Vodka and Aimee Shelter In Their New Rugs

The two donkey girls were shy and hid in the field shelter. It's amazing how many donkeys can fit in a small field shelter - four!

Leo a Picture in Pink

His first day wearing his rug, which is now suitably coated in mud!

Tintin Shows Off His New Wardrobe

The elegant donkey about town, Tintin has been equipped for the winter.

Here he is in a matching brown ensemble.

Tintin in Camoflage

There really are some daft pictures of donkeys which should remain private....Tintin looking very foolish and even Vodka has to join in with her silly midge fighting outfit.

Leo in Training

As part of his training, Leo has to get used to all sorts of odd things - here he is meeting a fly mask for the first time! He isn't that worried by things, it is more people.

Considering how hard it was to get a head collar on him at first, he has made huge progress. He can now wear a rug without any problems and when he managed to cut his leg, he had an iodine spray whooshed at the poor wounded paw. He is now beginning to live up to his name of Leo the Lionheart.

Leo Relaxes

After a lot of handling, Leo was allowed back out into the field. He now leads to the field and back every day, and is usually fine to catch. He still has his days of worrying about things but generally he doesn't panic much now, and even when he does, he will work out how to get over it.

This is an enormous improvement on the terrified little lad whose only response to everything was to high tail it as far away as possible.

Leo Poses as Roger Daltry

Once Leo decided that while in the past people had fully intended to kill him, there was no longer clear and imminent danger, and he began to make friends with us.

One of our first tasks was to tackle his magnificent mane which is truly spectacular.

At this point he was still not trustworthy enough to be allowed out, but he was becoming more trusting, allowing a head collar to be put on without it taking half a day, and enjoying being groomed and having his feet picked up.

Ferguson Babysits Leo

We finally have Leo in captivity and you can see what a lovely pony he has turned into. At this stage, it could still take half an hour to catch him in the stable, hard to believe but that's how it was, he would just go around in circles in a panic.

Fortunately he is the kindest pony in the world and utterly without malice and when when scared, he would never lift a hoof to hurt you. You might be squished against a wall but nothing worse than that!

As he couldn't be left in the barn alone, Ferguson donkey was often left as his warden.

The look on Ferguson's face says exactly what he thought of it all.

And Then There Was The Cowardly Lion

Leo's mum, Lexie, is a very self confident young lady, and has clearly been a riding pony, perfect for children. Quite why she ended up being sent for slaughter, with her foal, Leo, is a mystery as she has now resumed her career as a kid's pony and is completely reliable and trustworthy.

Leo arrived scared of his own shadow, he had clearly hidden behind mum who protected him aggressively and sheltered him from everything, and he was just terrified of everything.

We made the major mistake of turning him out, in a big field, with his friends, Sabrina Fern and Mimi. Two months later, we were still trying to catch him!

So operation recapture Leo began - first of all, we removed Fern and Mimi from the field, leaving him with Sabrina. Sabrina, who is happy to be caught, and led around, then was brought down to the stables, and put in a very small paddock. Fortunately, rather than be left alone, Leo followed her. We then reunited her with her friends and Leo was on his own.

Eventually we managed to get him from the paddock, onto the yard, and then finally into the barn, where he was well and truly kept in custody till we could do a lot of handling with him.

This is him in the small paddock, with a nose covered in treacle as he had discovered the joys of horselix.

Fern, Mimi and Sabrina

This is the foals shortly after arrival in the spring - Sabrina the dark one looks particularly babyish. They have all grown quite a bit and filled out and look much more mature now, at the end of the summer.

Fern Another One of the Foals

Fern is shaping into a nice little pony, she isn't going to be huge but she is a very pretty chestnut, with white spots on her chest, and is very friendly. This picture of her was taken as she was waiting for the farrier to trim her for the first time.

Mum and daughter, Sabrina and Nakosa

Sabrina, one of our equine b&b visitors is in the top picture, with the following one being her mum, Nakosa. Nakosa doesn't have a lot of time for people, as they haven't been very nice to her over the years.

She has passed some of this fighting spirit to her daughter, who is feisty, but at the same time is very reliable if she understands what you want. While it may be too late for her mum to be anything other than a field ornament, her daughter is a lovely filly and when she grows up will be an excellent prospect for rehoming as a riding horse.

More visitors for their summer holiday

Here are Mimi and Fern - another two of the French foals. They are quite small, taking after their mums, but very sturdy little ponies with lovely temperaments.

They were a bit shy hiding beneath their sun visors.

We have visitors for summer holiday

Vodka has been joined, for the summer, by four friends from France. We don't know if they all knew each other, but they were all rescued in the same year, and it's quite possible they came from the same farm.

The four youngsters came to the UK with their mums - as foals at foot, tiny little foals destined for the meat trade. They were now sturdy little adolescents, full of fun and very friendly.

The dark bay filly is Sabrina, the teenage witch, she is a spirited little lady but very smart and learns fast. She will be a great riding pony, as she has a brain.

With her is Leo, a comtois cross, he is very shy, a very timid lion. More about him later.

Tintin Settles In

Tintin was very thin when he arrived - and of course despite having rugs for three donkeys, none of them fitted such a large gallic donkey.

He has now a burberry influenced wardrobe.... and it's amazing how many donkeys can squeeze into a field shelter.

Vodka Returns To Her Blog

After a long absence, Vodka donkey has found space in her busy social diary to write to her admirers.

She is now very much in love - her arranged marriage with Tintin, a rakish lanky French donkey who came into her life in March 2010 has been a great success and she is besotted.

Tintin is being the archtypal french Flaneur and will walk out with any donkey or horse who is lonely - there is occasionally a bit of the emerald eye from Vodka, who is intensely jealous.

You can see why she loves him. He was a bit scruffy on arrival....