Caladeux and Eclipse

Aimee had a hoof in saving the lives of this little mare and her baby, Eclipse.

Poor Caladeux has not been handled, and is very shy, not had much of a life so far, just loads of babies. Her little filly, Eclipse, is a beautiful young lady and hopefully will learn that people are nice to her. Cally hasn't had much experience of them being nice, so she is very timid and wary.

I am so proud of Aimee, even though it galls me to say so. The charity work she does, and the generosity of local people who give her money, have given this little pair a new life and a future.

2009 has been a dire year for horses, home and away. It has been a very dangerous year to be an equine.

Lily - Saved by Aimee

You may remember the sad little chestnut filly that Aimee, our star fundraising donkey, helped to escape from the fat farm.

Well Lily is doing so so well, much happier. Here is a picture of her when she first arrived, you can compare the two pictures.....

Saffy Has Surgery Again

Poor old Saffy cat has been in the wars again. She has a big lump removed from her face, a few months back, and some nasty lumps appeared in her neck.

Mum is very worried, thinks it isn't very good news, but the lumps have been removed and everyone hopes that Saffy makes a full recovery. Here she is sleeping it off after her operation.

Vodka Is Photographed

I have been snapped, some strange people came to do what they call a photo shoot - the word shoot alarmed me......I come from a place where shooting is a real life hazard, i.e. they shoot horses, ponies and innocent donkeys.....

I was so relieved that it was just with a camera with funny lens thing and moved - Spencer the sheep had a go at eating it....

Naturally things didn't go smoothly. Mum kept us in and spent about one whole hour coming and grooming me. I had every knot untangled, and had my ear fluff trimmed, everything done. Aimee and Ferguson also were groomed. I had my rug put on and of course what did I do, I rolled....there was a lot of muttering about how I was even worse than I had been before she started.

She said I was a very very bad donkey and that she was now going to leave me to ponder my wrong doings and come back about 10 minutes before the camera to pretty me up again....

So when the camera and crew arrived, I was photographed in the stable with the two scottish stumpies. Then it was decided some action shots outdoors were needed, so they went out to do a recce. My chance. I rolled for all I was worth!

One side of me, nice and clean, the other side, totally plastered with shavings. When everyone came back, and saw the state of me, mum looked thunderous. They even took pictures of my bad side.

I then had this funny tinsel stuff put on me, and we did some action shots of me in my big field, the scottish stumpies kept trying to get in on the act - after all Aimee was in the same competition BUT DIDN'T WIN. I let her join in as she has been so depressed about coming last....poor old donkey, class will out.

So we are crossing hooves and waiting to see if I look perfectly stunning - I know I will, it's the problem of being let down by others in the pictures.

A Visit to the Two Little Frenchies

Mum and Dad have been to see Caladeux and her baby filly foal, Eclipse, commonly known as Elly.

Mum said that Cally is even prettier in real life, but shy, and the little foalie person has the longest legs in the world and is quite delightful. I am surprised she did not smuggle them back in the car with them.

Cally is a bit overwhelmed, new place, languages to learn, plus she has to chill out as now she doesn't have to worry about anything. A charity has taken her on for the rest of her life, so as soon as Elly is weaned, Cally will either retire completely or perhaps find a new career as a riding pony if she feels she wants to pursue professional development in this way.

She is one of the last of the lucky french ones as the farm she came from all the horses will be going for slaughter very soon, as they don't want to run it any more. From my point of view, this is excellent news, as they won't be having any more horses, but for the horses,donkeys and foals there it's the worst of news, as unless some money is found for them very quickly, they have no chance whatsoever.

I am very very upset about this - some of them are just 12-15 months old, some are this year's foallies with their mums, still drinking her milk, it is awful. I am powerless to do anything for them and it makes me so so sad that I can't help them.

A new member of the family

One of the battery hens has fulfilled her life's ambition, she has hatched out a chick. Of course she chose a pretty inconvenient time to do it, one of those Saturdays that Aimee was off fund raising and suddenly kitten pens were put up, mother and baby inserted into pen, chicken pellets put in the magimix and made into crumbs.

Just what you need when you are busy and trying to get Aimee donkey clean, loaded and out there strutting her stuff.

Mum says that chick is now getting quite big and is convinced it will of course be a cockerel given she already have 4 of these useless things already. She's not even convinced that the hen that thinks it is the mum is actually the mum. She is a typical red/brown battery hen, but the chick is black with silver legs, which is suspiciously like the cochin hens she has, and the daddy has to be the cuckoo speckled maran cross.....so she thinks the mum has to be the cochin but for whatever reason the little battery girl has claimed it as her own.

She is totally made up about it. In the daytime, she and the baby go into Molly's stable and run around. She has been teaching it how to scratch and dig, and mum says she isn't quite as ferocious as she was on day one, when she would have killed you if you tried to go near her baby.

I am pleased for her, it must be sad to lay all those eggs with no result! She is a very very proud mum and at night time you can see her, sitting down to sleep, with the little head of the baby sticking out from under her feathers. Aw. I want one of those too.

We Have Been House Sat

They cleared off and left us for a few days.....we were inspected by this lady called Evonne who was left to deal with us!

Well of course, Rosie played up, managed to lose her muzzle. The rest of us however got a Gold Star for being talented well behaved donkeys who did exactly what mum said we would do.....

We were pleased to see her back, particularly as they were late....it was almost dark....something about a 3 hour boat trip on Lake Windermere. I ask you, is that more important than getting a donkey's dinner and putting them to bed. I was very very hurt and tried to sulk, but couldn't keep it out....

Have to say the place was much tidier and cleaner when they were away.....mum says she is ashamed that the house looked tidier and cleaner as well.....