The PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary

This is PrimRose Sheila's first rescued donkey. PrimRose pulled a cart at Black Creek Pioneer Village for the first years of her life and was then a guard donkey at a few different farms. At 21 years old PrimRose and her daughter Jilly were unwanted. Sheila adopted PrimRose and there began many years of rescuing donkeys and the establishment of PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary. Jilly became a companion for a race horse and PrimRose became Sheila's confidante. Primrose is an ambassador for the sanct...

These are some Donkey words and definitions

Colt is a male donkey less then four years old

Filly is a female donkey less then four years old

Yearling is a male or female of one to two years old

Foal is a male or female up to one year old

Gelding is a castrated male

Mare is a female

Stallion is a male donkey not castrated

Jack is a male donkey

Jenny or jennet is a female donkey

Other related words are

Molly is a female mule

Wilson is a hinny having a donkey for a mother and a horse for dad. In certain light a faint cross is visible along his spine. Wilson lives with his good friend Gordon hinny, Austin mule and Sheema miniature horse. These four friends do not mix with the donkeys well: Wilson loves to chase and nip at them creating havoc. He is territorial even when donkeys come near the fence. As a result they are kept on their own with hay, salt, shelter and water. Here Wilson is rolling in the dirt to preven...

This is Bernice an elderly Nubian Goat. She lives part of the year with Preston goat, Vanna White goat and Kitty Lamonte sheep outside the barn. Unfortunately, as winter rolls around, Preston and Vanna will not share the shelter with Bernice and she would not survive the winter. The first winter Bernice was in a stall in the barn she became very sad and depressed so Kitty was moved in with her to keep her company. When Kitty and Bernice move outside in the summer there is a lot of head buttin...

Donkeys look different then other equines. Donkeys' ears are very long. The tail and mane are coarse. The mane is upright and stiff often looking quite fashionable with what could be frosted tips.

Donkeys often look as if they have thin long legs and tiny hooves. The shape of the hoof is small and round. Donkey hooves must be trimmed every 6-10 weeks as they keep growing like human toe...

The fat neck roll on Evelyn as seen below is known as a broken crest. Donkeys evolved to survive on low quality roughage. When donkeys are improperly fed the fat forms along the mane and when it becomes big and heavy it collapses. Improper feeding can include high energy concentrates such as a prepared grain mix, corn and barley. Lush pastures can also cause this as well as the quantity of food eaten. This condition can also result in laminitis which is an inflammation of the foot which can c...

As well as having characteristic colours of the coat as talked about in the last blog donkeys can also be differentiated in two other ways: points and trim. The points are the colours of the muzzle, rings around the eyes, belly and upper legs. The trim is the mane and tail. In the four miniature donkeys here it is easy to see how the points and trim are distinctive in most donkeys making it easy to tell them apart.

Vivian

Walking around PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary one can see that donkeys come in all shapes, sizes, colours and coat textures. There are many donkeys in the world but few pure-breds and the donkeys at the sanctuary show a mixture of many types of donkeys.

One defining feature is colour and the grey dun colouring is the most common. After that is brown, black, roan, broken coloured or spotted and white. Below are Gloria (white), Robbie (brown), Oliver (grey dun), and Tiana (broken ...

A poor farmer owned a donkey that was so small he could not earn his keep. The farmer told his family he could not afford to keep a useless animal. His children suggested he tie it to a tree and whoever wanted the donkey could have it.

The next day two men asked if they could have the donkey for Jesus of Nazareth and the farmer happily gave the donkey away. Jesus rode the donkey to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Later when the donkey saw Jesus on the cross he was so upset and tur...

This is Lily, she and her brother Luna were rescued and make their home at PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary. They are known as Ernest Hemingway cats as he was given a white cat named Snow White by a ship's captain fromwhich many of the white cats on Key West are descended from. Key West was one of several places Hemingway called home.

Lily has two yellow eyes and Luna has one yellow and one blue eye. They stay close to the house and like to play. They are known as polydactyl as th...