Saturday 18 August 2012

Meeting Mr B. and his Donkey Neighbours


One afternoon this week, I drove up into the north of the New Forest to visit my friend`s new horse, who lives at a friendly, family run  riding stable. Mr B is Andalusian x Thoroughbred and is a lovely looking horse. In the future, my friend hopes to school him as a dressage horse. He is still getting used to his new surroundings but has settled well with the other geldings in his paddock. Already he knows his new owner and he calls to her when she whistles to him across the fields. When he was tied up in the yard, he watched her wherever she went.


Enjoying a haynet while we shampooed his dusty tail.


Here he is again, with his fly mask on, grazing in a small enclosure next to his field. In the far field, a small herd of deer had jumped in from the Forest and were grazing contentedly.


Mr B had never met donkeys before he came to live in the New Forest. Someone has told him that they are dragons and he is seriously worried about them! Outside in the lane I found a donkey foal and its mother.




The foal had enormous ears....




...and his mother had a Join-up- the-dots pattern along her side.


As the foal began to suckle....


....his Mum dozed in the sun.


13 comments:

ann @ studiohyde said...

Looks like Mr. B has found a very good home and is settling in well. Lovely seeing the pics. and of the deer. I remember seeing a pure white one just off the Lyndhurst Rd going towards Burley once, many moons ago!

Lucy Corrander Now in Halifax! said...

Must have been fun to meet Mr B. Didn't know horses could have fly masks. I could have done with one of those when my face turned into a feast-table for midges last summer.

Rowan said...

What a lovely post, the donkey foal is just gorgeous. I'm sure Mr B will make friends with them eventually when he realises that they aren't dragons at all:) He's a lovely horse.

Bovey Belle said...

Mr B is lovely, and obviously there is a strong bond there between him and his owner. loved seeing the deer in the background, totally unconcerned about the humans and horses around.

What huge ears on that donkey foal - one for the Guinness book of Records? Perhaps they grow into them?!

rachel said...

What a delightful encounter! He'll grow into his ears, surely? (I remember thinking that about my newborn son and his feet!)

BilboWaggins said...

Gorgeous photos, Mr B looks like a lovely chap.

Ragged Robin said...

What a beautiful horse and the donkey foal is so cute :)

Kath said...

what a beautiful horse! I wonder what he will think when the donkeys start braying!

Jenny said...

OOooooh! Donkey foals, don't you just want to give them a cuddle? Just the sight of them makes me grin like a mad..er....donkey woman :/ X

Karen said...

And I have a blog for you to visit. It has horses and donkeys and a riding mule over in the state of New Mexico, seven miles south of nowhere

www.the7msnranch.com

ChrisJ said...

I do love donkeys. As for the deer, in New Zealand they raise deer and when we were there we would see fields of deer. I could never figure out how they didn't jump the fences and run away.

Aunt Jane's Attic said...

Mr B is beautiful, sure hell soon make friends with the lovely donkeys. Julie xxx

Crafty Green Poet said...

Mr B looks very handsome, I hope he enjoys his new home. The donkey foal is so sweet!