Donkey or Horse - What’s the Difference?

1. Anatomy and Appearance

• Ears and Eyes

How do the ears and eyes look like? If you compare a donkey and a horse you’ll notice straight away that the donkey has much longer ears. Even if different donkey breeds have different length ears. Donkeys also have larger eyes, which isn’t as obvious at first as the longer ears.

• Coat and Tail

How do coat and tail look like?The donkey has short hairs at the top of its tail. Horses’ tail hairs are all the same length. Donkeys also tend to have longer coats. But they don’t have a protective undercoat like horses do. That’s why they’re more susceptible to cold, wet, snow and wind.

• Hooves

How do the hooves look like? Donkeys’ hooves are more upright, smaller, more durable and more flexible than a horse’s hoof.

Donkey

Donkey - Photo: Coprid/Shutterstock

Horse

Konik Pony - Photo: Ruud Morijn Photographer/Shutterstock

• Table of Contents
• 0. Introduction
• 1. Anatomy and Appearance
• 2. Diet, Sounds, Abilities, Behavior
• 3. Working Animals
• 4. Summary With All Differences