Welcome to July’s edition of Banjo’s Banter! I’m so happy to see you visitors and some of our human volunteers back on the site. We’ve missed you so much and we know how much you humans appreciate seeing our antics in person.
Well, haven’t we had such a range of weather? Us donks loved the heatwave, although not the flies that go with it. We’ve been masquerading as Zebras as we luckily had some fly rugs donated. The horses (and humans) struggled a bit in the heat but the horses were cooled off with water and the humans had some ice lollies to keep them going. Then the weather switched to rain but it has meant that the grass is growing again and our fields are looking full of lovely lush grass. Yummy!
The humans have been bringing us lots of different things to eat including cleavers, willow and rosemary. Coco and I devoured the rosemary but Lily and Snowy were a bit suspicious of it. Heaven knows why! I mean, if they didn’t want it, I’d have happily had some more.
Ned has been doing so well with his touch training, he can now accept wearing a rug on those rainy days, which us donks needs as our hair isn’t waterproof like the horses and ponies. He’s also able to lift all four hooves up now which will help when the farrier man next comes to trim our hooves.
In other news, Lily, Raff and Bernie have been doing some training ready for injections, which they are all very nervous about but have made really good progress. Kizzie and Henry have both had bodywork sessions, and Piper has been doing amazingly well with Mel and can now tolerate a halter, a girth and being long reined. We’re so proud of him.
We’ve celebrated a few birthdays this last month. Maisey, Sago and Raff all got ‘cakes’ made by the yard team, although Raff had to share his with a cheeky Jackdaw that stole a couple of the ginger biscuits off the top!
Sadly, we soon have to say goodbye to our Volunteer Coordinator, Sharon, who looks after all the wonderful humans that give up their time for us. Sharon is always so positive and works so hard but now is the time for her to retire and spend some time in the warmer climate of Spain. She’s still going to help out at events whenever she’s in this country so we look forward to seeing her again soon.
There has been a few comings and goings in recent weeks. Dusty left for a new life as a companion to a horse called Axle and so far is settling in well I hear. Snowy has also settled in to his new home where he has two horses for company. Maisey headed off to her forever home too, after a few (extra) months of training, followed by Flint and Winnie who moved as a pair.
Logan is being offered a forever home with one of our trainers as she has apparently fallen in love with him and he also seems really happy there. Lucky Logan! We have recently taken in a New Forest pony called Fly, who went straight to one of our foster homes. Finally, one of our old rescues, Rosie, is back at Hope Pastures after her loaner of over 10 years has given up horses. She’s currently in quarantine to ensure she hasn’t got anything nasty that she can pass to the rest of us but we can’t wait to say hi when she joins the rest of us.
That’s all for this month. Hope to see you down at the sanctuary!
Love Banjo x
