Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Heat Wave

It got so warm here this afternoon that poor Emma was sweating and breathing hard just standing in the barn.  I decided it was time to introduce her to the hose.  Emma has never seen a hose before but in typical donkey fashion, she was unfazed.  I showed it to her before turning it on, gave her a treat and she was instantly fine with it.  Donkeys are soo smart and easy to work with (so unlike evil farm machinery).  Once I turned it on, she really liked it.  She just stood there while I hosed her neck and chest, I didn't even have to hold on to her.  Her breathing slowed right down and she just relaxed and enjoyed her nice cool shower.
Afterwards, she moved into shade of the solarium to drip dry and have a nap.

Emma: "This spa treatment is a pretty good deal, but you can take that camera off somewhere else.  I need my beauty sleep you know."

10 comments:

  1. Hi there,poor animals,I hate hot days!!!
    I'm moving my donkeys soon where the chickens are now,so they'll have more shadow in summer and a bigger place to run.I'll be using an electrical fence :( , so I don't have to wait for permissions at the Town Hall.I hope i'll start next week,so I'm very exited.
    And I'm also start to think they'll be 3 donkeys soon....
    They both eat some poo,do you think it might be for a vitamin need, or they just bored? They have dry grass all the time.

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    1. I use electric fence everywhere and I think it is great. The only way to go. It is so easy to move and works wonderfully. Do your donkeys have access to mineral/salt block? What do you feed them?

      A third donkey! We've all been waiting to find out if Fiona is pregnant. When is she due?

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    2. Fiona doesn't use the pink mineral salt block,but Cinamon does. I feed them mostly oats,and a very little of all this:broken corn,alfalfa in pellets,beet (I put in water first)mixed with bran and bit of corn oil for the hair.And they have all the dry grass they can eat.
      I'm seen her belly big and down,but maybe not big enough to be in around 10 month pregnancy.? Cinamon was born on 26 april 2011.
      Have you seen her last photos of her belly? what do you think?
      I'm a bit worry to make the change of place near the big day,and also they be destroying at first, some orange trees will be in the new fence,and may be it'll be dangerous if they eat to much ?

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    3. Sounds like they are probably bored rather then lacking anything. Once Fiona stops lactating, you will probably have to cut her food way back or she will get too fat. I did look at her latest pictures and I can't tell. She doesn't look all that big to me, but I know from taking pictures of Emma that it can be very hard to see. Fiona is an adult as well and the belly may not be as obvious on her. I guess we will just have to wait and see:)

      I put some electric fence wire around the trees in my field that I don't want the horses to kill. It is not electrified or connected to the real fence, but it usually works anyway. At least, it works for Emma. The horses don't always respect it. It would be a shame if they killed your orange trees. I wish I had some orange trees, but they won't grow here. If you can't keep the donkeys away from the trees, maybe you could turn them out an hour at a time for a few days so they can get used to it?? Good luck with the big move.

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  2. Donkeys are so smart. They usually don't waste their energy "freaking out." You do such a nice job on your blog.

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    1. Thank you Rebecca2, I am glad you are enjoying the blog. Working with Emma is so different from working with the horses. I am constantly amazed at how easily she accepts new things.

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  3. How nice of you to cool them down. I am amazed the donkey liked it so well.

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    1. I was a little surprised too, everyone says donkeys hate water. Either Emma is unique (which of course she is)or donkeys just need to be introduced to water on terms they can accept.

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  4. Wow! Here we are 10 degrees cooler than normal. Rained for the last 48 hrs straight, and then woke up to snow on the ground this morning! Both Star and Buddy need a bath, and just waiting for an ice warm day to do so. I hope I get the amount of co-operation out of Star too!

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    1. The weather seems to be going crazy everywhere. I am glad Star and Buddy are getting along well now. However it happened!

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