Pierre and the Pallet

Pierre recently conquered the LOG.........Now he's on the pallet too.

....and off it again.....

Does Sammy think he's showing off?

Or maybe it's inconvenient to have a cheeky friend who's as big as you are!

Baby's SMALL Day Out at the Parelli Savvy Day

Hi there, I'm Uncle Noah and the humans said Baby Kiwi and I should go to something called the Parelli Savvy Day to practice for our next BIG day at the Parelli games on 4th December.

First, though, Baby had to practice going in the horsebox cos she was rather scared last time and wouldn't get back in to come home.

Giffy loves going places so she got in the horsebox first while Sue played games with Kiwi. Here's Kiwi standing on her pedestal - she's always standing on her favourite log too - I think she likes being taller than she really is.  Then Sue and baby played 'give me the bucket' in the horsebox - Kiwi picks up the bucket and throws it around and pretends she's going to give it to Sue, but she doesn't but sue gets it anyway and puts pony nuts in it for her. When she was busy Bart closed the horsebox ramp. Baby got VERY CROSS!! She stamped her feet and kicked the horsebox like a badly-behaved human- and kicked sue on the knee - but they went on playing 'give me the bucket' untill she gave up being scared and calmed down. Then Bart opened the ramp and they played more games then they went back in the horsebox a few times then closed the ramp and Baby was not bothered. Well I don't know what she was fussing about, I've been doing it for years and I don't mind at all.

Sinead and Peter thought there must be something nice in the horsebox.

Peter's getting so big it's a good thing he's still narrow !

(Sinead is cooking a new baby)

Anyway next morning, far too early for us to expect our humans they turned up with the horsebox. I went in first as there was some nice hay in there and after a little bit of persuasion Kiwi got in of her own choice! I suppose the practice had worked. However I like to travel bum-forwards so I had to push her round so I could get my bum securely into the corner. Then Kiwi leant on me really hard and gave me a hard job all the way there so I really hope she gets used to it soon. The humans threatened to take Charlie next time cos he's younger !

However we got there safely. After a bit of a grass-eating break the humans gave us a nice brush and then took us into a big shed where there were some horses playing Parelli games with lots of Parelli toys.

Baby pushed the ball a lot - we had never seen such a big one! She said it was really fun but I thought it was a bit scary really. Lots of people took pictures of us and said how sweet we are.

We both did lots of things around the cones - I had not tried it before so the humans were pleased with me and gave ME some pony-nuts for once !

Here's Baby Kiwi watching the big grey horse playing with the pedestal...

We both had a go at the pedestal but I'm not getting on it yet. Baby spent ages on it as she LOVES it.

But I got some nuts for trying. Baby turned right round with her front feet on it then went over it with all 4 feet and the humans were pleased.

We both went over the pole and did some sideways too - I've never done that before. By this time we were a bit tired so baby said we needed to roll in the lovely sand.

Everyone took pictures of us again!

Then we stood up and went to sleep for a bit - we were so relaxed the other horses picked up on it and stopped paying attention to their humans too!

Then the humans went for 'lunch' and left us tied up to the horsebox with some hay - Baby jumped in and pinched my hay. The humans said it was good thing because she had got back into the box by herself but I'm not so sure.

After lunch we went for some more grass-eating and talked to a pony in the field nearby but he ran away. The humans found a proper horse jump and put it up for Baby - they always let me off that sort of thing because I have lumpy tendons and they think I'll hurt myself. Baby has never jumped either - she walks over things or pushes through - we donkeys don't believe in wasting energy after all. Baby walked over the jump several times and the humans were very pleased but then she had a good think and...JUMPED it!!! Well done Baby!!

After that it was time to go home and I got some more hay in the horsebox while Baby made up her mind to get in. She did with very little fuss so we were both pleased. We got home safely and baby didn't lean on me quite so much but she still has something to learn!

The other donkeys gave us a big welcome and we told them all about our day out.

Peter and Mother had been a bit worried when I went off with Kiwi.

I'm off to eat some more grass,

eeores,

 ~Noah~

Peter's Nose and other things.....

Who is that lurking outside the tack room?

It's PETER !!

Despite being  large person Peter can still get his nose in the tack room window.He fiddles with the pot and has chucked Sue's mobile phone in the water trough twice !  :>{

  He doesn't like you to touch his nose but if you have a soft paintbrush he loves you to brush it !

Pierre loves a cuddle...

"We are 7" Clovelly Photoshoot

Clovelly Estate decided to make an updated version of the famous postcard picture "We are Seven" which features seven donkeys under the arch of the Red Lion Hotel in Clovelly Harbour.

It had to be done at a time when the tide was in and there were not too many people about AND it wasn't raining. That meant we all had to get up before dawn to be ready in time.

It turned out to be a lovely pink dawn giving an amazing glowing light.

Sammy and Pierre thought it was very odd getting their footballs so early !

We had to bring in the donkeys and groom them in the stable where we have lights.

Then we set off down the cobbles - and paused at the fountain for a photo or two.

Jasper, Noah, Kiwi, Bart, Jake, Donk, Eli

Jasper, Kiwi, Donk, Bart, Noah and Eli.

Then on down past Rose Cottage.....

Then to take the photo - the donkeys took  little time to settle into line but were very good about standing by themselves.

We Are Seven 2011

(Bart) Kiwi, Noah, Jake, Donk, Eli and Jasper.

By this time Eli said it was really time for breakfast and Kiwi said she was soooo tired:

So Jasper took an executive decision and led everyone off towards home.

Everyone followed......

Off they go homeward up the Back Road where there is a good nibble of grass along the way.

At the end of the arch there is a big drainage grating that frightens Baby Kiwi - but she was VERY brave and crossed it without trouble. Well done Baby !