WILL THAT BE SMALL, REGULAR OR SUPER-SIZED?

Shirley, Rob and our Lillie

Over the past few weeks I have introduced you to a few of our resident donkeys. I would like to thank the readers that chose to sponsor Jack, Timmy, Deena and CoCo, and any other donkey that has touched your heart. Your kindness is very appreciated. The generosity of donors enables us to keep our donkeys happy and healthy.

Back to the theme of this post - Will that be small, regular or super-sized?

FACT:
Donkeys are most commonly classified by their height from whithers (shoulder) to ground.


MINIATURE Donkeys are up to 36 Inches tall.
SMALL STANDARD Donkeys are from 36.01 Inches to 48 Inches tall
LARGE STANDARD Donkeys are from 48.01 Inches to 54 (jennets) or
56 Inches (jacks). Jennets are girls and jacks are boys.
MAMMOTH Donkeys are 54 (56 for jacks) Inches and up. In equine "speak" they can be 14 hands or more. (a hand is 4").

MY OBSERVATIONS:
Our donkeys come in all shapes and sizes.

Stormy, who is Ollie's buddy in the Mammoth herd, is a large Standard. The rest of the standards are small standards although I think that Nova and Julio are small-small standards.

At this moment at our Refuge we have 5 mammoth donkeys. Then there is Stormy, our large standard, 9 small standards and Nova and Julio, our small-small standards. We have 10 minis including Tiny Tim who I consider to be a mini-mini. Our three new residents are also very tiny.

Does that make 27 donkeys? Hmmmm - Yes.

On my first visit to the Donkey Refuge, I was surprised to discover that donkeys came in "large". I expected to see the "small" and "medium" ones, but found the mammoths to be quite awesome.

As a volunteer, I initially spent the bulk of my time with the big girls and boys. With the completion of the new barn and relocation of the Standard herd, it has been nice to get to know and appreciate the standard donkeys.

The minis are always the big attraction. They are just the right size for children and absolutely thrive on all the attention they get. And they can be very cheeky at times, which, when you are little, is kind of cute.

A few days ago I was brushing Penelope and Tiny Tim sneaked up behind me and grabbed the end of the lead I had tied to Penelope's halter. Now he may have intended to take Penelope for a walk, but I suspect that he just wanted in on the attention that was being given to someone that was not him. All in a day's work for Tiny Tim.

Because of their size, I find myself thinking of them as baby donkeys which is silly because one of our new minis is a 28 year old father of four. If I ever get to the point where I am bending over, scratching his chin and saying "guchygoo" I think I will need some sort of professional assistance.

You don't "guchygoo" a mammoth. They are taller than you and, well that would be just silly. They do, however, respond kindly to hugs and snuggles along with the ear rubs and scratches.

To summarize, there are four sizes of donkeys and a few in-betweens. All are simply lovely and all, even the timid ones, want your affection.

So, will that be small, regular or super-sized?

When you visit the Donkey Refuge this summer, take the challenge - count the donkeys in each group and see if you come up with the same numbers as me.

Hint: Some of the standards are in the mini herd.