REDMOND, Ore. — At Safe Acres Sanctuary in Redmond, participants are learning to earn the trust of wild burros through a gentling clinic led by Reach out to Horses founder Anna Twinney. The use silence, body language and patience to bridge the gap between wild and domesticated.

“Through kindness, through their own language, which is non-verbal and silent,” Twinney said. “So that could be through our thoughts, our mannerism, our movement, we’re conversing with them to bridge the gap between wild and domestication.”

Twinney is helping nine people learn how to handle a wild burro.

“Teaching them to clear their mind, be present, come in with the patience, come in with compassion and understanding and alignment,” Twinney said. “The alignment will mean that your body and your mind has to align in order for them to understand you.”

One of the main successes of this course is being able to take off a burro’s numbered tag. This symbolizes that a burro’s transitioning from wild to domesticated.

“It just means so much,” 16-year-old Violet said. “They deserve so much more than what they’ve been getting and I think all of them deserve to live the best life they can and they shouldn’t just be numbers because they’re not just numbers.”

Like each donkey, each participant has a different story and a different background.

Ellen Sophiedreier came here from Germany to learn ways she can help her own horse back home.

“To shape everything into little pieces and analyze, ‘Okay, I’ve done this. This is maybe not that good. How can we fix it or how can we translate it into another way so it works out.’ That’s, I think, the main goal,” Sophiedreier said.

Michell eAnderson with Safe Acres Sanctuary says she had no previous experience with horses or burros.

“This is a pretty phenomenal way to gain an animal’s trust. It’s amazing,” Anderson said. “Like when you get their language correct, how much they respond to you, it’s really quite fascinating.”

Once domesticated, the goal is to find these burros a home.

Twinney and Safe Acres Sanctuary is hosting a simple solutions equine training July 20-26. Details can be found at this link.