Training courses

Covid-19 Update:
The Donkey Sanctuary Ireland Open Farm is temporarily closed to the public. All training courses and events have been cancelled. We know you will understand that we are prioritising the care of our donkeys whilst working with a limited workforce due to child care commitments and rotas.
By allowing visitors into the Open Farm, we would put our staff at risk, therefore the donkeys would be at risk too as if staff become sick, our ability to care for our donkeys is reduced.
Thank you for your kind support at this time and we look forward to seeing you later in the year. We will keep you up to date with any changes on this page.

We currently run courses on:

• Stage 1 - Introduction to Donkey Care
• Stage 2 - Introduction to Donkey Health Care

Courses run during the week from 10:00 am until 3.30 pm (unless otherwise specified) and include theory and practical sessions. A certificate of attendance will be presented on completion of the day.

We also run occasionally courses at our donkey assisted therapy centres in Northern Ireland and at other locations around Ireland.

How much does it cost to attend a course?

To ensure courses are accessible to everyone we make no charge for these brilliant training courses, however, as a charity we gratefully accept donations to help us continue our work, which you can make on the day of your course.

Specialised training courses

If your organisation has interaction with donkeys or mules then we are very happy to discuss the possibility of tailor making a course to meet your needs.

Suitability

Training courses are not suitable for young children to attend unless the course has been organised specifically for families. If you would like children to accompany you on the course and you feel that it would be beneficial for them to attend, then it is important to discuss the situation with the training team in advance so that they can be properly accommodated. Children under 16 must always be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Further information

If you would like further information regarding training courses please view course descriptions, when you book on a course we will send you directions, health and safety information, and information on the day.

If you are interested in attending one of the courses, please call us on +353 (0) 22 49013.