Revised Morris plan

The fence is nearly ready and Morris will have to be separated, but the new plan is to put his mother Rubi in the new compound with him to begin with, so it is not too much of a sudden shock being separated. This is also because Rubi doesn’t seem entirely right at the moment (the vet is doing tests on blood samples and thinks there may be a liver problem) so I don’t want to cause her additional stress by removing her foal from her at the moment. Rubi and Morris will go in the newly fenced off area and Aitana and Matilde can soon breathe a bray of relief: Morris will not be jumping on them any more.

After fencing off the end of the field, I opened the new gate and let them all in to explore. This made them very excited. When Morris gets excited that soon leads to naughty and rude behaviour. The video captures the whole problem quite neatly…

Contraceptive fence arrangements

Most of the weekend has involved the erection of the new fencing arrangements to keep Morris from jumping on the females. The posts and the gate are all in place and I’m waiting for the concrete to set. Then the tension wires can be put in and the chainlink fence stretched across the field. it is such a shame to have to fence Morris off from the rest of the family, but esential to avoid another pregnancy! He cannot be gelded until the autumn, so he must spend the summer isolated. Goodbye to mother’s milk too: this will be enforced weaning for young Morris. Tuesday is the separation day.

The donkeys are all Catholics and there is an obvious moral theology problem here. For those of you who are concerned about canon law regarding contraceptive fencing, the ruling is as follows: as long as the gauge of the chainlink fence is wide enough for the donkey to get his dick through it, this does not constitute an obstacle to normal donkey intercourse. Since donkey romantic arrangements require the Jack to jump on the back of the Jennet, it is unlikely that the fence will be a comfortable part of these arrangements. So, the contraceptive fence is both allowed under Catholic canon law and an effective barrier to pregnancy.

Morris – on the left in the photo – is enjoying his last couple of days with the females browsing the cuttings from the olive trees that have been trimmed in neighbouring fields.

Irrigation in action

Morris weather

Aitana admires Morris in his sun hat. The temperatures have soared in the past few days, with a heat wave coming up from the Sahara. Since donkeys originate from Africa, why do they have thick fur coats… ?

The donkeys have become used to a regular walking routine at the weekends now, for exercise and to keep their hooves in trim. In the photo, Carl, Pauline and Andrea walk Aitana, Morris and Rubi in the countryside with the spectacular Puig Campana as a backdrop. I am grateful to my regular band of helpers: mostly Cait and Carl, with help from Pauline and Andrea occasionally. As the foals get bigger (and stroppier!) the extra help is really appreciated. Four big animals take a lot of exercising.

Morris has unwittingly inspired a new venture in Finestrat. A few of us are discussing the possibility of forming a Morris dancing side. There is a group of ex-pats in Murcia who seem very inspiring, Terri Horvath Morris, so we are hoping to make contact with them and start to learn the basics. Morris dancing may seem an odd thing to be doing in Spain, but the origin of the term “Moorish” dancing goes right back to medieval Spain. Here is Terri Horvath Morris in action in Murcia:

Hooray!

The foals, Aitana in the foreground and Morris behind her in the photo, are seven months old. Today we are celebrating because I went for a job interview this morning and I have secured our future for the moment with a new post in a different local school. The temporary contracts offered by my present employer meant that I would have had to wait until the end of June before finding out if I had another year’s contract for next September. By that time, jobs elsewhere would be hard to find, as they are advertised before Easter. I am so relieved because I can plan for the future and the donkeys are secure.

I might even allow Matilde, my only beer drinking donkey, to join in the proper celebration with a little Estrella Levante in a bowl.

The amazing non-singing donkey

After watching a video on YouTube of a Dutch woman playing the violin for her donkey, and the donkey joining in the musical occasion by braying, we set everything up for Morris to make his debut as an internet singing donkey sensation. The result was not as spectacular as expected, but Morris has instead become the amazing internet non-singing donkey sensation.

Morris clings to mum

Since I have begun to try and arrange the future for young Morris, he seems to be undermining the whole process. Last Saturday I tried to walk him and Rubi two kilometres up the road to see an English lady who has a small collection of animals and may have been interested in taking Morris for a “fostering” placement for a few months. He refused to walk any further when we got to the halfway point. He knew something was planned!

Now he seems to be putting on even more of a show. Morris is suddenly returning to very affectionate behaviour with his mother Rubi. Morris is now nearly as big as Rubi, but has begun to exhibit again some of the closeness to his mother that I haven’t seen for a couple of months. He has been much more interested in the other females recently. That’s why I wanted to get him off the field! Today, he spent a very long time affectionately grooming his mother and she grooming him. I’ll have to think again! How can I separate these two? Just watch them…