Tours in the hinterland: hikes with donkeys can calm stressed people
Created: 12/20/2021, 10:40 AM
From: Ulrike Osman
In 2008 Uli Jonas bought the three donkeys Sophie, Zilly and Michl and trained them to be therapy donkeys.
© Private
Hiking with a donkey: This can calm stressed people.
That is why Uli Jonas offers tours with her therapy donkeys Zilly, Michl and Sophie in the hinterland of Maisach.
After a few hours, saying goodbye is difficult for everyone: participants and animals.
Prack - A gentle sniff is the first contact. Then Zilly turns her head and turns away. This is not a disinterest, explains Zilly's owner Uli Jonas. The donkey wants to give her counterpart space, to show him respect. It won't be long before Zilly gets closer again. Then you can start cleaning, also with extensive ear scratching.
Zilly lives with Michl and Sophie in an open stable in Prack, a hamlet in the picturesque hinterland of Maisach.
The donkeys are often visited here, because Uli Jonas offers hikes with them.
The alternative practitioner came here by chance, through further training on the subject of body-oriented work with horses.
“In addition to horses, the lecturer at the time also had donkeys.
I didn't even have that on my screen before, ”says the 52-year-old.
But she liked the animals straight away.
In 2008 she bought Sophie, Zilly and Michl and trained them to be therapy donkeys.
Meanwhile, the three of them are very trusting and people-oriented.
Visitors are greeted with friendly IA calls, which sound much softer than the shrill tones that are commonly associated with donkeys.
The three donkeys.
© Private
A donkey for two
On the hikes with a maximum of six participants, two people share a donkey. So that people and animals get along well on the road, Uli Jonas first gives an introduction to the nature and language of the donkey. This is followed by safety instructions. That annoys Sophie. “She finds it unbearable when I talk so much,” says Uli Jonas and laughs. If it takes too long for her, the gray donkey nudges her owner impatiently - the tour should finally start. On the way she is all the happier with the matter, "a great companion". The other two also enjoy the tours. On the way back to the stable they usually slow down and would like to keep walking.
Zilly doesn't mind a little spotlight either.
When a film team from Bayerischer Rundfunk was once in the stable, the donkey literally staged herself in front of the camera, says her owner.
The sensitive Michl, on the other hand, found the whole fuss rather scary.
Donkey hike for children too
Uli Jonas offers donkey hikes for adults and children from primary school age, also at adult education centers in the district.
Patients from her Munich practice also come.
It is often people with depression, burn-out and trauma who are beneficiaries of the treatment of animals.
The calm, serene charisma of the donkeys and their friendliness slow down the stressed psyche.
Time and again, Uli Jonas is fascinated by the fine antennae with which the animals perceive the condition of people.
How they initially support hesitant participants and then demand leadership at the right moment.
Uli Jonas speaks of a “balsam for the soul” whose healing effects can be felt quickly.
Within the few hours of hiking, enjoying nature and having lunch, humans and animals have mostly taken each other to heart.
That's why Uli Jonas plans time to say goodbye.
Back in the stables, the donkeys get food and water, pats and good words.
"Only then do we go."
