Why did the donkeys cross the road?

This morning in the car we had to slow down for two donkeys crossing the
road with loads of hay on their backs. They were crossing at the
crosswalk actually, and were hustling it pretty fast. Unfortunately
there was a fence between the road and the sidewalk and one of them
miscalculated his trajectory. One made it to the other side safely while
the other stopped and stood looking at the fence, unable to make the
four steps sideways that it would take to get past the fence. Drivers
are used to such things, so the poor guy was not in any eminent danger,
but I imagine he was feeling a little embarrassed about the whole thing.