Hello young people - can I introduce myself - My name is 'Lolly'
and what follows is an account of just one year in my life; if you would like to talk to me personally you can do so by emailing: info@donkeybreedsociety.co.uk and I will send you a signed picture.
Anyway back to the point - I am Lolly, although if you had a look in my passport, yes we donkeys have to have passports these days, it would actually say Peppercorn Leading Lady ! but can you imagine anyone calling me in for tea using that ? no neither can I. 
This photograph of me was taken by Nigel Watts-Plumpkin
I was born on Monday 2nd September 2002 at 11.30am in the morning and it was all rather exciting.
I know what you are thinking ! I must have a boring old life, if being born was exciting, but my mum Georgie Girl hadn't exactly scored many "Brownie Points" when my sister "Sweet Dream" was born - yes the names they give you in the donkey world do leave a lot to be desired, but let's get back to the point here - and my mum.
She didn't fancy the motherly love bit when "Dreamy" arrived and was always trying to leave her behind somewhere, not successfully I might add, as they are fairly hot on the bonding stuff at Bryncelyn, so she was always being retrieved from the wrong side of the electric fence or the dung heap, and a couple of times the vegetable garden.
Hence when it was my turn there were one or two anxious moments - but as luck would have it I was born out in the paddock on a hot sunny day and my grandma, Lottie, and her friend Genevive were on hand to help. Not exactly my finest hour, born on the rolling patch with Mum, Grandma and Genevive arguing about who I looked like and who was going to dry behind my ears and help me find my feet.
But I suppose things could have been worse, it could have been raining, and I might have been a boy instead of a girl and the rolling patch is filled with that lovely soft play sand rather than hard and stony.
It's a bit much though when you have to have a wash all over as soon as you get here, although my mum's tongue was lovely and warm and soft and she did get all the sticky stuff out of my coat and left it all dry and curly, and grandma Lottie was allowed to help lick an ear. Whether it was because it soon became apparent that the other two would quite like to claim the extra food family allowance bonus by adopting me permanently or simply that I was too gorgeous to resist doesn't really matter - my mum decided I was just the greatest baby donkey ever and rapidly shoved me to my feet and once I'd sorted out the order that my legs needed to move in removed me to the far corner of the paddock and there we stayed there for the afternoon.
As the only foal in the group I soon became something of a celebrity and had regular visits from people wanting photographs, and even I discovered the odd treat smuggled inside an anorak pocket. There was plenty to amuse an inquisitive mind, ducks to stalk, grownup donkeys to pester, dogs to chase, cats to sniff and best of all people to cuddle me, and on special days walks up the lane to the woods. That winter I saw my first snow and lots of rain and one day a man called a farrier came to look at my feet. He was very tall and he wore an apron which smelled funny, but he talked softly and lifted each of my hooves and clipped the rough edges off and then smoothed them with a big file, which made a funny noise and made me jump backwards - onto his toe! silly me.
Soon after someone else came to see me which wasn't so good. This time it was a lady called Sarah and she smelled funny too and had a box with lots of bits and pieces in which looked quite interesting, but I wasn't allowed to explore because she said things were dangerous and yes it turned out that she was right! She produced a thing with a needle on the end and gave me an injection in my neck - that hurt !!
Even though I say it myself I have grown into a really lovely donkey, my fluffy brown baby coat fell out during that first spring and was replaced with a glossy brown grown-up one, and I learned how to wear a very smart head collar and to walk and trot when I was asked to. None of the other donkeys got asked to do anything like that except Patrick who lives in his paddock down the lane, so I felt very important.
Then one day I had big surprise, I was leaving home where I had spent so much time playing and learning and I was going on an adventure. I was going to stay with some other donkeys in a place called Rudgeway, and I was going to be very special, I was going to be shown.
Well, my life certainly changed overnight and went from being quiet and tranquil with just my mum and friends for company to being very busy with lots to do and lots of friends, both human and donkey. I learned to walk up a ramp into a lorry in which we traveled to shows. Sometimes they were small shows where there were only donkeys and others, huge ones where there was everything you could possibly imagine with cows and sheep and even hot air balloons; and surprise, surprise I proved to be quite good at showing and even won some rosettes.
The first winter I came back home to Wales to see everyone and to show them with how much I had grown; returning to Rudgeway for another installment in my showing career the following April.
I am no longer a silly youngster, I am by my own reckoning six years old and a mature young lady with a mind of her own and lots to say. From this moment on I am going to share my adventures for a whole year with so you can come to understand what donkeys are all about, what we need and why we are so very often abused and misunderstood.
