Sunshine and Donkeys

Well today was an absolute gorgeous day to spend outside with the donkeys, the drive up there was nice and uneventful, but once I got to the DSC that changed. The donkeys were enjoying the warm sunshine and just mingling in the barnyard. I found Spice laying in the sand pit letting the sun shine on her belly...notice...this was before I cleaned the barnyard.
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I spent the morning again cleaning the barnyard from top to bottom and I cleaned the special needs side of the barn too. Inside the barn I met up with Larry and Lucky, who are hilarious at times.And are usually always on the lookout for someone to scratch their backs.














Now here is my newest sweetie Augusta in the sheep's stall. She loves being in there on the softer flooring due to her feet problem. Augusta was admitted to the DSC in December 2009, she suffers from equine recurrent uveitis, also known as moon blindness. It is an inflammation of the inside of her eyes, with her both eyes are affected and it will eventually lead to her blindness. Augusta had been to the Animal hospital recently to receive aggressive treatment for a flare up of the condition. She was there over a week and given 5 treatments a day, unfortunately there is already some loss of sight in her right eye. Due to her condition she is wearing a Guardian Mask at all times, which shuts out 95% of UVrays but allows her to see. She is a little timid and shy, but onces she feels comfortable around you she is a lovely donkey who loves to cuddle. I really think she is a sweetheart and a brave donkey.














Buffy was groomed today by Matt, but Matt made one big mistake, he didn't give Buffy her treat afterwards, so she stood and stood and stood in front of the tackroom and like any man, Matt didn't clue in. After Matt had left for the day Buffy was still thinking she deserved that carrot and well she sought me out, and she bugged me, and she nudged me, and she knew I knew what she wanted, and she knew soon too that I had a carrot in my hand for her....notice ...the almost squeaky clean barn floor.


















Oddly enough Solo was my constant watchdonkey today. For someone who really doesn't want to have anything to do with people he sure checks you out as soon as you walk in...do you belong here? What are you doing? Where are you going? Why are you touching this? He is totally unpredictible and that scares me a little at times, because once he has you on his mind, he walks with such determination and power and presence towards you, and you don't know what he wants. So I took this picture as I was standing at the fence and turned around and there he was again, watching me.















My sweetie Juno. I just love her big brown eyes. She was having a hard time today keeping those frisky donkey boys of her, even though they are fixed they still seem to have the urge. Typical male.



















Chiclet enjoying some shade.















I spend some time grooming Pansy and she was a little bit testy today too, and kept nipping me in the knee everytime I turned away from her. She is not much taller than a little anklebiter. We were grooming outside today, because one stroke with the brush you had half a donkey stuck to your brush, the fur is just flying off like crazy. As I was grooming Pansy, some donks from the darkside started coming to the fence and wanted to get groomed too. So I went on the darkside and brushed a few of the donkeys, it was like an assembly line, they all wanted a turn and stood for most part patiently until it was their turn. I only brushed them, no picking feet etc, and they really seemed to enjoy it, and the fur they lost was all clinging to me.
On my way out I got to peek into the Longear Boutique and it looks very nice, I am really getting excited about it. Even though I learnt today that I will also be doing the Greeting centre....oh joy! lol....ahhh piece of cake, won't it be?
Oh here is a picture of the newest kind of donkey...the headless donkey...how deep can you go?












And the most cutest thing yesterday was Odin braying, omg how funny was that. He thought he could keep up with the big boys, was running, ears back and all that came out of his mouth was this little squeak, and he was braying his heart out. It was so cute. Oh to be a young donkey.