Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

Hello my friends, sorry it has been a while – I’ve had a rather bumpy ride since my last blog!

At the beginning if the year life at EST Ivybridge was great as usual – working in the arena with the children, carting and relaxing with my mates. But, in April whilst playing in the field with the others, I over-did it a bit and really hurt my left foreleg. Guess these days I’m not as young as I feel!

The grooms noticed I was hurt and called the vet to come and check me over. Normally, when the vet comes he just tells me to go on a diet, but this time was different and I was sent for x-rays on my poorly leg. After lots of treatment and medication, I wasn’t getting any better. It was decided that I would go to The Donkey Sanctuary down in Devon for specialist treatment.

As I was bandaged up to go on my journey, I felt very sorry for myself. The grooms looked really worried for me; so as I was about to leave on the lorry I put my head over the door and stuck my tongue out at them, to let them know I’d be ok.

I spent many weeks at Western Counties Equine Clinic in Cullompton and The Donkey Sanctuary Hospital at Sidmouth, and must say I received top class treatment. All of the staff were very kind to me, and with their expert care I slowly began to get better. When I was well enough, I was allowed out to graze in the hospital paddocks – this was great! The paddocks are in the main Sanctuary and footpaths run around the edges – so lots of people stopped throughout the day to say hello to me. With a big bandage on my leg, I seemed to get twice as much attention.

After two months away I was finally well enough to go home. I had made some friends during my stay and was sad to say goodbye, but was looking forward to getting back home. When it was time to load on to the van, there was another donkey waiting too. He introduced himself to me as ‘Merlin’ and said that he was also travelling to Ivybridge to start a new life as an EST donkey. I liked Merlin, we quickly became friends and on the way back I filled him in on everything he needed to know about Ivybridge (e.g. which groom and volunteer gives the most treats).

When the van stopped and I knew we were home, I could hardly wait! As the door opened, everyone was there to meet us with great big smiles. They had a big banner saying “welcome home”, especially for me. I was so excited – Merlin and I had our own paddock and shelter to give us time to settle in. Just as I thought things couldn’t get any better, we were presented with a big carrot cake! Result – it’s good to be back.