General Chat

I know nothing about horses but a colleague of mine went to buy a second hand 4x4 to tow her horse box. She went with her husband to view a vehicle being sold by a lady. My friend turned to her husband and asked if the 4x4 was powerful enough to pull the horse-box. She then turned to the lady and as an aside said 'you see I have a fat horse' to which the lady replied thinking she said ar*e ' no you haven't you are quite trim' - jle

I have acquired a new donkey. Someone told me the local Real Estate Agent was looking for a home for one so I immediately rushed to town and volunteered to have him.
A week later we were told where to go to pick him up so we had a friend with a donkey trailer come with us.
The property had been sold and no one wanted the animals on it. There were goats, lamas, an ostrich and a horse up for grabs. We found the donkey eventually and put a halter on him, led him to where the trailer was parked and pushed him on. I took hay with me as an incentive and he probably thought he might be on to a good thing here and he'd better come with us.
He is white with fawny grey shading exactly like an appaloosa with grey spots on his rump and and a gray blanket. At a distance he looks like a pony, about twelve hands high and his face is more like a horse than a donkey.
My grandaughter named him Edward after a tall horse she always rode at the riding school where she had lessons because we were referring to him as Mr. Ed because of his light colour.
He was a bit stroppy with the jennies at meal time for a start s but once he learned that there was plenty of tucker and it came regularly he settled down and behaved himself.

Hi Marjery,

How lovely of you to give him a home. I have never owned a donkey but there used to be one in a field near where we rode and the horses were terrified if it started braying!!!
I have been watching the news reports of the weather and Fires out in Oz at the moment, it looks awful. the footage of the cattle and horses trying to get out of the flood waters are particularly distressing, I always think in some ways it is worse for the animals as they dont understand what is going on and that the humans are trying to help them. I saw some pics of some men trying to pull a cow into a small boat and it was so frightened.

It is a beautiful day here today, both ponies are out with no rugs on and the field is gradually drying out!! no more mud baths for them!!! The evenings are also getting lighter again at last, it always seems such a shame in the winter that I only get to see the horses in the dark!!

Good luck with Mr Ed!!! hope he settles with the girls, i usually find with the horses that if a gelding is out with a group of mares its the gelding that ends up at the bottom of the pecking order!!

Spoke too soon about fields drying out!! its been raining all day here!!!

Hi Julia,
I had a good laugh at Janet buying a horse float for a fat horse.
I lost one of my donkeys about eighteen months ago and I was hoping to get another as it is better to have three rather than two as when something happens to one of them the two that are left are company for each other and you don't get that awful pining and grieving.

We didn't see many of those flood pictures as we are the Cinderella state too far away. I did see the ones of the people in little boats picking up kangaroos out of the water and the lizard up on top of a star picket,also the snake with a frog riding on its back swimming in the water. It doesn't do to think of the animals as the floods covered an area the size of Germany and France combined.

Two thirds of the country are covered in water and the south western part where we are is having a drought and fires. There were seventy odd houses totally destroyed and lots more damaged. The air conditioners on the roof just sucked sparks in and left the gardens virtually untouched.

I have been trying to tell you about the donkeys last dental visit. We didn't get our usual dentist because he is a bit erratic so asked the vet for the name of one who did teeth around here.
A couple of equine dentists have just retired in our district. The vet immediately offered to do it as she said they had done courses and were doing teeth now. There are two female vets here. With misgivings we let her come and she insisted on giving them a sedative. I told her it wasn't necessary as they had had dental treatment before and just stood quietly and didn't make a fuss.
Fiona and Edward immediately hung their heads a bit and never moved. Jennifer was swaying and we tried to keep her on her feet but couldn't so she went down on her knees with her nose to the ground and stayed like that for several minutes while the vet attended to the other two.

When it was Jennifer's turn we tried to get her on her feet but she only staggered a few steps and went down again and we couldn't arouse her. The vet was starting to panic so we suggested having a cup of tea while Jennifer came around which we did and were away about twenty minutes.

When we went back she was still lying flat out on the ground, I thought she was dead but we roused her a bit so she was sitting up and my husband held her head up and she had her teeth filed while on the ground. By the time that she was finished Jennifer had come round and was on her feet again but not moving anywhere and, still rather unsteady.

She has never reacted like that before when she has had a sedative once or twice in the past and she won't be having any more. in the future. There was absolutely no need for it as donkeys are very cooperative and seem to know when you are trying to help them.

They all had hooks on their teeth. Edward was particularly bad and he is a different animal now that all the pain has gone from his mouth. I shall have a proper trained equine dentist next time as there is more to teeth than just filing them and it makes all the difference to the way they behave as well as helping them chew and digest their food properly.

Apart from that they are all very fit and shiny and a little slimmer as there is nothing much in the paddocks and they are getting all barley straw and only a little bit of hay when they come in at night.

As it is just gone twelve in the morning and they all heehawed at twelve o'clock to come out of their round yard I will have to walk over to let them out. They come back at five o'clock to have their tea and go to bed in their shed. They definitely don't like camping out in the paddocks.

hi everyone

just noticed this thread was up again, nice to hear from you

Janet I had a good laugh at your post, that was funny

my mare is ok. Last week we had a visit from Trading Standards wanting to check all the passports, they were at the yard all day, had to check 70+ horses, I think the girl checking them was loosing the will to live by the end
My horse's jabs and teeth are due next month, I don't have her sedated for her teeth, she behaves most of the time

x

The weather has been awful, hasn't it? Our ex-pony has spent a lot of time in his stable. I climbed over the fences today to pet him. We now have 2 empty stables so I am thinking about donkeys or something to keep the grass down.....

Hi All,

Marjery- poor Jennifer :( why wont vets listen to the owners?? After all we know our animals the best. it must have been scary for you.


I was hoping to get out for a ride tomorrow but Tuppy has lost a shoe and last time I took Molly out on her own she was a nightmare!! I am now waiting to hear when the farrier can come out to replace it! the best laid plans and all that! oh well I should know by now that with ponies you can never expect your plans to run smoothly!!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend
xx

Has everyone gone away again????

No I am here. I am just having lunch and a look on here. Things quiet on the donkey front at the moment. They have all had their feet trimmed last week. The farrier hasn't been since before Christmas, he has them on his roster to do regularly but school holidays last six weeks in summer and he goes away with his family. It has been very hot around 40C so they have all been wearing their cotton summer coats and wrap around fly veils on their eyes as the heat bouncing off the ground is just like a hot plate on the stove. I wish someone would invent sun glasses for them. The vet says that they are seeing a lot of big eyed animals with eye problems because of the ultra violet light levels. The reading is something like 12 which is extreme.
Yes I was worried about Jennifer but tried not to think about the consequences. Vets aren't always right.
A former donkey member had the vet in to drench her donkey for sand in the stomach and the tube went in to its lungs instead of its stomach and drowned it.
She was heartbroken as it was a funny old white donkey with aeroplane ears sticking out sideways instead of upright. It was on a cattle station up north and had been used by the stockmen for bucking games in their spare time and in the end had come to Perth amongst a truck load of cattle. It can take three or four days to travel to Perth and I don't think they were fed or watered in those days just packed in tightly to stop them milling about. The S.P.C.A. charged the trucking company with animal cruelty and a good home was found for this poor old donkey.
Helen there are a lot of donkey sanctuarys in England if you want a donkey.
They are so easy to get on with and virtually trouble free especially if you are used to horses and people are so unkind to donkeys as they think that they are stupid. Actually they are the brains of the equine world and don't have those big heads for nothing. If you teach them something they will remember it for the rest of their life and they are so affectionate and patient. They freeze if they get frightened so there is no use belting them but they can be coaxed to do anything especially if you have gained their trust and have some peppermints or liqorice handy. which they love.
Julia our horsey neighbours don't have shoes on their horses they go barefoot as they never take them on roads.

My Farrier has been today as well!! Tuppy has shiny new shoes and and Molly just has a trim as she is barefoot.

we have a horrible weekend ahead, we are attending the funeral of a family friend who was killed in Australia a few weeks ago, he had a hang gliding accident at Mount Beauty, its taken all this time to have his body flown home, he was only 29.

Hope everyone is well

Julia

Hi ya , I do love riding . For me it helps me focus and I find it very calming ....... I always wanted to ride from a young age but my mum couldn't afford it and it's only about 2 years ago I took it up as a me time project . Know ride a house called quest . He is my baby not owned by me sadly but he is an ex racehorse and I love him to bits . Have u ever watched horsepower by Martin clunes . Absolutely amazing how they train some horses . No smacking or nastiness . Just by reading the horses instinct fright and fly

If I could I would post a photo ov quest but I'm on my iPhone and not sure how to do it.

Does anyone on here how I could tell me how to put a photo on here via iPhone

Hi HappyBunny

you can add photos to your family tree from your computer and only people who have permission to see your tree can look at them. you can't add photos to threads

I watched that programme by Martin Clunes, it was very good. I'm quite a fan of Monty Roberts and people like him.


Hello Julia, sorry to hear about your friend. When my mum died in Saudi Arabia it took a month to get her home, so much red tape.

x

hi all and welcome happybunny!!
I was just thinking the other day that it would be great if we could add photos to threads but i think it would slow down the site even more!!!
I havnt seen horsepower, sounds like my kind of thing, i will have to look out for it.
I need to get some more hay ordered this week or my ponies will go hungry!! Its been an expensive month horse wise!!!
Hope you are all well

Julia xx

keep it going!
im back but not doing horses at mo! having a break, which dont happen for long!

re donkeys and I have changed my name from Marjery to Fairways3.
Winter has just arrived in West Aust. which means we have had some decent rain for a change and the donkeys spend a lot of time in their shed as they don't like getting wet. Also their pen is quite muddy.

We didn't get a lot of hay this year because it was so dry that the oats didn't growevery high but the taste was the same. The barley didn't come into head either because of the lack of rain so all the protein is still in the stalk. We bale a lot of that for the donkeys and they have really relished it this year.

Our new donkey Edward has been biting chunks out of Jennifer's neck. She is getting too stiff to kick out and seems to be frightened of him. Fiona keeps him in his place with some well aimed kicks and he doesn't hassle her.
We are watching him to see that he doesn't bully Jennifer too much and spoiling her a bit with extra carrots or peppermints when the others aren't looking .
I heard on the news this morning that two horses in Queensland so far have been put down because of Hendra virus or something.

re donkeys and I have changed my name from Marjery to Fairways3.
Winter has just arrived in West Aust. which means we have had some decent rain for a change and the donkeys spend a lot of time in their shed as they don't like getting wet. Also their pen is quite muddy.

We didn't get a lot of hay this year because it was so dry that the oats didn't growevery high but the taste was the same. The barley didn't come into head either because of the lack of rain so all the protein is still in the stalk. We bale a lot of that for the donkeys and they have really relished it this year.

Our new donkey Edward has been biting chunks out of Jennifer's neck. She is getting too stiff to kick out and seems to be frightened of him. Fiona keeps him in his place with some well aimed kicks and he doesn't hassle her.
We are watching him to see that he doesn't bully Jennifer too much and spoiling her a bit with extra carrots or peppermints when the others aren't looking .
I heard on the news this morning that two horses in Queensland so far have been put down because of Hendra virus or something.