Welcome to my blog - a diary about living with donkeys, notes about care, my training sessions and the absolute pleasure of donkey companionship.


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Thursday, November 14, 2013

Time for donkeys

Well I have been so busy and now that my art exhibition is up, I am taking a bit of time to rest. Well, not exactly (did I say rest?) There's a ton of stuff to do around here!

Today I got all the Spring bulbs planted but there's a long list.  That list includes getting back to some regular donkey clicker training!  yesterday I spent the whole afternoon with "the herd" and it was great!  Did sessions with each one individually.  Heather won my "star of the day" award - she was just awesome on our walk.

Late last night though when I went out for the last feeding, I noticed Rose favouring one hind hoof - i.e  not putting her full weight on that foot.  Hmmm ... so this morning, I was worried about what condition I'd find her in.  Same thing.

Out comes the Epsom Salts and the soaking tub, the poultice, the duct tape and the cotton batting.
She was such a sweetie and suffered through my lousy job at slapping on a poultice for the day.  But out she went, clearly more comfortable with her hoof padded.  I decided to close off some paddocks though, so everyone stayed off of sticks and stones and other debris in the woods.  They had plenty of area to roam though where the footing was flatter and softer.

By mid-afternoon, Forrest arrived and I decided we should take Dorica and Siog out for a walk and leave Rose and Heather parked in front of some straw in the trough.  Siog was very full of herself though and was really prancing about.  Once home, she took off in a full gallop, kicking and snorting (oh for that illusive camera!) Dorica joined her, rearing, tearing around and neck-biting - we got quite a show!

Rose is somewhat better this evening.  I cleaned all her feet, then removed the daytime poultice and applied some Tea tree + Calendula oil.  I'm still debating what to do later - soak or not, poultice or not.
Pros and cons to both. I might just cushion her hoof with a maxi pad and wrap it for the night as it didn't feel hot earlier. Hopefully my wonderful farrier will come soon and see what's what.

3 comments:

  1. Hi
    I've recently become addicted to donkeys when I volunteered to muck out two beautiful rescue donkeys that have come to live with a neighboour. I have fallen totally and utterly in love with them and spend my non-mucking time trying to find out as much about these incredible animals as I can. Your blog is fantstic and has so much information and helpful advice as well as helping me to understand them and handle them with the care and respect they deserve. I have a long, long way to go but thank you for setting my feet on the right path.Kind regards, M

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  2. That's so wonderful! I am smitten with donkeys too, so I share your passion! Thanks for reading.
    Cynthia

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  3. I bet you were so happy to get back to some quality time with the herd, and I'm positive they loved it too :-) Glad to see that Rose's hoof is showing signs go being fine - these long ears really do like to keep us alert don't they!

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