“Gone donkers”

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Posted August 13, 2025 | By JoAnn Guidry, Special to the Gazette

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Rose loves her ears scratched, leaning in and gently resting her head on you. She really likes it if you rub the inside of her fuzzy ears too. Think of slipping your hand inside a soft fur-lined glove. And what big donkey ears Rose has, 13 inches from base to tip, all the more for you to scratch.

Maya, Minnie and Nutmeg, Rose’s pasture mates, surround their owner Bonnie Shannon and her visitor, encouraging ear rubbing too. The same scenario plays out in the next pasture, with donkeys Charlotte, Loretta and Hazel, who has the longest ears at 15 inches. None of the large female donkeys, known as jennets, are being obnoxious, just patiently standing by as they wait for their ear-scratching turn. They will also settle for you rubbing the soft, yarn-like hair on their foreheads.

The jennets vary in colors from sorrel to dark brown to spotted. Rose, who is registered with the American Donkey and Mule Society, is Shannon’s main riding donkey. Charlotte is Shannon’s superstar obstacle course competition donkey. Minnie is training to become a riding donkey.

Maya, Loretta and Hazel are registered with the American Mammoth Jackstock Association. Loretta is the oldest, at 16, while 3-year-old Hazel is the largest, at 61 inches at her withers and is still growing. Nutmeg, considered a youngster at 4 years old, is 55 inches and may yet reach the 56-inch height requirement for a jennet to be registered with the AMJA.

“Donkeys are very sociable animals, even when there aren’t any treats involved. Most horses, once they realize there aren’t any treats, will just walk away from you back into the pasture,” said Shannon, standing calmly in the center of the jennets gathered around her. “These donkeys will just hang around as long as I stay here. They want to be loved on, and that’s one reason why I love them so much. I tell people that I’ve gone donkers.”

EQUINE JOURNEY

Shannon, a retired dental assistant, wasn’t always a donkey person. Instead, she was initially exclusively a horse person.

“I always liked horses, but didn’t start taking riding lessons until I was 36. Actually, it was my daughter, Rebecca, who first started taking the riding lessons,” explained Shannon, also the mother of Nicholas, Patrick and Amanda. “I was hanging around the barn a lot, so I decided to start taking riding lessons too. And, of course, I loved it. In exchange for extra riding time, I worked at the barn on Sundays, cleaning stalls, feeding and grooming the horses.”

Not long after those first riding lessons, Shannon and her husband, Mike, an optician, bought a five-acre farm in the Atlanta area. Two years later, in late 1996, Shannon bought Levi, her first horse.

“Levi was soon followed by Cooper, Dan and Duke. Mike started riding too and we rode trails all over the southeast,” Shannon said. “When we’d come to Dunnellon to visit Mike’s family, we’d bring the horses so we could ride. In fact, Dunnellon became our regular vacation spot. So, we started boarding the horses in Dunnellon rather than taking them back and forth.”

In 2014, the Shannons bought the 40 acre-farm they dubbed Spider Oak Ranch in Dunnellon and retired there. The property is replete with numerous large mature live oak trees. The descending branches to the ground of one tree in particular make it look like a giant spider.

“We moved to our Dunnellon farm with five horses, and we just loved being able to ride in the nearby Cross Florida Greenway and Goethe Forest,” Shannon noted. “It was a dream come true.”

Spider Oak Ranch is not only home to the full-sized donkeys, other residents include mini-donkeys Dottie, who’s 36, and Olive; Vino, a Bureau of Land Management burro; Baby Beans, an American Shetland pony and Pinky, a mixed-breed mini-pony; Minnie The Moo, a micro-Hereford cow; Miss Bonnie, a mini-Panda cow, which is a cross between a Belted Galloway and a Hereford; and four mini-goats. Shannon’s retired horses Cooper, Dan, Duke and Fuzzy share a paddock. And there are four Maremma guardian sheepdogs who keep all the animals safe from predators like coyotes.

But even in idyllic settings, accidents can happen. And as any horse person knows, riding comes with its own dangers. Horse people often say it’s not if you’re going to have a riding mishap, it’s when. And Shannon can most certainly attest to that.

“Over the years of riding, I had my share of falls from a horse,” she admitted. “Then it seemed like it was happening a lot and after each fall, more trepidation would set in. And that feeling is not a good one if you’re going to ride horses. You start to anticipate the next fall and that is a very bad thing to do.”

In 2019, Shannon was riding Potter, her big Paint gelding, around her farm and something spooked him.

“I came off and landed flat on my back,” shared Shannon, 68, and a grandmother of five. “Fortunately, I didn’t break anything, but I had a lot of soft tissue damage. And now I had a whole lot of fear about riding. It took a long time to recover physically. I didn’t ride for about a year. And I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to ride again.”

CHANGING STEEDS

With time, Shannon began to get that riding bug again, but there was still a lingering fear.

“I wanted to ride again but just couldn’t bring myself to get on another horse. Someone suggested a mule and I bought Nicki,” she said. “But I never did mesh with Nicki and thought I probably needed to find a good mule trainer. That’s how I found Susan Soderberg and went to her Williston farm. I rode her mule but still wasn’t comfortable. I was just about ready to give up when Susan brought out Johnny.”

At 55 inches at his withers, Johnny was a standard large donkey and just what Shannon needed.

“In minutes, I was comfortable enough on Johnny to trot and canter around the arena,” recalled Shannon, smiling at the memory. “We even rode out of the arena onto the farm, and I didn’t have any fear at all. Johnny was so kind, responsive and I just loved his calm donkey demeanor. Unfortunately, Johnny had already been sold. But I knew that day that I wanted a donkey.”

Within a year, Shannon had purchased Boxcar Willie, a standard large donkey like Johnny.

“I rode Willie around my farm first before taking him out on the trails. The more I rode him, the more I realized that donkeys process things mentally differently than horses,” Shannon said. “I realized if Willie and I were really going to be a team, I needed a good donkey trainer.”

Through Facebook, Shannon found Cynthia Fisher, who operates Fisher’s Wild Burros & Mammoth Donkeys in Scotts Mills, Oregon. Fisher is a self-described natural donkmanship trainer who offers private lessons and virtual clinics.

“I contacted Cynthia and paid $20 a month for a private Facebook account where I could participate in her virtual clinics,” Shannon said. “Absolutely, the best $20 a month that I have ever spent. I set up an obstacle course on my farm. Willie and I began to participate in the virtual monthly competitions and soon we were winning first places.”

As she progressed through her virtual training with Fisher, Shannon began to garner a better understanding and deep appreciation of donkeys.

“Whereas you can drill a horse for an hour to teach them something, you might have to repeat that for several days in a row for it to finally learn it,” Shannon explained. “With a donkey, it’s best to break it down into smaller training sessions. Donkeys retain what you’re teaching them better that way and it makes a lasting connection with them.”

As time went by, Shannon began to see and appreciate the distinct differences between donkeys and horses.

“Donkeys are much more cautious than horses. You can’t manipulate them like you can a horse, let’s say with a treat,” she said. “You have to earn a donkey’s trust over time by what you do and how you treat them. But once you do earn that trust, then you have it for life.”

GOING MAMMOTH

Now that Shannon was into donkeys, Mike, ever the researcher, came across the American Mammoth Jackstock breed. The largest of the donkey breeds, they have their origins in Europe, mainly Spain, and the jacks (males) were bred with horses to produce farming mules. According to the AMJA , which was established in the United States in 1888, the King of Spain gifted George Washington with a jack and two jennets in 1785. This is considered the beginning of the American Mammoth Jackstock being bred in this country.

Shannon said she and Mike will celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary in September. She recalled when he told her to look into getting an American Mammoth Jackstock and said “that they are supposed to be excellent riding donkeys and that they are rare.”

The Livestock Conservancy agrees with that assessment. The mission of TLC, a nonprofit membership organization founded in 1977, is to protect endangered livestock and poultry breeds from extinction. The American Mammoth Jackstock is classified by TLC as a rare heritage breed with a critical status. The heritage breed designation is given to livestock and poultry breeds raised over generations and bred to maintain specific traits of that breed. A breed is ranked in critical status by TLC if 200 or fewer are registered each year.

Beyond having a verified American Mammoth Jackstock pedigree, the correct height is the primary requirement for registration with the AMJA. Jacks (non-castrated males) must measure no less than 58 inches at the withers while jennets and geldings (castrated males) must measure no less than 56 inches. Adults generally weigh between 900-1,200 pounds. According to the AMJA, solid-colored animals, excluding white, and roans are preferred. Sorrels are the predominant color.

“Rose was my first large donkey. But because her lineage is not all American Mammoth Jackstock, she couldn’t be registered with the AMJA. But now I have three AMJA-registered donkeys in Maya, Loretta and Hazel,” Shannon noted. “My plan is to selectively, sparingly breed them. Then whatever offspring we get will have time to grow up and receive their early training here on my farm. They will stay long enough to be trained to be ridden and/or pull a cart before I find them the best homes that I can.”

Shannon also has another mission: “I want to show people that a donkey is a great choice for riding. Ocala is called the Horse Capital of the World, but I want it to be the Donkey Capital of the World too.”