Sunday 13 October 2013

Jasper's Agility Debut

Time to film this month's Online Horse Agility entry !
It's getting dark much earlier now so we had to set everything up in a hurry.
Our donkeys love knocking over all the obstacles so we shut them in the shed. Just as well because the horrid biting flies started to come out. Charlie said he wanted to go first but when he came out the flies put him off and he dived into the stable ! Jasper was already in there so we asked him to go first....and.....he did really well !
His little tail swished all the way round. He did the gate really well.....He was a bit hesitant about backing up through the T-shape but stepped into the hoop perfectly. He didn't want to stand there though and didn't think that scary flag was nice a t all !!!  However he did such a good job and it was the first time he had done a filming all by himself so we say WELL DONE JAS !
Here's the link.

Monday 29 July 2013

July Horse Agility - Summer of Sport

We decided to enter the Pairs class for July. One problem - if you are both taking part you need a third person to do the filming !
Fortunately our friend and mule-lover Gill  walked in right on cue. Gill has adopted Jasper so she had to have a go with him too.Here is Sue with Jake and Gill with Jasper. Now Jasper is still very uncertain of strange things, being a shy person, so - didn't they do well ? !!


There are points for doing the obstacles properly and on a loose rope and special points for co-ordination and free flow between the obstacles.   Ahh well.............
Here's Sue with Peter and Bart with Kiwi.
...and here's Gill with Peter and Bart with Kiwi. Gill is very experienced with mules and knows just how to be gentle and calm with the donkeys. She is a  member of the British Mule Society.

Here's our mule Giffy in action with Sue and Bart has her donkey friend Wellington. This is the first time Welly had done an agility course. Not bad for a 30-yr-old !

Last but not least here's Sue with Charlie and Bart with Noah


Tuesday 16 July 2013

Yippee !! Yahoo !  whee !!!!!!
Sue and baby Kiwi have passed their Parelli level 1. We got 1++  too so we are really pleased !
Lots of thanks to Parelli folks near and far, the International Horse Agility Club for getting us out to practice by competing at agility and Bart the cameraman.  :>)
This is our 'Audition' :

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Sinead has a go too on the windy agility course

And here's Sinead :

Our mother donkeys Sinead is 9 and quite bossy but very gentle and friendly. She likes to do what she wants and can be quite impossible to move, or stop, at times !
Underneath she is not so confident really.......

Charlie on the June agility course

Here's little Charlie showing what a confident little chap he is. I do wonder what was up with those cones.....

Wellington and Bart having a go at the June agility starter level course.

Well.....we wanted to have a go at agility with some of our donkeys who had not done it before or not had much practice. It would be good for them and we hope it might encourage some of you good folks out there to come and compete with us in the International Horse Agility Club. We know these guys will have a low score but that's OK - you can beat us easily !

When we started filming the weather was dull but OK. THEN...the wind got up and it became a bit wild !

Here's Wellington, who is now our eldest donkey, doing his best - and doing a remarkably good job too.

Giffy the Mule and horse agility

Here's Giffy doing her first full round of agility. We would loose LOADs of marks for tight ropes , poor backing etc,  etc ....  she actually has a very good reverse gear ( she is a driving mule and very good at reversing her cart) so we just have to learn how to switch it on when needed!

Peter the barrel-basher thought the barrels didn't look right standing up and Charlie decided the cameraman needed some help.

It was VERY windy by the time we did the filming so Giffy did very well and showed the benefit of her 34 years of experience of life's challenges !

(and I seem to have worked out how to get a picture to link to the video !)

Wednesday 19 June 2013

June Agility with Charlie, Sinead, Noah and Giffy the mule

We decided to do some extra filming this month too......
Charlie did very well but doesn't go back too well, made a mess of the cones and Peter got in his way.
Peter took fright when all the flags blew over and the bottle jumped out of the bottle bank - and Charlie got in HIS way.
Giffy did a great round for a 34-yr-old lady trying something new - and Charlie got in the way of the camera.
Noah did two rounds quite nicely but messed up a different obstacle each time and , as usual, didn't want to go backwards.
Sinead did her very best, bless 'er, and showed that she is not as confident as she makes out!
Jake and Jasper had a go but our friends who were leading them didn't want to be filmed !  :>(

Unfortunately life got in the way and we didn't manage to get all the videos uploaded in time to enter them so they will get posted here soon anyway.
Watch this space !

June Agility - Pierre, Sammy and Kiwi

This month Sammy, Pierre and Kiwi have entered the Agility competition.
Here's Pierre's video:-


He scored 87 out of 100 - which is preetty good for him !
That's  46  for the obstacles and 41 for good horsemanship and a comment that it was beginning to flow (around the course) a bit better.

This is Sammy's video:-

he scored 87 too which was not his highest score but got a comment that it was a great improvement,  which was lovely !
That's 46 for obstacles and 41 for horsemanship just like Pierre !

This is Kiwi's video:-

She scored 82 and was very good for going through the water obstacle because she's too young to have crossed much water yet. It was a VERY windy day too and the flags and bottles kept blowing everywhere.

Friday 7 June 2013

Kiwi and Parelli

Sue and Kiwi are trying to pass their Parelli Level 1 assessment to become OFFICIAL Level 1 Parelli folks !
Here's the link to the video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_NRLnLoBPo&feature=youtu.be

Please wish us luck in passing - we need it !

Tuesday 14 May 2013

Friday 10 May 2013

Donkey Agility for May with Sammy

This month Sammy is doing agility with Sue. Here's the link to his latest video :
http://youtu.be/9JMaXxaYUJs
We made a big mess of the flags obstacle - our excuse is that Pierre was standing in the way. The bcking pole and walk through the Lbend wern't much better - oh dear !

Friday 3 May 2013

Pierre's results !!!

Pierre's first effort at Liberty scored 80 out of 100 ! Of course we got lots of deductions for not 'flowing freely between obstacles' and not trotting when supposed to - ah well, that's Pierre ! The scorer said it was very entertaining and had brilliant parts.  :>)

A fellow competitor said "Must admit the highlights were the cameraman's narrative and your jog on the spot." and the scorer said "Go Sue !!"

Come on all you donkey owners come and join in the fun too !

Monday 29 April 2013

Pierre in Donkey Agility for April

This month Pierre decided to have a go at the Liberty class .
Warning – it’s SLOW !!! Pierre was a bit upset and suspicious that the humans had shut his pal Sammy in the field so tha he didn't get in the way. Sammy can be seen in the background doing everything he can think of to get noticed, including stomping up and down, leaning over the fence,eeore-ing and , irresistable to Pierre, peeing and making silly faces ! 
Pierre did DO all the obstacles, without any lead rope, which is pretty good for him, but there’s not much in the way of smooth flow unless you count a lot of waiting. He was supposed to trot in some places too but, well, that's Pierre !
 Just at the end where he goes toward the flags for the last time you catch a glimpse of what we know he CAN do.
 Big apologies to all for the camera-man’s choice of words at one point – he’s been told off and would have been bleeped but I’m not allowed to do any editing. :>{
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QGQezPxxdw


Sunday 21 April 2013

Peter, Charlie and Kiwi in Donkey Agility for April

Peter, Kiwi and Charlie have been doing their donkey agility in the new donkey class set up by the International Horse Agility Club.
Here's the links to their videos :-
Peter and Sue - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgW3SoppbFk

He scored 87 out of 100 with comments that the jump lost the marks ( because he didn't jump of course!) and we had several tight ropes although we had improved. Pete stepped out of the poles while backing up and Sue got out of position on the cone weaving - should have been beside him all the way. We got 3 leauge points and were in second place.

Kiwi and Sue - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmImb0CSt1E

We scored 86 and also got 3 league points being in third place. Comments that we had improved a lot and the rope was loose most of the time and the jump lost us the most marks - Kiwi NEARLY jumped! She stepped over a pole in the S-bend and had to have two goes at the backing up.

Charlie and Bart - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq3X_Q-vCIg

Bart and Charlie scored 82 and were fourth with 1 leauge point. The scorers commented that the rope skills had improved and the round was really smooth. Charlie put one foot over the backing poles, lost marks on the jump and the handler lost marks for being out of position on the cone weaving.

We were all beaten by Neoline Cassettari from Australia with her donkey Chelsea who scored 91 !   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeX8gJdL-gk
WELL DONE Noeline   :>)    See you again next month !

Thursday 7 March 2013

Website Update now online !

Hi donkey friends - Sue has just updated all our webpages. We have new pictures and links to our agility videos. Hop over and see us : www.clovellydonkeys.co.uk

Donkey Agility Results!

Our Online Horse Agility videos have been judged and here are our marks :-

Sue and Sammy -  88  equal second in the starter donkey class and we got 3 league points ! Yipee !
   That's 39  for completing the obstacles and 49 for horsemanship

Sue and Pierre  87 and fourth in the class
  That's  42  for completing the obstacles and 45 for horsemanship

Sue and Peter  85   That's 39 for completing the obstacles and 46 for horsemanship
Bart and Kiwi  85  That's 41  for completing the obstacles and 44 for horsemanship

Silly Sue would do better if she read the instructions better. The donkeys were really good!

Tuesday 22 January 2013

January Donkey Agility Videos

Peter, Kiwi, Sammy and Pierre now have entered the online Horse Agility competition for this months. Here's the links to their videos :-
Kiwi -   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OKZkdfp46Y
Pierre - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgaK0JPk_0w
Sammy - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_jfUcJYnYA
Peter - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdxRB3EfXPs

We are going to a live Agility training day on Sunday so there should be some more pics here soon !

Saturday 19 January 2013

Sarah's first Horse Agility course!

I've been up to mischeif with my humans today and it was really fun ! Here's me on video :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95fytonxAQ8&feature=youtu.be

Sue says I'm really good at following her hand - well I did get some carrot bits.First I played the WOAH! game and beat everyone except peter then Bart and Sue put up the Agility course for this month and I watched the others going round   but I just HAD to have a go ! I did keep slipping a bit though cos my feet are tiny and the cobbles were damp cos we'd been having snow and sleet.It didn't stop me having fun though.

Sue says she'll post some more videos of us all soon.
Lots of eeores
~Sarah~

Monday 7 January 2013

The Horse Agility lady Comes to Visit !

Today the humans have had a wonderful day and the donkeys got to join in!

Firstly we had to be off quite early so we did the morning feet, swept the shed, threw them all some hay, filled up the water buckets and promised to be back soon. Today the lady from the Horse / Donkey Agility Club – Vanessa Bee - was coming !

 Vanessa was coming our way as she was giving a training session at a yard about 8 miles from us and, even better, we were invited to watch.. In the riding arena along with all sorts of obstacles there were 7 or 8 ponies and horses, from a little round brown-and-white thelwell pony to an enormous 17hh grey horse along with their handlers of all ages.

There was a tarpaulin on the ground, some barrells to walk between, a bridge which could be turned into a see-saw, a scary corner of flags,some hula-hoops and a collection of plastic bottles to walk over.Vanessa explained natural horsemanship methods of asking the horses to tackle the obstacles, how important it is to stay calm and quiet if your horse is nervous, how to use approach-and-retreat to improve the horses’ confidence and what things horses were likely to do when faced with some of the obstacles.

 Then everyone was sent off to play with the obstacles with Vanessa and Jenni giving them lots of encouragement and tips. Some of the ponies swapped their little handlers and some handlers swapped their ponies. When everyone had done every obstacle they had to choose their best obstacle and go through it with their horse. It was great to watch less-than-perfect horses and handlers and see the problems they had and how they overcame them. Everyone including the horses enjoyed themselves,nearly everyone did all the obstacles and it didn’t even rain !

 By then it was lunch time and Vanessa followed us back to Clovelly. After lunch we went out to play with the stallions, Pierre and Sammy. We’ll let Sammy tell it from here….

 Hallo everyone,
 Today Pierre and I met a very nice lady from the Horse Agility Club
 Sue says she invents the courses we keep doing for the filming. Vanessa was gentle and quiet and not at all scary so I let her put on my headcollar and we went off to explore the obstacles. Pierre got away with standing around doing nothing because Sue was so busy watching me.


 Here I am going forward for Vanessa over the pole.

Here she is asking me to move my bum round to the right by stepping under my tummy with my left back foot – I’m being a bit resistant but she asked me very nicely by just not releasing until I did - so I did do it for her.

 Here she is asking me to move my shoulders round.

 Then Vanessa took me to my favourite pallet and asked me to stand on it so I did. I don’t usually walk right over it, particularly when it’s a bit wet and slippery but Vanessa asked me so gently that I plucked up my courage and I DID IT ! I walked right over it !
ps everyone, this is a special pallet with very close planks. If you use one you must make sure it's strong enough to hold up your friend and you should put a piece of  plywood on top with some non-slip trailer matt on it.

 This is me with Vanessa. Sue loves the picture ‘cos I’m copying Vanessa with my ears !


Then I got Sue for a bit while Vanessa played with Pierre.Sue's a lot more clumsy than Vanessa and a bit scary sometimes.

 And here I am with Sue watching Vanessa again. Pierre is not looking very impressed but then he always looks like that ‘cos he knows he can get away with not doing anything.

Then Vanessa asked him to move his front and his back around and mamaged to unstick his feet for a bit - here he is looking alive and interested – Clever vanessa ! I told him I knew she was a nice lady. She’s given Sue some things to work on so hopefully Pierre will do another video entry soon . It is his turn after all.

The humans gave us some hay after this and went off to see the donkeys in the Clovelly stables. Talk again soon…~Sammy~

Hi everyone, Peter here……we’ve just met Vanessa too. I’ve had lots of fun cos Sue was playing with me and I got to tip over all the cones and barrels lots of times because Sue was too busy listening to Vanessa. Sarah got to play with Vanessa first – she’s so young she hasn’t done much and it was great to see her following Vanessa through the weaving cones and trying out the pedestal. Bart was playing with baby Kiwi too so we were all very busy.

Then we swapped about a bit and Vanessa played with Kiwi. It was great to see Kiwi being good and Vanessa saying lots of things to her and she was LISTENING. Vanessa was pleased when she played with the cones too – so Kiwi was pleased too as she loves tossing things around.

Here’s baby tossing the cone.
Here’s baby standing quietly with Vanessa without tossing the cone because Vanessa is so calm and relaxed. That’s Sarah and Sue looking on.

We three babies hope Vanessa will come and play with us again as we all had a great time. The other donkeys were a bit jealous too I think. Lots of eeores, ~Pete~

Friday 4 January 2013

A Tribute to DONK


 We are very sad that we have lost our dear oldest donkey DONK

 He was nearly 35 and so the oldest donkey we have ever had. Janna and Terry sent us some roses for him so we have put them on the tack room windowsill to remember him by.

 
Donk fell ill with colic on the day before Christmas Eve without any warning. It's always a danger for old donkeys. He did the same thing last year but he pulled through and had not had a day's illness all year. Unfortunately he became more and more poorly and was put to sleep by our favourite vet on the Thursday after Christmas.We were amazed to see a lovely rainbow over the stables t that time - they are normally out to sea.

Many friends and adopters sent us good wishes and prayers for Donk to get better and we are all very grateful for that as well as for the many messages of sympathy.

Here he is in his last year :
Out in the field with Kiwi and Peter in April 2012

Sprucing up his shoes and stripey socks in May
Eating his brunch in the street - that's Toby trying to sneak in and steal it.Donk's swishing his tail and out his ears back.

Enjoying the fuss and sunshine in July
Kissing with Noah
Lots more fuss and attention

and more....

 and more.
October 2012 - Looking out over Clovelly

October 2012
November - The donkey behaviour study. Donk thought the lady was very strange - but he shoved her with his nose anyway in case she had his dinner handy!
Winter 2008 - Donk with Joshua and Oscar with Emily
Donk was a favourite ride of the village children in the winter because he would canter along when everyone else was trotting. They had to be reasonably good riders though because Donk was always likely to shy at puddles or sticks ... or anything really! He was easy to steer and stop and never bucked anyone off on purpose. 

Ready for another ride and looking very smart.

He even let the kids do 'round-the-world' and other tricks. Here's Josh doing well so far.........

And here's Donk sharing carrots with Daniel in winter 2000.

This is how we shall remember Donk.
Doing what he did best - standing in the street looking handsome for photos and trotting along in the Hobby drive with happy kids on his back.

Thank you to all his adopters for adopting him.
Thank you to everyone who sent us messages and wishes.
We know he won't be forgotten.