2016 Update

I can't believe it's been a year since I have posted here !
It's high time for an update.
I'm glad to say the donkeys are all well and we are having a good summer weather-wise so far. No hay yet because the spring was dry and the grass did not grow and now that the rain has come and we have grass it has been too wet to make hay. Hopefully it will settle down before long - fingers crossed !

In order of age -
Wellington (now 33)  is in fine form and came through the winter well, his bad feet were looking really good until he went back out to the field. It's a difficult balance - he needs to go out and eat grass and be with friends but he also needs to keep his feet dry so that they do not fall apart. He does appreciate his leather boots although he does NOT look after them !
Noah is now 32 and is starting to look lovely again as he has got through his 'motheaten' period where he is half in and half out of his winter coat. He has been enjoying his retirement job of posing for photos .
Toby is doing well too. We thought he had lost a little weight over the winter so we got the vet to check him over and the vet recommended a few  changes to his medication. He has a new fly rug but it is Devon earth colour now of course ! He too is enjoying eating hay and sunbathing on the cobbles as he poses for photos.
Jake and Eli,(aged 23) the two very fluffy donkeys are just starting to look summery. Jake has done some driving and had not forgotten how to do it even though it had been about a year since he had done any. Eli has been following visitors around the yard asking to be brushed and tickled because he loves it , and also helping out with the posing.
Jasper, Jake's friend, is as fat as ever but it doesn't stop him wrestling with Charlie our little Boss donkey.Charlie and Jasper are itchy donkeys who wear fly-rugs at night and use them like judo-wrestling costumes ! The flies have not been too bad so far this year so that has been good for those two and Toby.
Charlie has recently earned a blue rosette at the Parelli Games.
Sinead, our Mother donkeys also went to the games and did her usual bit of upstaging Sue and Charlie but rolling luxuriously in the sand and making all the audience laugh.
Kiwi, Sinead's first baby, is now 9 and is doing very well at the donkey rides.She can be a grumpy little Miss though. She is now just coming out in her beautiful black summer coat again.
Peter, our second baby, is now 6 incredibly handsome and stands 13 hh (52" at the shoulder) . We hope he will start work this year as he is ready and has had us sitting on him. So far he has only carried Bart across the yard but he was not at all worried so we it's just finsing the time to complete his training.
Sarah, our youngest, is now 4, stands as tall as her dad Sammy, at 13.1hh and is SO like Sammy ! She has his ears and soft lips. Her training is ongoing and she is gorgeous.
Sammy and his friend Pierre, our two stallions, still live 2 miles away. They have been doing more riding lately as Sue has been taking part in a Parelli riding course. (See our films on Youtube !)
Last but not least our new mule Rupert (aged 3) is his usual bouncy self.He has grown 3" in teh year that we have had him. He is very quick to learn and can be very energetic.

Let's hope i get back to blogging a bit sooner next time  !

Sammy and First level Agility !

February OLHA !
Here's Sammy and Sue having a go at the february online horse agility course.We've been put up to first level now so tougher marking from now on !Viewfinder on our camera is caput so sorry abt the wonky filming! Off to the menders in a few days :>(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWsD0D67-NU&feature=youtu.be

January Agility Kiwi, Noah, Charlie and Sarah

After missing out on December  here we are up to mischeif again in January !
Here’s our videos for this month : Starter level Donkeys
Sue with Charlie

Bart with Noah

Sue with Sarah

and Sue with Kiwi at Liberty

http://youtu.be/c4BVle2S60Q

results to follow !

The " Summer of Sport " Jake, Noah, Peter and Sarah

The Summer of Sport is a lot of fun and unusual courses for agility lovers that comes round once a year.
Here we are having a go at the pairs class.
Donkeys and handlers must do the obstacles smoothly together - well, we tried !
Jake and Noah, Sue and Claire

and

Sarah and Peter, Bart and Sue

Jake and Noah, Sue and Bart

And from July - Sammy does Equagility !

This was our first go at ridden agility - 'equagility' as it's called.
At last Sammy has not been lame for long enough for us to get in some riding.
Pierre was not too impressed because he had to stay in the shelter so that he didn't get in the way.It was getting darker and darker so no time for several 'takes' .
First we had to go round the obstacles on the lead, then again riding.
Sammy was such a good boy first time round but by then Pierre was really jealous so Sammy just HAD to go to visit him and make sure he was ok. THEN he did the ridden round !

An agility catch-up from June

Oh dear there's so much catching up to do after our summer busy time !
We've missed out on our agility in july and september because there's just not enough time to set it up, practice a bit and film it so it's very good to now get back to it.

Here are some of our summer videos :-
June - a new obstacle - the TUNNEL !
Pierre and Sue at Liberty

Bart and Sammy - you can fast forward when he gets to the tunnel.. 

but it was all in a good cause because when Sue had a go.......

well done Sammy !

September Agility with Pierre!

Just uploaded our Liberty Bronze video for September - dear Pierre being Pierre as usual but not helped by plenty of very silly boo-boos by the handler ! (eg walking round side of the box so he thought he should follow ! Tch ! I dunno.........

Also you're not supposed to touch your donkey when doing liberty......

Here's our scores :- 

(for doing the obstacle)/(for good horsemanship)

Where the rope is marked as ‘tight’ between obstacles, food rewards are given between obstacles or there is a break in the flow from obstacle to obstacle 1 mark will be deducted from the next obstacle’s score.
Human Name Sue Kelly
Equine Name Pierre
1.Weave 5/4 handler missed last cone
2.Curtain 5/5
3.Tarpaulin 4/5 stop
4.Closed gap in 4/4 break, not quite far enough in
5.Closed gap out 4/5 not in enough before backing out
6.Scary Corner 5/5 good
7.Pole corridor 2/4 break, stops but good in the end
8.Curtain 4/5  break
9.Pole wheel 5/5
10.Pole wheel other direction 4/5 missed the first pole

Total 89