General Chat

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!!

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.

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

Hi Julia and Helen in Kent.
We have had a particularly nasty week and week end. First we had an unusual weather event that was just like a cyclone but wasn't according to the weather bureau. For nearly half an hour there were 195km an hour winds and dust swirling around, tearing everything to pieces, then 8mm of rain then it stopped and the sun came out again.
What a mess, branches, leaves and debris everywhere, trees snapped off their trunks or blown over and pots minus plants rolling about. No structural damage except one of our verandah posts was lifted out of the ground. The patio on the north side was bouncing up and down but held on.
We were lucky a number of houses in town were unroofed and some splintered into matchwood. No power for most until Friday morning and this happened on the previous Saturday. Our district is a declared disaster area to go along with all the other disaster areas in Aust.
The donkeys stayed quietly in their shed.
On top of all this the leafy bush clad suburbs on the hills around Perth are on fire and fifty nine houses have been destroyed at last count and hundreds of other people evacuated to energency centres . These are the properties where people have horses, alpacas,, aviaries etc so I hope they left their gates open so they could all get away. The fire has been contained so far but it depends on the weather as it is still smouldering. As it has not rained much this year the bush is tinder dry and it wont take much wind to start it up again. Three donkey owning friends live in those areas but so far they have not been affected.
These houses are all large and they were all going up like cellophane paper it was awful watching on T.V.
This has taken up a lot of room so I will leave my account of the donkeys last detal visit till to-morrow.

Hi,

Helen in Kent-its good to have you on board!!

well its been soooooo windy here the last 4 days, ponies do not like it and everything thats flapping turns into a pony eating monster!!! oh well at least its dry so far, we had so much mud up until a could of weeks ago, leading the ponies down from the field at night was very slippery, I think that if I had put skis on they would have towed me all the way!!!!

Hope everyones ponies and donkeys are well

Julia (in Cambs)

I have just enjoyed reading this! In particular it's interesting to hear about other parts of the world.

My youngest son rode until he went to uni last year and we had ponies for 7 years. The latest was sold to a neighbor so he is in the next paddock! It's nice to see him but they don't ride him much so it's a shame.

My son did lots of Pony Club stuff as well as private lessons and was particularly good - on his skewbald "Pikey Pony" - at Dressage where he often came 1st.

They had a lot of fun for many years but Pete is now 6' 2" and the pony is 14.3 hands! So he was sold. But, thank heavens, we never had any trouble with him or his predecessor.

I will add my reply to-morrow as it is late and I have to get up early to-morrow as we are going to Perth (100kms away) shopping for the day.

HI,
Its been a while since any of us came on this thread!!
Hope everyone is well.
Update on my lot!!
Bernie left us last July to go to a new loan home where he is getting on well.
Molly and Tuppy are still here and doing well although they are so covered in mud at the moment its hard to recognise them!!!
Molly just had her annual vaccinations at a grand cost of £76!!! The vet must have been here all of 5 mins which included putting on and taking off wellies and signing the passport, can never get over how expensive it is, every year its a shock!!

Whats everyone else been up to??

Julia (in Cambs)

Hi

Sorry Marjery, didn't explain myself very well, the hay is left on the field to dry then it is baled, but shouldn't be fed as its still too fresh. We feed hay still cos we aren't allowed to turn out 24 hours. The horses have to be in part of the time. I only feed chaff and a horse mix in the winter plus hay but in the summer she only gets hay to munch in the evening and a small breakfast of mix

We had our annual show this weekend, I didn't enter anything this year but I cheered on my friends, the profit goes to charity, this year it was for 'sudden death syndrome'. It was really hot but cooled down in the evening for the hog roast
x

Hullo Julia and Yvonne,
What a worry having to get hay all summer when winter has not even started. It must cost a fortune to keep a horse where you are.

Nothing would grow here if it didn't have a lot of fertiliser put on when the oat seed is planted in winter then it has to be sprayed if broadleaf weeds get in it and then urea spread a few weeks before it is cut to give it a quick burst of nitrogen and make it grow tall before it is cut.. Then in summer nothing at all grows as there is no rain and only the stubble is left.

I will tell the donkeys how lucky they are to be having plenty of hay when they come back from the paddocks to go to bed in their shed.
.

Hi Yvonne and Marjery,

mine are all well, they are enjoying a bit of cooler weather! Yvonne- we have had such a struggle with hay this year too, I am having to get the huge 9ft long bales!! it works out at a reasonable price though although you do need alot of storage space as 4 is the minimum he will deliver!!
Our hay field is looking rubbish!! we think we will only get around 40 bales which will last no time at all. oh well, looks like I will be buying it all winter!!!

Julia

I think that was the original idea. She has a job as well and they have a property near us and she shows them.
Do you feed chaff or horse pellets or straw to your horse.? What a worry having to find hay at the start of summer.
Haymaking in England sounds more like haymaking in N.Z. except that it used to be dried out in the paddocks. It's a wonder your hay doesn't go mildewy when it is green and sets the shed on fire.
Our hay has to have between 12 and 27% moisture in it or else it either clogs the baler up or crumbles before it can be baled. It is usually done at night, all night sometimes if the moisture level is right
It was beautiful to-day, 20 C cloudless blue sky and it is supposed to be the start of winter. I think it is worth putting up with the long hot summers just to have fine mild weather the rest of the year.
The farrier came to-day. My Jennifer stepped up to have hers done all by herself. Sometimes he has started before I get out there as they are usually in their pen waiting and he doesn't even bother to tie them up.

I think that was the original idea. She has a job as well and they have a property near us and she shows them.
Do you feed chaff or horse pellets or straw to your horse.? What a worry having to find hay at the start of summer.
Haymaking in England sounds more like haymaking in N.Z. except that it used to be dried out in the paddocks. It's a wonder your hay doesn't go mildewy when it is green and sets the shed on fire.
Our hay has to have between 12 and 27% moisture in it or else it either clogs the baler up or crumbles before it can be baled. It is usually done at night, all night sometimes if the moisture level is right
It was beautiful to-day, 20 C cloudless blue sky and it is supposed to be the start of winter. I think it is worth putting up with the long hot summers just to have fine mild weather the rest of the year.
The farrier came to-day. My Jennifer stepped up to have hers done all by herself. Sometimes he has started before I get out there as they are usually in their pen waiting and he doesn't even bother to tie them up.

Hello Marjery

the farmer cuts his hay around July depending on the weather, you have to have a few dry days, then once its stored it should be left for a couple of months but as we have been short he starts using it acouple of weeks after its been cut which shouldn't be done cos its still a bit green and can cause colic in some horses.

we've had some hot weather recently (30 c) now its got cold again (15c) and raining today.

Does your friend breed horses for a living? You can't get to attached to them if you need to sell them

x

That sounds like about $14 Aust. Yvonne. Rather expensive. Which month is hay making done in.? We cut ours in Oct. and its baled and stacked in the shed. Everyone wants it at the moment as we are having a dry start to winter which means there is no chance of rain until next Monday perhaps. and there is not much growth happening in the paddocks. A friend came the other day to get a load. His wife breeds Arabs and now has nineteen as she can't bear to part with any of them. Doesn't sound as though there is money to be made there.

hello everyone

hope you, ponies and donkeys are all well

the farm where my horse is has run out of their own hay and he is buying it in from Devon apparently hay is in short supply cos of wet summer last year and the bad winter, we will be charged £5. 95 a bale instead of the usual £4

pleased you found someone to ride Tuppy Julia

x

Yes Julia donkeys and I are all O.K. Last night the rain bucketed down for all of eight minutes this morning we had 14mm. in the rain guage so it is a start. When I tell you we have only had rain on nine days since last September and three of those were just light showers we really appreciate it. It rained hard for a few minutes awhile ago but the ground is so hard that it just runs off and underneath it is as dry as a bone. The donkeys retreat to their shed, they will stand there all day rather than come out and get wet.
Glad you have found someone to ride Tuppy.
My neighbour is giving up dressage. She fell off her new horse on boxing day and couldn't remember Christmas Day or anything, even how sh fell off or got back to the house.. Has had scans and tests and now has our vet and her assistant exercising her two horses. We think she should sell them before something serious happens to her. She didn't start riding until she was fifty, my mother knocked off at that age because she thought the ground was too far away.

Hi,

How is everyone??

I have found someone wonderful to ride Tuppy for me! a small adult who doesnt take any of her nonsence!! The ground is so hard again though there is not much chance of going very fast!
Its really hot here at the moment ( well it is for England!!) we are watering our paddocks like mad, lucky we have our own borehole so it doesnt cost much!!

Hope you are all well!!

Julia

Yes it would have been orphaned. A lot of kangaroos get hit by cars because they happen to be standing at the side of the road and when a car comes along they decide to make a run for it and jump out in front of it especially about dusk or sunrise when they come out to feed. Country roads often go through big patches of bush so you have to watch for them.
We have hit two with our car, one in the bush about ten years ago and one in open farm country. back in the early seventies. We didn't kill them as they got up and hopped off but they did a lot of damage to the cars we were in about $3000 worth the last one.
Some people including my neighbour stop and see if they are carrying a joey when they see a dead one on the side of the road and then they have to raise it on a bottle with a special rich milk mixture that they get from somewhere, the Wildlife Dept. I think. They are babies for a long while and are kept in a shopping bag hanging on a door handle and let out for a walk now and then. If anyone is rearing one they usually take them with them when they go out. This one used to go to work with it's carer, but the President of the Donkey Society took hers to meetings and is a registered carer. If someone finds one and doesn't want to rear it they get passed on to Wildlife carers.
Kangaroos live in their mother's pouch until they get too big and then when they leave it another embryo takes its place. There are about four or five in the pipeline waiting for their turn to be born. A kangaroo with head and feet sticking out of its mother's pouch looks quite comical. They are very cute with their little heads and big ears and look at you quite trustingly.

I hope you don't have as hot a summer as we have just had and I don't fancy winter if it's going to be unusually cold. The weather is peculiar everywhere. My sister in the north part of the North Island of N.Z. is having a drought now after a wet summer and they may have electricity power cuts as the lake that feeds the river where all the hydro electric dams are is getting low in water.

Hi Marjery,

Your grandaughter sounds perfect!! such a shame that she is on the other side of the world!!! I have somone coming to see her this Friday hopefully although they have emailed to say they are stuck abroard at the moment and dont know when they will be able to get a flight.

The ground is so hard because we have now had no rain for about 5 weeks! and for England in April it has been quite hot!! it goes from one extreme to the other at the moment!!

Baby Kangaroo sound lovely!! is it one that has been orphaned??

Julia