Post Tagged with: "donkey training"

Getting a donkey to an island
Further adventures

Getting a donkey to an island

Our little appearance on Wonders of the Coast Path is on ITV UK-wide tomorrow night at 8pm, so a good reason to get on with writing about the island adventure here. Also, there’s more travels afoot, and so this is housekeeping – getting out the backpacks and bivvybags and finding them all full of the […]

Could this be love?
The blog / The journey

Could this be love?

“Oh, he loves you!” say sentimental people about Chico quite often. After 850 miles, I tend to think I’ve just worn him down. We’ve both formed habits of nearly five months’ reiteration, and some of them could be mistaken for that most ephemeral of emotions. Everything changed for me at […]

Chico the wonder donkey
The journey

Chico the wonder donkey

All hail Chico, keen as mustard! He is truly an impressive creature, and I am just so amazed by his rate of learning. Once upon a time, about two weeks ago, he was scared of manhole covers and the giant white letters that say ARAF SLOW in the road. He’s […]

Dual parenting and donkey bites
The blog / The journey

Dual parenting and donkey bites

I had to stop my mum referring to herself as Chico’s grandmother when she came round with treats from her allotment, and got him all excited by running around the field with him – he is not a child, he is a donkey. I am aiming to be his buddy, […]

Quiet mind, quiet donkey
Plans / The blog

Quiet mind, quiet donkey

I know that a donkey is good at reading body language. He takes his lead from mine, and for the first few days I was jubilant – we’d picked him up smoothly, he’d come to me on the first morning, I’d not yet begun to worry too much about the […]

The lessons of Chico #1
Plans / The blog

The lessons of Chico #1

After being pretty sociable in his field for the first day – heehawing a morning greeting at field-lender Hazel’s friend, and coming to see me when I arrived – I left Chico largely to his own devices for 24 hours. Mum and I both went and sat in his field, […]