When Ann introduced us to the donkeys and their care [link to start of house sit Indre], she took us to their field. There’s a huge tree trunk in there where we sat down and waited for Rintintin to come to us. Joseph is very shy of people, so he kept his distance. Ann showed us how to feed Rintintin bits of apple and brush him, and that was all she and John expected of us.

Feasting flies

We noticed then that Rintintin was plagued by flies, especially on his lower legs. The next day, I went to visit him and had a closer look, because it looked familiar to me. I found that his lower legs were covered in little crusts and had some small wounds on them. I recognise this from my own horse who suffers from dry mud fever. I talked to Ann about it and said I would like to order green clay and treat his lower legs with it, because it had helped my horse in the past. She was totally fine with that.

However, I couldn’t find green clay at a reasonable price, so I spoke to Ann’s step mum Valery. She lives around the corner and is a very experienced horse woman.

Donkeys and their care

Val came over and inspected Rintintins legs. She agreed with me that action should be taken and brought over a spray can with a Dettol solution. And she inspected the shelter and recommended giving it a good clean. We hadn’t been in there yet, but when we did we were appalled. It was fly heaven. Literally teeming with flies, who were drawn by the sodden straw smelling strongly of urine.

Recreating a proper shelter for the donkeys

Christophe took matters to hand and cleaned out the shelter completely. 10 wheel barrels of dirty straw, heavy with urine. Plus two more with the contents of the pile of manure they had created 10 meters from the shelter. We left the shelter empty overnight to allow it to dry a bit. Today, we took a bale of straw and created a new and clean bed. From now on, we’ll be taking out the dirty straw every other day and replenish with clean straw when necessary. We’ll recommend Ann and John to do the same.