Wilma, Hattie, and Douglas, continually escaped from their owner’s fields and made their way through orchards and fields until they arrived in the next field to our donkeys. After eventually tracing the owner he came and collected them and took them home. This was no easy task as he insisted they wouldn’t wear head collars. They then visited regularly over the next three years! One day in 2009 when they turned up Carina felt that she needed to have strong words with the owner. Not only were they overweight, but their hooves were also very overgrown, which, with the extra weight they were carrying would have made walking painful for them. The donkeys must have been desperate to be somewhere else to repeatedly make that journey. This time she told the owner what she thought and he basically gave them to Heehaws, saying he was moving to a house with no land!
It took a few months before our wonderful farrier was able to trim their hooves as they had obviously been previously traumatised and would kick out in fear if you tried to touch their legs. They were riddled with worms and none of them had ever seen the dentist, (yes equines need dentists too!). Poor Hattie had problems that resulted in her only being able to eat soaked food or soft hay but, as an old lady of 35, it was really difficult to keep weight on her.
Wilma was very overweight when she arrived. With a proper diet and monitoring, she became a more healthy weight, though she never managed to completely lose her saddle bags.
Sadly we lost Douglas at the age of 32 but Hattie and Wilma survived a few more years. They had already been introduced to Rigalo, and they all lived happily together for many years.
Then in 2018 at the grand old age of 35 Hattie passed away.
Then somehow Wilma dislocated her hip and after numerous vet visits and pain relief the decision was made that Wilma should be put to sleep. She would always have been in a lot of pain and the dislocation could not be treated. So in July 2020, our little escape artist, something she was renowned for, went to join her mummy and daddy.
RIP Wilma, Hattie, and Douglas 
