We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and thank you very much for all your Christmas cards and donations, which were greatly appreciated.
Christmas Day was especially enjoyed by the donkeys after supping their treat of Guinness! They can't wait until next Christmas!
We are sorry that it has taken so long to write another Newsletter and to set up a new web site from scratch. We are only beginners at this game and since moving from Radcliffe-on-Trent to Huttoft in Lincolnshire we have had a major job building new stables, fencing and looking after 25 donkeys, mule, horse, ponies, and goats.
But now, not only have we moved to new premises some considerable distance away, we have a change of volunteers, some managed to move with us but some obviously could not, hence the delay in the officework, the animals are our top priority and the paperwork unfortunately fell by the wayside. However we are beginning to get back on track and hope you will be patient while we are learning how to set up a web site, there are bound to be mistakes! and it will be a bit basic to start with but I am sure we will master it!
A very big THANK YOU to Dianne and Ian for all their hard work over the years raising funds especially at the Goose Fair in the freezing cold and all the paperwork they did for the sanctuary it was greatly appreciated.
Back to the donkeys - our young ones have only managed three major expeditions around the local village so far in the last few months. One day a gentleman stopped to inform us that three donkeys were grazing in the local Churchyard, they were enjoying the floral tributes on the graves, we raced there armed with headcollars only to find three of the normally well behaved donkeys were there; thinking the rest had ventured even further away we were frantic. We took these three donkeys home only to find with great relief that the others hadn't noticed these three squeezing under the fence, go through the dyke up to their bellies in mud and off on an adventure.
The next great escape thankfully we noticed happening before the donkeys reached the open road, Montana started galloping around her paddock when she saw the donkeys in the wrong field, one of the volunteers then thought she saw a dog running down the track and across the top paddock, but when Tracy looked she realised in was a donkey behind the hedge followed by several more. We decided to head them off, everyone ran up the yard grabbing headcollars and buckets of food on the way, we all jumped into cars and drove through the village to block their exit down the track. The donkeys were so surprised to see us! but were not very hungry and did not want to go back into their field, it took five of us to persuade them to walk back through the new driveway. Meanwhile one of the volunteers was left holding the fence to prevent more escaping where the others had literally climbed over, Tiger the pony was determined to follow Tracy and the bucket of food so he pushed this person into the thorn hedge and escaped as well, Tracy managed to put a headcollar on him and safely led him home.
Senna, LB and Tiger.
Dear old Senna was so worried but made no attempt to escape, instead he watched where Tracy was leading the donkeys and trotted through the paddocks to meet them, he then came back to the bedraggled and battered volunteer that was still trying to keep the rest of the donkeys in and neighed to them calling them back with him to Tracy, they all followed him and were let into a new paddock with the others that had escaped. Senna was so concerned that they should all be safely together and really helped he is really amazing such a lovely kind intelligent old horse. They were all rewarded for coming home with several large bales of tasty hay and they settled down for the night after an exciting day. Steve and his helper worked late into the night repairing the fence and putting in new posts, we think that because the public footpath is overgrown with nettles walkers had climbed over the fence and weakened it, or maybe they had tasty picnics with them and the donkeys decided to follow. The next field now has a gate and padlock on it so the donkeys won't escape from this route again.
The last escape was a little more serious; when having watched a retired neighbour spending hours tending his beautiful vegetable and flower garden, something resembling one of the gardening programmes on television, with the most wonderful crops of beans, potatoes, carrots, onions, salad crops, not to mention his beautiful displays of flowers which I'm sure must be photographed for the seed catalogues they are so perfect; the two old donkeys Billy and Hector began plotting, the temptation was too great, with only a wire netting fence between them and this feast they waited until this gentleman drove off in his car one day, they must have thought it's now or never, we have drooled over this garden all spring and now is our chance, with that they must have leant over the post until it gave way and climbed over the rest of the wire netting, they then began to tuck in, not knowing where to start they wandered from vegetable beds to floral displays, trampling over bean poles on their way, luckily the greenhouse door was closed, you've heard the one about a bull in a china shop, well imagine a donkey in a tomato greenhouse! We have apologised profusely and luckily our neighbour loves donkeys, though probably not quite as much now, he still speaks to us each day as he walks his dogs in the field next to us, but the garden fence now resembles a fortress.
Teddy in the new stableyard.
Our major building work is ongoing but we are very close to officially opening, we have made so much progress, the stables have been fitted with donkey proof doors, which are edged with metal to stop them chewing, the yard has doubled in size to cater for the winter, the donkeys cannot always go out during the worst of the winter especially the old ones, but they still need exercise and to be able to socialise with one another, we have a dividing fence down the middle to prevent the young donkeys fighting with the older ones.
However we have had to make an addition to the top bolt on each door because the most clever donkeys have worked out how to lift and slide the bolt, then stamp on the bottom fitting that swings over the door and frame and flips undone letting their friends out, or getting extra food from the ones that eat more slowly. I can see us getting combination locks some donkeys are so clever.
Muffin is very comfy in her new stable!
The entrance and car park have been finished and we have created a lovely picnic area with seating, thank you to the people who donated the shrubs for that area it looks really nice, it is an area for people to enjoy their lunch and watch the donkeys, but the donkeys are extremely interested in getting in there, I expect they are already plotting how to achieve this, so with that in mind it may be advisable to bring a few extra sandwiches or a carrot or two for the donkeys when you visit, in case you have to share with them!
The new picnic area - ready and waiting for visitors!
The next priority it to finish the toilet block, the shell has been built, but the council have put restrictionns on what has to be done, which means we need to raise another £5,000 to finish them. So any help raising funds to complete this will enable us to open the sanctuary sooner.
We have have a fairly good year with animals healthwise, Teddy still has problems now and again producing vast amounts of saliva, however, the vets can find no reason for this. Senna had an accident in his new stable just after Christmas, he got cast against the wall and panicked injuring his back and legs, but after a couple of weeks veterinary treatment started to make a good recovery. Tiger goes lame every now and again and has to be stabled until he is better, we always know when this is because he climbs over the door even though it is 4ft high and higher than his withers he still manages to get his legs up and over, which is quite a feat for a pony who is 32 years old. Mabel and Josephine have decided to move from the stable yard and fields and prefer our garden and orchard, they will have to move back in the winter though, they even try to walk into the house if someone leaves the door open. Noddy visits them occasionally to make sure they are ok and then returns to the fields. Muffin who is very old and has worked on the beaches all her life keeps on collapsing and is unable to get up herself because she has arthritis, it takes at least four strong people to slide straps underneath her and lift her back up. Annie is still very fat despite our attempts to put her on a diet, she is so greedy. Remember Little Boris our noisiest and most aggressive donkey, he is now a little charmer who loves fuss and attention, he still bites the occasional donkey and now and again likes to hear his own voice, but is settling down and is a lot calmer now. All the other animals are doing well although some are beginning to show signs of their old age.
On 17th April the swallows arrived, they seem to appreciate the new stables as well, we have a bumper crop of nests and its wonderful to watch the young birds in their nests being fed and then learning to fly; however the donkeys need extra grooming while the swallows are in residence, they deposit so much mess on their backs, they are covered in it each day.
You are very welcome to visit the sanctuary, but please phone to arrange your visit first, to make sure we are available to show you around.
Once again we need to raise funds to see us through the winter when the feed bills are higher and to complete the work required by the council to enable us to have our Annual Open Day; so any help financially or otherwise will be a great appreciated, without your continued support we couldn't keep going.
Thank you from
Tracy, Steve and the volunteers