I always promised Lily i would get her a companion and with the loss of Fleur and summer approaching seemed a good time to do it. I was going to have a rescue donkey from a sanctuary but waited 2 months for them to home check plus she needed sedation with the farrier - I would have been happy to go down to the sanctuary and work with her and see if i thought I would be able to get her farrier ready as it increases the cost by £100 to be a vet out.
In the end I bought one of the donkeys from the dodgy dealer that Lily came from - they are selling off the ones they marketed as 'xmas presents' but couldn't sell as they got strangles having bought a horse from a local to us even more dodgy dealer.
Zak is same age as Lily and sold as ridden....well good luck with that. Had an 'interesting' first day. Put him in a small quarantine paddock where he could see Buddy who is still on sick leave, so the little shit goes under the electric fence into a wooded area. Took me 40 minutes to get him out of there and then reinforcing the fence so he couldn't go back in there. And a further 20 minutes to catch him. Not knowing if it was going to be torrential I thought maybe the best thing was to stable him overnight and leave Lily on the yard where he could see her but not touch. Rigged up fencing for that. He was upset in the stable - donkey size doors top door closed - so I opened the top door to see if he would settle better. So he jumped/climbed out fell on his back, got cast and had to pull him out by his hind legs to get him out. Then close the got quickly to the main field.
In the end I put him in the small paddock next to the stable and left Lily on the yard so he could see her and nuzzle. Sod quarantine as more concerned he would try jumping the fence. Lily is not helping by being energetically in season......
This morning managed to touch him and make a fuss of him, he has wounds/rubs on his head from a halter - he was in a stable haltered and they brought him out and loaded him, I told them not to tie him up as Lily travelled better loose - they didn't take the halter off. I suspect they knew that he was difficult to catch which is why he has all the rubs and scars on his face. He is still in the small paddock and have put Lily in the bigger one next to him so they can communicate, once she stops being a brazen hussy will put her in with him, as i suspect he may run under the electric fence in the summer fields.....and if he is loose in there god knows when we will see him again....
He has been advertised extensively as ridden, images of ridden by an adult, and also good on a lead rein. He doesn't know how to lead and I certainly wouldn't put a child on him as he takes off. While it is inconvenient that he is completely not as described to me - he is worse than Lily and she now leads very well and is very confident - I am shocked that they are peddling donkeys like this as suitable for children. Thank god he wasn't a xmas present. He'll be ok in the end before i came up from the yard i stood at the gate and called him and he came over to about 2ft from me, will practice catching him. He doesn't know treats and is pretty skinny, his breast bone has no cover and you can feel every rib very clearly - probably has lice will see if i can powder him. Lily was in much better physical condition than he is.
In the end I bought one of the donkeys from the dodgy dealer that Lily came from - they are selling off the ones they marketed as 'xmas presents' but couldn't sell as they got strangles having bought a horse from a local to us even more dodgy dealer.
Zak is same age as Lily and sold as ridden....well good luck with that. Had an 'interesting' first day. Put him in a small quarantine paddock where he could see Buddy who is still on sick leave, so the little shit goes under the electric fence into a wooded area. Took me 40 minutes to get him out of there and then reinforcing the fence so he couldn't go back in there. And a further 20 minutes to catch him. Not knowing if it was going to be torrential I thought maybe the best thing was to stable him overnight and leave Lily on the yard where he could see her but not touch. Rigged up fencing for that. He was upset in the stable - donkey size doors top door closed - so I opened the top door to see if he would settle better. So he jumped/climbed out fell on his back, got cast and had to pull him out by his hind legs to get him out. Then close the got quickly to the main field.
In the end I put him in the small paddock next to the stable and left Lily on the yard so he could see her and nuzzle. Sod quarantine as more concerned he would try jumping the fence. Lily is not helping by being energetically in season......
This morning managed to touch him and make a fuss of him, he has wounds/rubs on his head from a halter - he was in a stable haltered and they brought him out and loaded him, I told them not to tie him up as Lily travelled better loose - they didn't take the halter off. I suspect they knew that he was difficult to catch which is why he has all the rubs and scars on his face. He is still in the small paddock and have put Lily in the bigger one next to him so they can communicate, once she stops being a brazen hussy will put her in with him, as i suspect he may run under the electric fence in the summer fields.....and if he is loose in there god knows when we will see him again....
He has been advertised extensively as ridden, images of ridden by an adult, and also good on a lead rein. He doesn't know how to lead and I certainly wouldn't put a child on him as he takes off. While it is inconvenient that he is completely not as described to me - he is worse than Lily and she now leads very well and is very confident - I am shocked that they are peddling donkeys like this as suitable for children. Thank god he wasn't a xmas present. He'll be ok in the end before i came up from the yard i stood at the gate and called him and he came over to about 2ft from me, will practice catching him. He doesn't know treats and is pretty skinny, his breast bone has no cover and you can feel every rib very clearly - probably has lice will see if i can powder him. Lily was in much better physical condition than he is.
hopefully he’ll settle quickly.
