Donkey care

As I wrote many times before: days fly by quickly and some days are so full of dog walks, stable cleaning, gardening and cooking that sometimes at the end of the day I realize I haven’t really seen one of the many donkeys up close and personal. Those days I might have opened the door of stable two in the morning and see Pepa, Mathias and Chulo make their way to their field, I might have checked if their usual wobbly way of walking differs from the day before, but for sure I haven’t paid attention to their eyes or ears that morning. Were those eyes watery and dirty, the ears full of crusts? Were their patches on the skin and if so were they big or small, due to lice or something else…I would not know that, cause they walked on and started grazing, while we ,volunteers, opened the door of another stable to let more donkeys out and then start our routine of cleaning stables and so. Some evening we would go into the stables and clean a hoof or two or wash eyes with a bit of cold chamomile tea, but more often we made the plan to do it the next day or the day after that, when we maybe would have more time. But before we knew a few days would pass and still we did not check the hoof properly. Since several weeks we have a daily ( except for Sunday/Funday) Donkey Care Program though. This means that we pay extra individual attention to several ( between 3 or 5) donkeys each morning. We start with a brushing and/or combing session of several minutes, then continue with hoof cleaning, eyes and ears attention and quick rinse of the mouth. Spending time with the individual donkey isn’t only good for the relationship animal/human, but this way we now also take the time to pay extra attention to the odd looking bold spot, to the very bad hooves of most of these older in Asturian living donkeys or to the always tearing and crusty eyes of some of them. If we discover bold spots, crusty eyes or extremely bad hooves with hoof rot, we treat them on the spot and write it down in a book. We’re still getting used to this new program and somedays it does take some more time than others, but day by day we and the donkeys will become more used to the routine. And I am enjoying it. Where a few weeks ago I did not really know how to clean a hoof or was afraid to be kicked in the face, I now feel more confident and am getting better and faster at it. But due to the wet climate here ( donkeys originally come from dry Africa), their old age and the lack of hoof and general care at their previous owners most hooves are in awful condition and smell terrible…something I cannot seem to get used to or stop complaining about .
What else is happening at donkey sanctuary? There are obviously a lot of old and less healthy horses and donkeys here, rescued from all over the place and all with their own , mostly sad, history. Last month Bella, one of the newer horses died. She had been quite sick for a while ( a sickness called Cushing-disease) and got big a infection near her hooves . But she kept on going, getting herself up on her very sore feet every morning to get into the field where she loved to graze till sunset. She did not live long at Donkey Paradise, but I am sure the last few weeks of her life were weeks with lots of love and care for her. And last week Kees, one of Marleens first donkeys from 8 year ago passed away. The poor thing had become extremely thin the last few weeks, despite the extra food and care and on some-days he did not have the strength to get himself up on his feet without help of people. But once on his feet he would bravely soldier on, till one night he decided that it was enough and passed away quietly. By now you must all think that donkey paradise is full of weak and very sad donkeys with bad teeth and smelly hooves. Even though many are indeed old and do have bad teeth and smelly hooves, they are not all weak and sad. Most of them are happy and in good health despite their age and past. And some of them are very young, full of life and love for each other.
On the moment there are three relatively young donkeys here and it is such a pleasure to see them run around and chasing each-other. Rocco, who is 7 month, with long soft brown hair and beautiful eyes, was very shy and afraid when he came here. He constantly hid behind his surrogate slow grandmother-donkey Rosie, is now discovering his youth, his legs and his freedom and despite his recent castration ( or maybe due to it) he is discovering the other sex as well, running behind all the female donkeys on heat, which is every week a new one. Little Maggie is his favorite though ( also when she’s not on heat) and little Franca close second. Franca, who was born here on the sanctuary is one of the cutest little dark-haired creatures around, with a strong mind and a incredible soft body to cuddle. She allows you to touch her and secretly loves it, but will never tell you so.
And then of course there is Stevie, a small black mini pig that looks like a small wild pig. She recently got an out-side house and now happily walking about. She still gets lots of attention from all the donkeys who cannot seem to figure out who’s making these strange noises…is it a small black donkey? They often stand near her house and stare at her..

Well, I can keep writing stories about all the animals, cause they all are so cute and lovable ( even the wild and stubborn ones) , but I will end this update here. For now a big hug and write you guys more some other day. Take care!