A year in the adventurous life of Aljoroan Henry
by Heike Mack-Behle & Silja Mack
A donkey’s night {January 06}
… from the point of view of Aljoroan Henry (donkey)
Another day – well, so I thought. It is around 4.00 p.m. that afternoon and I am marching for my feeding and munching night up the mountain with my group. So I thought, but I suddenly have this funny bite feeling on my left leg – do I see something slither away from me in the grass? I don’t have much time to think about this – after all, the others are moving up the hill and I don’t want to lose my group. I am feeling really hot and gee – that hill is really steep today; oh no - I am the last donkey on the track and I really need a break. Heike is coming up the hill; I am always pleased to see her and a little bit of company won’t go astray since I am suddenly on my own here. Heike seems a little nervous, I don’t know what is wrong but she calls out for Silja to visit me as well! Hey – here is Silja but now both of them get all nervous – may be they are hot as well! They hectically talk to me to stay calm – well, I am calm – just a bit tired, dizzy and I am also a bit wobbly on my feet all of a sudden.
Look at this, here comes Susan, driving up the hill where Heike and Silja are already. Hoy – here is Julie rushing up the mountain with Thomas. Wow – what is going on? Mm, Nicolai is backing up the Land cruiser with the float and everybody is telling me to stay calm. I am calm – what is their problem? Well, I am not hungry right now – that is unusual I know but do we need to panic!?
Everybody helps me in the float - they treat me like an old donkey, I think. Here is another lady looking rather serious – I remember her, she gives needles and stuff – they call her "Melanie". This is all too much for me now, I mean, yes, I am used to be where many people are but all of this fuss – what is wrong with them? My legs are wobbly - no wonder with all of this going on!
Ouch – something is stuck in my neck – hey Thomas, let me chew on the rubber tube you are holding! – What is this yellow thing they are strapping around my tummy?? Another man arrives who seemed to know what to do with that yellow thing - Hey – not too bad – my legs feel less wobbly this way and it seems to be holding some of my weight. I am still very dizzy, although I think I feel better then before. Yet, I still can’t work out why all these people are here, talking to me and give me cuddles – may be they are lonely.
Ooh - look at that! A smorgasbord from Heike: Steamed Barley, Oaten Chaff and Lucerne – I am impressed, let’s have a bit of a munch while everybody is busy around me talking. Some of those people are going home now – good on them. Heike and Silja are preparing a place to sleep on bales of hay in the shed – I can see both of them and the dogs are there, too. I wonder why they spend the night in that building in my paddock, I like that building; in fact I broke in there once and ate lots of yummy food that Silja hardly gives me!
It is now really late – Thomas comes to see me and is talking to me quietly. Heike and Silja are fast asleep; I am not surprised, as they were so busy with all of those nice visitors today.
My eyes are really heavy now – a bit more Lucerne and then I’ll go to sleep myself.
A big day for a little donkey – don’t you think?
Clinical tests revealed that Henry was bitten by a brown snake on that day. We would like to thank Melanie Fedrick our local vet for being so caring and professional with her help. Melanie had treated a dog for a brown snake bite on the same day and we were extremely lucky that she had one last antivenom available for Henry. Henry was also treated with 5 litres of saline drip on that night and after we got the plastic tube out of his mouth, Henry made a full recovery. Also special thanks to Julie who applied Kinesiology and in fact told us that Henry was bitten by a brown snake at around 4 p.m. on his left front leg – that was exactly where we found the bite marks on our examination! This is amazing Julie!
Thanks to everybody for their kind help and assistance. It was a horrible thought if something would happen to Henry – also thanks to Marilyn and Ivan Summerhayes to support us in thoughts and phone calls.
We would like to give a special thanks to Susan Hopper and her partner Bill not only for actively supporting our rescue mission but also for the donation of the cattle sling to "Eselsburg".
The sling was a great help and will be available to donkey society members on request if ever needed in a similar circumstance.
Thank You to all friendly helpers!
On the 6th November 2005 we lost out donkey Bonnie through a Brown Snake bite.
She was bitten on the tongue while grazing during the night and because of the
experience with Bonnie we could pick up the symptoms on Henry so quickly.
Thank you Bonnie for being such a good friend and you had most beautiful
bray and for sure the biggest ears.
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| Henry in his sling |
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Henry in the City
28.01.06 by Silja Mack
What a donkey’s life – you know at my age, I am 17 years old this year, a lot of donkey’s start to slow down but not me. "Eselsburg" seems to keep me busy, I tell you. Brushing, hoofs blackened …. Something is going on here and here is the float. Today’s travel was a lot longer then usual – I wondered what the grass would be like where we were going?
Here we go – let’s check this out: Wow! People everywhere and no grass at this stage, all I could see were buildings everywhere! What would we go here for? Thank God I keep calm in all circumstances – and surely we would find some grass eventually!
I hear them talking: Marriott Surfers Paradise … whatever that means – Hello, grass anywhere nearby?
A few nice ladies came to greet me and we then moved over to the Resort park and more people arriving constantly. You know – I actually enjoy being a bit of a celebrity and I am so happy that I fully recovered from my recent brown snake bite and by the way: Thanks for those many well wishes!
With my new antique Turkish donkey packsaddle I looked rather handsome.
I am not really interested in all these things but I believe a Scottish hotel guest was to be surprised with a donkey in the Hotel resort.
And here we go …. another exciting donkey day!
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| Silja and Henry at the Marriott hotel in Surfers Paradise |
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| Off the beach and into the city, this is one adventurous donkey! I'm sure he would walk just as confident through the mall at Surfers! |
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SHORT EARED
(From Henry’s point of view)
I just had a wonderful and exciting day, and as we all know, that’s not unusual for me!
It was the 19th of February and I went to an Activity Day at Morgan Park in Warwick.
Well, my day started like this:
Silja bathed me nicely and the horse float was parked ready to go- I knew exactly what this meant. As beautiful and handsome as I was now, I knew I was going out today. On the way I didn’t have to get sprayed for ticks because I have a 12 month travel permit from the DPI.
Finally we arrived, and wow, there’s Jumbo the Percheron who is about 5 times the size of me! Jumbo came with Lynda (our editor) and Wayne, who are members from the Jimboomba Driving Club. The Warwick Driving Club and the Range Club also joined in the fun.
Ok, so Silja just harnessed me up and everyone else was also ready to go. We walked a 12 km cross country track and Jumbo and I were behind every one but I was the slowest. I just couldn’t keep up with Jumbo’s big steps.
Then finally we had that behind us, and after lunch before I knew it I was all harnessed up again. Honestly, does she think I’m fat or something!?! It’s almost like she’s trying to make me loose weight!
Well, this time we were all practicing three Marathon obstacles over a 5km course for the upcoming CDE (Combined Driving Event) on the 27th and 28th of May 2006.
I was quite proud of myself because not only did I trot all the way but I kept up with the ponies and horses! That’s right I did, because I got so annoyed with them always beating me so I sucked in my round belly and kept up with them and even managed to overtake some!! After we finished I felt really good and…… hungry!!
On the 19th of March we had another Activity Day. This time we even had a cones course set up. But the best thing was, my girlfriend ‘Bella’ escorted me with Heike as her rider. At the end of the day even Silja rode me out. Hopefully more donkeys can join in- it’s great fun!!
See you next time
HENRY
SILJA MACK
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| Henry with his big Percheron friend |
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HENRY’S WEEKEND
AT MORGAN PARK
by Silja Mack
On the 27th & 28th of May ‘06, Henry, Heike and I went to a CDE (Combined Driving Event). When we arrived, Henry knew exactly where we were, and recognized some of his old mates like Monty and another Pony.
I got Henry harnessed up and drove him around a bit to warm him up. The plan was for Henry and I to participate in the cones course on the Saturday and the marathon on Sunday. But, Rex Walker (the Judge), advised us to participate in the dressage (ACDS novice test), which was on soon this morning!(PANIC!) Oh no! I have never done a dressage test before and neither has Henry, on top of that, we didn’t even know the test. We had 20 minutes to learn the test before our turn came. Well - we did it! We weren’t the quickest and definitely not accurate. Because Henry was the only participant in the Class Minis/Donkeys/Heavies,
we won!
After a break and us getting prepared for the cones test, we noticed that we had a flat tire on our cart! (PANIC!) Luckily, I have a mum who is very flexible and has solutions to 99.9 % of our problems. She managed to find a tyre place, even though it was Saturday afternoon and all stores in town were closed! She actually got a worker to come back into the store and fix the tyre!
But Heike was gone for about 30 minutes and every one had already driven the cones course. I was the only one left that hadn’t done it yet. Well, I had myself, Henry and long reins, so I long reined him through the cones course. It was quite a workout for me, and Henry enjoyed it because it was easy and fun without all the weight.
I had finished when mum arrived with the fixed cart. So I quickly got Henry ready and then finally drove the cones course. It turned out that I was faster without the cart! Yet, still slower than all the horses and ponies that attended.
That was day one- full of excitement and fun which was very tiring for Henry and he was hungry, too. Henry stayed the night at Morgan Park while my Mum and I stayed at a nearby motel. We knew that it would be colder in Warwick, so we brought Henry’s new rug. Henry looked quite sharp and stylish! He was well taken care of by the other participants who camped for the night, and he slept in a yard next to his mates.
As we all know, Henry is always hungry, he decided to be hungry at five in the morning! He brayed and brayed until people from all over the campsite came running with food to shut Henry up. We all found it quite funny and no one was annoyed or angry to have an alarm clock set to the wrong time, because we all love Henry! In fact, when we arrived in the morning they all asked us "where is the off button for your alarm clock?"
On Day 2 the marathon day was on, which is Henry’s favorite event. As usual in the morning, the Vet comes and does his vet check. When he checked Henry, he couldn’t find his heart beat, but the pulse was ok! Henry must have been too relaxed, as he always is. We all laughed when the Vet said that he was impressed with "quite enormous bowel noise".
We then drove the 5 km long, most of the horses and ponies did the long course which was 16km. The marathon had 5 obstacles, and one even had a muddy puddle. Henry loved it and was really into the obstacles. And we even happily galloped to the finish line!
(Big deal for Henry!)
After we had finished, the Vet checked Henry once again and finally could hear his heart beat. He was surprised that he was so calm, relaxed and hardly even broke a sweat- that’s Henry for you!
by Silja Mack
Eselsburg Donkey Farm
Boonah
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| Silja and Henry mastering the cones course |
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| Henry at Morgan Park in his stylish winter rug, the little Fox Terrier thought it would be fun to take the donkey for a walk! What a patient little donkey you are, Henry! |
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