Full course description
About the course
Poor harnessing practices are still a major cause of daily pain and suffering for millions of working equids worldwide. This course drives you through the process of manufacturing step-by-step a simple but effective, donkey-friendly cart harness, using local available materials, directly contributing to improve their health and welfare.
Whether you are novice or have some prior experience with harness, you'll develop the skills to measure, manufacture and adjust the cart harness, and by disseminating the acquired knowledge you'll help create lasting improvements in donkey welfare.
Course duration
3 Hours
Modules
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Module 1: Preparing for the manufacturing process
Measure your donkey for a proper harness fit, identify required materials and tools, and make your own rings if standard parts aren’t available.
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Module 2: The breeching
Build on your existing knowledge as you follow step-by-step instructions to make the breeching, using techniques that will be applied throughout the entire harness-making process.
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Module 3: The collar
Explore the role of breast and full collars in harness function then follow step-by-step instructions to make both types using locally available materials and techniques that support donkey welfare.
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Module 4: Padding systems for neck and hip straps
Learn why padding matters and how to make protective systems for the neck and hip straps, using techniques which help to prevent skin lesions and improve harness safety.
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Module 5: The cart saddle
Understand the saddle’s role in harness function and build each component using locally available materials.
Target audience
This course is designed for local harness makers and donkey owners, but also community facilitators and workers engaged in community development and donkey welfare improvement projects.
Why the course matters
Benefits to you
This course gives you the tools to create real, lasting change. Improve the life of working donkeys, by improving the quality of the equipment used. By the end of the course, you will be able to manufacture, adjust and use a cart harness in an effective and donkey-friendly way, improving the life of working donkeys.
Benefits to donkeys
This course will promote community ownership of donkey welfare, ensuring long-term care and protection. By addressing core challenges, you’ll help build a future where donkeys thrive, with healthier lives, reduced suffering, and stronger safeguards.
Assumed prior learning
You don’t need to be a donkey expert, but you have an advantage if you have lived and worked with donkeys before. What you do need is a willingness to observe carefully, and a readiness to reflect on local practices.
Sentience statement
The Donkey Sanctuary recognises and celebrates animal sentience, understanding that donkeys and other equids have the capacity to experience feelings and emotions. These emotions may be positive, like joy, or negative, such as fear and distress. As individuals, equids have desires and dislikes, and make choices based on their unique personalities.
How to cite
The Donkey Sanctuary. (06/07/26). DIY Basic Cart Harness (WCEL110). [Online]. https://thedonkeysanctuary.eu-west.catalog.canvaslms.com/