The Donkey Breed Society

28th October 2006

Well hardly had we recovered from having out feet trimmed and all that preparation and it started to rain, and it carried on raining for what seemed like ever ? I hate the rain so it was irritating to say the least.

Why do I hate it?

When I go out to graze my feel get all wet and soggy and worse still the wet grass makes my legs wet and a bit like when the water goes over your wellies it creeps up my fur and it gets cold!! It OK for you humans you just put your Wellington boots on and off you go ? no-one has thought of making Wellingtons for donkeys, or if they have our human hasn't considered them worth buying ? and that is a first I can tell you as she buys everything we could possibly need or want.

Anyway back to my wet bits, its bad for my hooves if they stay wet all the time because they start to go soft and smelly, and that is called having Thrush ? no not the spotty bird that eats snails silly ? but a disease that attacks the frog which is the soft cushion under my foot, and the grooves either side of it. The tissue starts to rot and turn black, that?s where the smell comes from ? all the decaying stuff must be cleaned out and the remaining hoof that had been in contact with it treated with iodine and sugar solution or gentian violet bought from the veterinary surgeon. Next is we must be kept in the dry with a nice deep bed of clean? dry shavings or straw.

The good bit is that because our human cleans our feet out every day and the farrier comes regularly and we have a clean dry bed in our stables we are very unlikely to get Thrush.

Mud Fever is another problem that can affect donkeys who have to walk through lots of deep mud during the winter months - and is caused when the skin on our pasterns, which is like your ankle, never dries out and eventually the hair rots off and leaves little holes that get infected ? so you see it is very important to make sure that our legs are dry and clean, and if things get really muddy some Vaseline smoothed in our heels and round our pasterns and fetlocks will help keep the water out. Anyway that is enough of that it is sunny now so I am off to see what's going on??????well I never did there's a thrush banging his snail against a rock.

21st October 2006

It is all hustle and bustle here today, we are expecting the farrier ? did I hear you say who is he?

The man who trims our feet,silly, well I am sure that there are ladies who trim donkey feet as well, but our farrier is a man.

So why all the fuss, well he doesn't come every day, but about every six weeks, so it is always a special day and lots of preparation is needed. First we all have to have our head-collars on and the ropes are put ready so we can be tied up for safety. Then all the mud has to be brushed from our legs and the outside of our hooves so that the farrier doesn?t have to grapple with slippery muddy hooves.

Next each leg is lifted in turn and the mud and stones that get pressed into the sole of each hoof is cleaned out - now we are ready for trimming.

The farrier has special tools - a big pair of hoof cutters like huge scissors to cut back the new growth around the edge of the hoof, a sharp knife to trim the soft bit in the middle called the frog and to pare away some of the old sole, and last of all a huge rasp like a nail file to smooth off any rough bits and to make everything look nice and tidy.

First of all the farrier picks up his knife and trims the frog into a nice neat triangle that will take the pressure like a little cushion when I walk, then he pares away all the old and dead bits from underneath the sole until it looks neat and tidy and you can see a very smooth white line that divides it from the outer wall, and then he picks up the big hoof cutters and trims all the long bits off the hard wall, just like your mum uses a pair of nail clippers to cut your finger and toe nails ? it has to be done just right so that they aren?t so short that my foot would hurt or too long so that they crack.

Our farrier always looks very carefully at each hoof to make sure that the inside and outside edges are the same, so that the hoof is level, just like your mummy might look at your school shoes to see if the heel is worn badly and making you walk all fuuny?

Then after all that has been done he picks up the big rasp and very quickly rubs it all round the outside and across the sole to take off any loose bits and make the hoof a really nice shape ? and that hoof is all finished and he moves round to the next one. All I have to do is stand very still when I am tied up, lift each foot up when he asks me too, and then practice standing on three legs until the job is finished ? easy peasy.

Of course it isn't so easy if you are a pony or a horse, they do lots and lots of walking and trotting on roads which wears their hooves down, so they have metal shoes under their hooves which the farrier fixes on with nails, or even plastic shoes which are glued on. So they have to stand still for ages and ages?????????.

Our foal Annabelle has got to practice because she is so naughty, jumps around a lot and says she cannot possibly stand on only three legs when she was born with four!!!! Every day when the human is grooming Annabelle she picks up each hoof in turn, cleans it out and then brushes around the edges like the farrier would.

Take a tip from me - if you have got a donkey then you must practice the standing still on three legs bit, it makes life so much easier, not only for hoof trimming but for every day hoof cleaning out as well.

Well my hooves are all trimmed, and the other donkeys are waiting so I am off to see what's going on in the paddock, before anyone else gets there.

7th October 2006

Now any one who has read my diary to date, including the introduction will have realized from that important first paragraph that I omitted to tell you of my fourth birthday celebrations. Well there was very good reason for that I was just so busy tracing my ancestors that I actually forgot.

Just like humans we can be born at any time of the day, and any month of the year, but like the Queen we also have an official birthday every year, which is the 1st January. I expect you will think it is bit funny really because I was born on the 2nd September, but as a donkey I was considered to be one year old and called a yearling the following January 1st, although mathematically I was only four months old.

You humans only have one birthday and that is the day you are born, and you aren?t a year old until that day twelve months later, now is that good or is that bad? Only one lot of presents and cards, whereas I could have two lots!!

Well that has got my age out of the way, and being born in 2002, I am actually now 4 years old, but what of my parents and grandparents?

Just like your ancestors they have names and can be traced in a sort of donkey family tree called a pedigree:

My father was called: Peppercorn The Astrologer, Peppercorn was his surname or prefix, and mine is the same, Peppercorn Leading Lady.

My mother is called Mayflower Georgie Girl, so Mayflower was her surname or prefix.

The difference between humans and donkeys is that our surname depends on who owns us and where we are born rather than whom we are. Mayflower Georgie Girl was bred by a lady in Suffolk whose prefix was Mayflower, whereas my dad and I were bred by a lady in Wales whose prefix is Peppercorn ? so you see if you know our proper names then you can tell where we were born and who owns us.

My grandfathers were called Peppercorn Philosopher and Glendene Tarquin and my grandmothers were called Plurenden Carlotta and Mayflower Sweet Charity.

A Donkey's Pedigree looks like this:

Well that is as clear as mud isn't it? I will test you all on it on another occasion,perhaps you could do family tree for your donkey or even yourself

As for my birthday, it was actually all very stylish, I invited eight friends for a party and we had tea and cake under the apple trees, and extra carrots in our party bowls. The humans came too and were suitably impressed by my mature behaviour!!! Mmmmmm