Elisabeth Svendsen Trust

With the fields, roads and trees all around covered in snow, I decided to take a walk and see how the EST Sidmouth donkeys were coping with the beautiful, but very chilly weather we are having.

As soon as I arrived at their stables, I could see the donkeys had been prepared for the large drop in temperature. There were heat lamps set up inside their stables and the donkeys that were more sensitive to the cold had been equipped with specially designed rugs to keep them warm.

I went in to the yard to be greeted by Timothy, Busby and Daniel P, who came out to say hello, expecting a smooth down and a scratch, but then quickly went back in to their nice warm stable.

While I was there I opened up the gate to the paddock, so that the donkeys could stretch their legs and have a little wonder around in the snow. I stood by the open gate to see a few donkeys curiously creep in to the field with steady feet, to see all but one of them do a small lap and go back in to their stables!

Joseph the donkey on the other hand had decided that he would venture a bit further, walking with his nose in the snow, pushing the snow along as walked across the field. As he walked back I could see the mound of snow that he had made, and his nose was covered in it!