About Me.

My name is Robert Wallace, on my first birthday I was given a donkey. Her name was Muffin and currently on the farm among 25 donkeys I have her children, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren and her great-great grandchildren! 

When I was 6 I wanted to ride a pony of my own, along came Nikki, a little Shetland pony with Napoleon syndrome. I spent more time on the ground than in the saddle.

Fortunately for me with Nikki a donkey came free, this was Denis. Denis is now 27 years old, he and I have been everywhere together from on stage in an opera at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, around the grounds of Stormont buildings to towing a coffin to its final resting place. Denis is the reason for my passion of donkeys and I am eternally grateful to him for directing my life to where I am now.

I finished school in 2015, worked as a hotel receptionist before studying and graduating with a degree in Equine Management from the College of Agriculture, Farming and Rural Enterprise at their Enniskillen campus.

During the pandemic I lost my job at the hotel and was struggling to feed my many donkeys, despite this and the lockdown I began to enjoy and appreciate where I lived and having the animals around me. I was able to spend all day outside, with routine and donkey-snuggles and I realised how lucky I was and this encouraged me to open up the farm to visitors and share my donkeys. 

My first visit was in August 2020 and I somehow managed to maintain and grow Kinedale Donkeys while studying, although I was mostly working from home and by that I mean I brought my laptop to the barn and the donkeys listened alongside me to the lectures.

I graduated in the Summer of 2022 and began working for the donkeys full-time, what was a childhood passion became my career, although it does not feel like a job but, a dream. 

The goal was always to finance the donkeys, it now works as it always has that if I look after the donkeys, they will look after me.​

My favourite work with the donkeys is the therapy, the donkeys play an important role in projects to boost mental health and wellness in patients. Currently I work as an Equine Facilitator alongside a social worker, psychiatrist or mental health practitioner, I provide the donkey they provide the therapy. My next goal is to gain a postgraduate degree in Mental Health Science and be able to utilise my donkeys just them and me!