A lovely Sunday!

Ok, so volunteer lunch was absolutely amazing. the restaurant was open just for us and from the minute we walked in you were feeling welcomed, Shivdeep, the owner, had made a photo slide show of the Sanctuary as a surprise for us, that ran over the big TV screens,  it was very nicely down and everybody was deeply touched by it. After everybody arrived, we ordered drinks and were served our appetizers...hmmmm the best chick pea salad, Samosa and a new receipe that his wife had just prepared for us. It was delicious. When I had talked with Shivdeep over the last few weeks we had settled on a certain menu for the lunch, Chickpea salad  and Samosa for appetizers, Butter chicken and a vegetable Jalfrezi both served with rice and naan as main course , and a Gulab Jamun for desert....( I had no idea what is was....but oh my god it was to die for...forget chocolate). Well let me tell you we were absolutely spoiled, there was so much more on the buffet for us than we had talked about and it was just absolutely amazing. Everybody was just in awe...we sure had an absolutely beautiful lunch and well all left very stuffed feeling. Kyra and I decided to go back to the DSC to spend some time with our new arrival Maddie. Maddie is a very small standard donkey that arrived last Monday, after an SPCA worker could finally convince the owner it was in Maddie's and his best interest to surrender the poor little donkey, and he finally did and through a common friend at the DSC Maddie was taken in. Maddie originally was Matilda, but when donkeys come from an neglected or abused situation we usually change their names so they won't associate their name with the neglect/abuse. Maddie was not abused but severely neglected, she had the main things animals are required by law...food, water and shelter, but she had not had her hooves trimmed in ages. When I saw her on Monday she had very long hooves. The rings around her hooves tell of every episode she  foundered  and there are many. Our vet took x-rays of her feet to make sure the bones were still in the right place, and even though they have rotated a bit we still can make her comfortable and not all hope is lost. Our farrier has started to take a bit of her feet, he will continue to do so until her hooves are somewhat normal for the next few weeks and then she fill bit fitted for extra cushioned shoes. No point putting shoes on her yet if she gets trimmed every week. Maddie has the biggest brown eyes, almost like Juno, but the posture of her body is horrible due to the neglect of her foot care. Her back legs are way tucked under her bum and her shoulders have rotated out and forewards to compensate for the painful way she had to walk. Since we have started trimming her feet she is a little bit sore, because all of a sudden she has to use totally different muscles again to walk, that she hasn't used in years, so right now she is on a lot of pain meds to make her comfortable. She is a real sweetie though, very curious, and still hasn't lost her spirit and that is always the main part and making the choices we have to make at times. Hopefully we will be able to make her comfortable and better for a few more extra years.

Maddie's body

Maddie's right shoulder. :(

Right now she is bedded in our soft stall, the floor feels like you walk on a mattress, very soft and cushioned, but she spent the day outside enjoying the sunshine and getting to know her new friends. ( She was also an only donkey so donkeys are foreign to her ).