Equus Asinus

As I was in Wales last week visiting my daughter, I briefed her on the latest situation with Aitana, but it occurred to me that I haven’t said much here on the blog.  Some of you regular readers may have wondered how she is now, after the rather bad time we went through in the summer.  I have just been down to level 2 to give Aitana her vitamin supplement and all the following photos are from today.

This is one very lively donkey!  After the farrier came – the week before last – I cut out the Biotin because this promotes hoof growth and he said we no longer need a boost for the hooves, but regular trimming.  He said I should buy a file and do weekly adjustments rather than wait several weeks for him to come and do it.  I’m a bit nervous about that in case I get the angle wrong!  If some of you have experience of this please let me know: there are a number of readers with donkeys and I would be grateful for comments. (Jim… for example?)

Equin Tonic vitamin supplement is still being administered daily.  I asked Dorothea the vet about continuing this and she said it should be continued.  Aitana is extremely lively now: I don’t know if this is a consequence of the vitamin supplement, but she runs down the slopes again (before she proceeded very slowly and cautiously as a consequence of the tendon problems and hoof angle.)  She gets very excited when food is delivered to the manger and sometimes leaps up in the air or jumps on her mother Matilde in anticipation of food.  Compare that with August when she hardly had any enthusiasm at all and spent hours in the stable staring at a wall!

So, all in all, Aitana’s improvement has been very noticeable and I am sure she is making a full recovery.  The weight loss in the summer led to a very thin donkey, and now I think she is a healthy weight but not anything like the full-figure of last year.  Hopefully I can try to keep her at this weight and avoid the slight obesity that was developing before, as that is no good for the legs either.

Finally, I’m still a bit baffled by the farrier’s comments.  He said there is no sign of «rotación» in her foot bones (rotation in what sense?) and the diagnosis should not be laminitis but inflammation of the tendon.  He also said that she will always be susceptible to problems here, so we need to keep a close eye on her diet and hoof angle.

In short, a happy outcome for Aitana.

Note for Luisa:

You may notice I’m still using the 60ml syringes! I tried to find a culinary syringe in various places (including the excellent kitchen department in El Corté Inglés in Alicante!) but did not locate one.