Mini or regular donkey

Advice?  How about opinion!  You know I always have one. [&:]
First - borrow a donkey of whichever size you choose - maybe the one you're going to get.  Just try him out with the horses and see how they do.  I'd be afraid a mini might get picked on but other long-ear-lovers might know better.
Second - I think donkeys are sometimes used for protection.  Seems you'd get more bang for your buck with a full-size.  Even though that wouldn't be his primary job, you still have mountain lions around, don't you?

I've heard they are used to protect flocks of sheep from coyotes and such.  There are mountain lions in the hills but none right in our area, too populated.  Lots of coyotes.  One was driving Annie crazy the other night, barking in the field across the road!  I'll have to look on Craig's List and Dreamhorse, see what's out there.

I would be worried about placing mini's with full grown horses. Most times they would probably be fine but all it would take is one off kick to seriously injure their small friends. Another thing to consider is the feeding requirement for the mini's. They would be more prone to foundering on pasture than their larger cousins. I don't have mini's so I'm not sure how much they do or don't need. I just know that the smaller donkeys seem to stay fat on air so I would expect that the minis are even more prone than them.

As for protection the minis wouldn't provide that for anything. I wouldn't expect one to be able to stand up to any type of predator......except may a chihuahua. [] The standard or large standard could face down a coyote or two but I would never expect it to protect against  a mountain lion.

Although mini's are cute ( they are also addicitive ). I would think if your wanting to pasture it with and not just next to, I would probably go for something a bit larger , like a standard or large standard. 

Also from watching ours, the donkeys tend to stick together and the horses stick together in close but obviously seperate herds. If you do decide to get a mini I would think that two would do better than one. []