Donut and friends

Donut

Donut our lovely Mule . When Chocolate Pudding was in his previous home he escaped and eleven months later a lovely Welsh Mountain pony – Angel – had a foal . The owners realised by the size of the foals ears that this was Chocolate Puddings doing !!    She was born the same day as the Royal Wedding 29th April 2011. Her voice is quite something!  Half donkey and half pony! As mules tend to get a poor reception we were asked to give the wee soul a ‘ Home for Life ‘ and she came to us when she was 6months old .

Justin

Justin was born in 1987 and was bought as a two year old as an attraction on a holiday park . We looked after him for more than ten years before he became ours as he wasn’t wanted anymore .He is a friendly donkey enjoying the company of horses and humans liking nothing better than resting his head on some unsuspecting shoulder and going to sleep .He is able to give donkey rides to children and helps raise funds for Glendrick Roost at occasional events.He is unfortunately plagued by flies in the summer months and often has to remain inside during the worst spells as the flies cause nasty wounds on his eyes and under his tummy . To combat the flies on his face he is often seen wearing a very fetching ‘ fly fringe ‘ made out of baler band !

Patches and Pumpkin Pie

Patches born in 1992 came as a very fat donkey – but we were informed she was NOT due to foal for a further three months . Six days after rescuing her in October 2005 she had Pumpkin Pie . Due to the stress of travelling so close to foaling Patches was unable to feed her tiny foal enough of the life giving milk and thus antibodies to protect her in her first days . Within a week wee Pumpkin was in trouble – she became dehydrated and was slowly starving . She almost died and was saved only due to excellent veterinary care and constant nursing . She had to go on a drip and live under a heat lamp to help keep her warm . I moved into the yard and lived in my touring caravan and fed her round the clock every three hours . She continued to try to suckle thus hopefully stimulating her mums milk flow . After a month of supplementary feed from a bottle she was able to come off the bottle and from then on fed entirely on mums milk !

She is now a healthy adult donkey who loves everyone and has no fear . She is however a bit cheeky and will have to learn a few manners if she is to become a happy, loveable donkey.

Postscript- Unfortunately Patches became unwell very suddenly and died in November 2011.  A very loved wee donkey and greatly missed.

Dumpling  

A six month old female donkey brought across from Ireland in poor condition came to us in 2010. She was lousy , worm ridden and had sores on her hocks and knees . Her coat was matted and filthy but she had a lovely trusting temperament . We named her Dumpling and with care and attention she became a beautiful , friendly jenny and will knock you over if you stop short in the paddock she is following so closely .

Muffin

In the spring of  2010 we were asked if we could take a  four  year old entire jack donkey  as the owner was going to shoot him because he was doing what entire donkeys do to other animals on the farm!!! We took him, had him gelded and discovered he had a large sarcoid on his sheath . This malignant growth could not be removed at that time due to the wound from gelding but was removed successfully once Muffins wound had healed . He and Justin became firm friends Muffin often found with his head resting  across Justins back.

Chocolate Pudding

This beautiful three year old donkey  arrived in the early  summer of 2011 and was very aptly named Chocolate Pudding . He came because his owner had lost his grazing and as we had taken Muffin when they rescued him hoped that we would take this wee boy too . He needed gelding when he came  but is now one of our little herd of donkeys and a very happy boy enjoying animal and human company. He loves people and has been taken to several Dobbies Garden Centres as an attraction when Santa came to visit.

Following an anxious couple of weeks the donkeys, mule and the mini shetlands are now settled in their new quarters at Bankend Stables. Our thanks go to them for saving the day!!!!