'Hote'Lin had wanted a donkey from the very moment we arrived in Spain.
So guess what she got for her 60th birthday present……….
Through our network of friends here, we managed to find a donkey that was for sale locally. He was owned by a German family that live in Ronda el Viejo, close to Acinipo (the Roman Ruins) and having agreed a price for him, we arranged to collect him a few days before Lin’s birthday, with the loan of a friend’s trailer.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be very traumatic. When we arrived at the farm to collect him, he had broken free of his tether and was wandering about in aches of woodland with the rest of the herd there, trailing a long piece of rope behind.
It took half a dozen of us an hour or so to catch him and sadly when we were finally able to get hold of the rope to restrain him, it caught round his hind leg and he fell into a shallow valley, cutting his nose on a hawthorn like bush on the way down. By the time we were able to manhandle him into the trailer, needless to say he was completely stressed. To make matters worse, by the time we arrived back home it was late at night and we had no alternative but to offload him in total darkness, so he had no idea where he was until the following morning.
Anyway, we have named him donkey Hote after Don Quixote…a bit naff we know, but we always promised ourselves that if we ever did get a donkey he would be called Hote!
He is one year old and untrained and in view of his above noted ordeal we wondered if he would ever trust us. However, after a lot of time and patience we have managed to gain his confidence and he now comes to us for carrots, which allows us the opportunity of stroking him etc. Two weeks ago, Lin even managed to get a halter on him without any fuss, but at the moment he is not happy to be lead.
So guess what she got for her 60th birthday present……….
Through our network of friends here, we managed to find a donkey that was for sale locally. He was owned by a German family that live in Ronda el Viejo, close to Acinipo (the Roman Ruins) and having agreed a price for him, we arranged to collect him a few days before Lin’s birthday, with the loan of a friend’s trailer.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be very traumatic. When we arrived at the farm to collect him, he had broken free of his tether and was wandering about in aches of woodland with the rest of the herd there, trailing a long piece of rope behind.
It took half a dozen of us an hour or so to catch him and sadly when we were finally able to get hold of the rope to restrain him, it caught round his hind leg and he fell into a shallow valley, cutting his nose on a hawthorn like bush on the way down. By the time we were able to manhandle him into the trailer, needless to say he was completely stressed. To make matters worse, by the time we arrived back home it was late at night and we had no alternative but to offload him in total darkness, so he had no idea where he was until the following morning.
Anyway, we have named him donkey Hote after Don Quixote…a bit naff we know, but we always promised ourselves that if we ever did get a donkey he would be called Hote!
He is one year old and untrained and in view of his above noted ordeal we wondered if he would ever trust us. However, after a lot of time and patience we have managed to gain his confidence and he now comes to us for carrots, which allows us the opportunity of stroking him etc. Two weeks ago, Lin even managed to get a halter on him without any fuss, but at the moment he is not happy to be lead.
That is our next aim
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