Mr .jingles (Joe)

(Arrived at Hope Pastures 29th October  2006)
Mr Jingles is the first donkey to come to Hope Pastures since the new trustees took over and we are very pleased to have a donkey presence.

We were recently called out to collect a nervous young male donkey who was found wandering the main roads and was unwanted by his former owner.
We quickly arranged transport and arrived back an hour later at Hope Pastures with Mr. Jingles, or Joe for short. He was a little subdued and needed immediate treatment for lice, and will need his hooves trimming back, but once settled in his stable he seemed none the worse for his ordeal.
He will be remaining with us so we can give him the veterinary care and attention he needs, and we hope he will become less nervous of humans and eventually live with the Shetland ponies and Muffin the mule as his new companions.

February 2008
Jingles is very well and happy and he's really settled into life with us. He loves talking to visitors and he gets along so well with all his field mates.
He has made especially good friends with Muffin, they love to play together and if they ever have to be apart for a few minutes he can be heard braying very loudly for miles around.
He has some handling issues which need working on such as pulling a lot on the lead rope, he is so cheeky and sometimes it's difficult to keep hold of him especially as he nears the corner by his stable with his tea in!
He also has a fear of having his rug on and we have to be very slow and careful when we put it on as he is so wary of it.
He needs to wear his rug as being a donkey who are animals originating from hot desert areas, he hasn't got waterproof oils in his coat like ponies and horses do. So we only put his rug on in wet cold weather to avoid upsetting him too often, and eventually he'll get used to his coat and it will no longer be an issue.
He was very well behaved for the dentist and all his injections recently.

May 2007
Mr .Jingles has settled in very well at Hope Pastures and is very popular and entertaining to watch.
We were a little worried about him at first as he was very keen to chase Muffin around, we think he was so happy to see another animal that resembled a donkey that he just couldn't help himself wanting to be with Muffin all the time.
Muffin seemed a little annoyed about this at first and couldn't cope with all the running and chasing as it was more than his little legs could manage.
Several times we had to separate Muffin to give him a break and then the donkey would call out and act very lonely, we even considered taking in another young donkey to keep Mr .jingles company as we were unsure he would ever settle properly with Muffin and they may hurt one another .
However it has all worked out well, Muffin, Jasper and Thelwell seem to have taught him some manners and he can now be seen grazing peacefully most of the time beside Muffin. Actually Mr .jingles went a long way to make up for his previous bad behavior because he seemed to help Muffin get over his best friend Beauty being put to sleep by taking his mind off it and standing with him in the field and playing nicely.
We really are fond of Mr .jingles and he always makes us smile when he makes his strange eey-oore sound at tea time.

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Mr Jingles with a new friend