Happy Easter to all!
It has been a busy week for Aitana. Her front hooves have been increasingly ‘vertical’ for several years due to retraction of tendons and I have discussed this with both the vet and our regular farrier for some time. Finally the time had come to take some action, since Aitana was finding it difficult going down the steep concrete slope to level 2 on the donkey terraces. In fact she was in danger of tipping forward and injuring her knees, so action was needed.
The vet recommended a specialist farrier with a mobile forge, and Aitana had new shoes fitted to her front hooves with metal extensions protruding forward from her hooves to prevent her tipping forward on the over-vertical hooves. The hoof-trimming has re-angled her feet also, and the idea is to try and adjust the tendons and reposition her hoof angle. (I’m not very clear on the veterinary/physiological technicalities but the vet and farrier are clear that this is a regular procedure to address the problem.)
The shoes will be taken off after six weeks, the hooves trimmed again, and the shoes replaced. After a few control sessions like this, the vet can then assess the situation and see if we can remove the shoes again and let Aitana go barefoot (as all the donkeys are) because this is much better for their circulation and general health. Shoes are not necessary for non-working equines. Aitana is walking well with the new shoes and we are going for increasingly longer jaunts to keep her exercised.
I made a new Easter bonnet for Aitana to to go with her new shoes, so she is fully accesorised for the spring equine fashion scene! The basic hat came from the local farm shop, with artificial flowers bought in the Bazaar Chino and sewn on with fishing line after ear-holes were cut into the brim and the edges reinforced with staples and tape: it’s a delicate operation because the whole structure of a woven hat can fall apart when you cut ear-holes in it! Then I took Aitana to pose in front of “Amélie” the Citroën ‘two horses’ vintage van. Charmante!
Then came the complicated part of Easter Sunday. Trying to get donkeys lined up for a photo-shoot is never easy. Usually food helps focus their attention, but on this occasion I put some chunks of dried bread in the manger, so the donks had their heads down while eating it, and that didn’t help the photography at all! Finally they looked up for more food and I got the shots I wanted. Matilde and Rubí were wearing last year’s Easter bonnets and Morris is not allowed to wear Easter bonnets because he is the wrong gender. (See London High Court decision April 2025, Appendix H, footnote xiv: “Male donkeys must not wear bonnets in female donkey spaces.”)
Photo equipment used:
The main photo is probably the best group donkey shot I have managed to get (in 14 years of donkey hats photos!) and all the pictures were taken with my Samsung Galaxy A32 phone. In the past I have always used my Nikon cameras, the D90 SLR or the miniature Nikon Coolpix, but the quality is almost as good on my phone. It also has the advantage of having the folder of photos ready to upload (so it cuts out the stage of loading camera files into the computer before uploading to the blog media files.)
Easter Sunday, 20th April 2025