An Irish Donkey's Guide To Life

STUCK DOWN

First published 2026 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland.

Tel: +353 1 4923333; E-mail: books@obrien.ie; Website: obrien.ie The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.

ISBN: 978-1-78849-648-3 Copyright for text, typesetting, layout, editing, design © The O’Brien Press Ltd. Images © Shutterstock except for photos on pp 2, 26 and 27, which are courtesy of Rebekah Wade/Donegal Donkey Sanctuary.

Edited by Paula Elmore.

Cover and text design by Emma Byrne.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including for text and data mining, training artificial intelligence systems, photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

2467531 27 29 28 26 Printed and bound by and bound by Drukarnia Skleniarz, Poland.

The paper in this book is produced using pulp from managed forests.

To the best of our knowledge, this book complies in full with the requirements of the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). For further information and help with any safety queries, please contact us at productsafety@obrien.ie.

Published in

An Irish Donkey’s Guide to Life

Introduction Donkeys are adorable: with big brown eyes to make you fall under their spell, and enormous ears (all the better for listening to you), they’re irresistible. They’re modest and patient so they’ll never try to outshine you.

They’ll put up with your daftness and might even join you for the craic.

These hard-working creatures were the backbone of Irish farms for centuries, hauling cartloads of just about everything: churns from the milking parlour, creels of turf from the mountainside and bales of hay and straw. Sometimes they swapped the cart for a gig and ferried farmers to market, tourists around the Ring of Kerry and children to the seaside.

Sure-footed and patient, donkeys have picked their way on dainty hooves through unforgiving terrain and the pages of history: from being beasts of burden, they’re now more likely to be kept as pets, or as calming companions to thoroughbred horses. In the last century, they became postcard models, and today, they’ve made the leap to the silver screen, up there with other Irish stars like Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

They didn’t get to where they are today, though, without a healthy ‘don’t mess with me’ attitude, and now they’d like to share the secrets of their success with you.

Laugh often.

Stay curious.

Be open to making new friends.

Take time to stop and admire the view.

Dress for the occasion.

When you look this good, accept the compliments.

There will be good-hair days

and bad-hair days.

Sometimes you’ll want to blend in with the crowd …

… and sometimes you’ll want to shine!