JOY’s Esmae out of JOY’s Esmarelda (imp USA in utero) and by JOY’s Eddy Murphy

07/04/2024

We like to get our foals used to having their hooves trimmed regularly from birth. Huge thanks to Peter Jones for his wonderful approach and patience.

03/04/2024

Minnesota and Munchkin

01/04/2024

Welcome JOY’s Hazel out of JOY’s Hattie J by JOY’s Eddy Murphy!!

31/03/2024

Happy Easter from JOY’s Hattie J and her Easter baby Hazel!

02/12/2023

Very good advice for everyone training donkeys

SLOOOOOW DOWN!

SLOW your walking down to 1 step per second with and without your horse next to you.
SLOW your hand movements down as you touch or do things.
SLOW your talking down.
SLOW your breathing down.
SLOW your pulls and pushes down on the leadrope.

SLOW to FLOW!

Humans are WAAAAY to fast for horses and this is one of the leading causes of reactivity and opposition reflex in horses.

Speed = stress.

Let me teach you what speed does...

When the brain perceives a threat, it causes the body to release the stress response hormone cortisol. Cortisol levels and speed go hand in hand.
Cortisol provides the body with the fuel it needs to flee a scary situation or fight against it.

The thing with the mind-body relationship is that the brain feels an emotion such as fear, which create a physical response in the body, but the body can also move at a certain speed or in a particular way and create an emotion in the brain. It can be reverse engineered.

This is how special the intimate relationship is between the brain and body.

The other thing to remember is that, collectively as a social animal, when speed is noticed by another mammal (no matter the species), it alerts the unconscious brain to threat.

Speed is an alarm system in a social system (consciously and unconsciously).

If you walked down a road and everyone started running, you'd find it hard not to run even if you didn't know what the cause was. You are noticing that others are running and in a direction, so you mirror them to increase your chances of survival. You don't need the reasoning part of your brain for this. You just activated your primal (survival) part of the brain.

One other thing to remember: HORSES CAN SMELL CORTISOL. So not only does your speed act as a visual alarm system to your horse, it also acts as an olfactory one!

Would you want to interact with someone who caused you to feel constantly on alert?

These little things are the beginnings of what ripples into chronic stress in both humans and horses.
You spend enough time around someone who is fast in their movement, your nervous system will condition itself to being on high alert.
HELLO 👋 CHRONIC STRESS!!!

Slow your movement down = slow your thoughts down.
Slow your movement down = lower your cortisol.
Slow your movement down = feel connected with yourself, the world and others in it.
Slow your movement down = slow your alarm systems down and eventually they'll turn off.

Slow down so much that it is uncomfortable. It won't be uncomfortable for long, I promise 😉

Happy brain training 🧠
Charlotte 🙂