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Dengie Donkey Day

Thursday 9th October 2006

This September the Dengie Sales and Marketing team travelled to Devon for a day’s insight into all things donkey at the Donkey Sanctuary. After the recent release of the ‘Dengie guide to Feeding Your Donkey’ the day at the sanctuary aimed to expand the general ‘donkey’ knowledge of the Sales and Marketing team, after all we rarely get to see so many donkeys all in one place!

The day started with what we knew or perceived to know about the Donkey in general and included everything from the most obvious, they have big ears and bray (eeyore) to the fact that they are not particularly ‘weatherproof’. After some of our more common misconceptions were rectified, particularly the fact that they are not stubborn, they just outwit us, we got onto some of the more serious aspects of the day. The main topics covered included the differences between horses and donkeys, farriery and behaviour. We learnt of the original work of Dr Elisabeth Svendsen in founding the Sanctuary and the continued work of the Sanctuary in the UK and abroad where the donkey is still a working animal.

The highlight of the day was visiting the very impressive Poitou herd at the Sanctuary. The Poitou is a relatively rare breed of donkey that originates from France and stands at 14-15hh with long hair and is very distinct from the other donkeys at the Sanctuary. The manager of the Poitou herd had lots of interesting stories to share and clearly loved her job of looking after these less than ordinary donkeys.

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