There's a lot of activity going on in my stable - it's time to trim the donkeys' hooves.
Every six to eight weeks, my farrier Marc Hill comes by the farm to check the donkeys' hooves and give them a good trim. Compared to the horse, a donkey's hooves are smaller, more upright, and more resistant, but like all equines, their hooves are constantly growing. Hooves support the entire weight of an animal's body, so if left unmaintained they can split or get too long causing uneven strides and soreness. Marc is an expert in equine hoof care; it doesn't take long for him to get all five of my Sicilian donkeys done.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
I have five miniature Sicilian donkeys – Clive, Truman “TJ” Junior, Billie, Jude “JJ” Junior, and Rufus. Every day, during my tour around the property, I always stop in to see them in their paddock.
Inside, Rufus is always one of the first to greet visitors when they stop at his stall. Donkeys are naturally friendly, social, and quite curious.
And next door, in the “girls” stall, is Billie – always looking for attention.
In general, donkeys thrive in semi-arid parts of the world, where the ground is dry and sometimes stony. Donkeys that spend lots of time on lush, grassy pastures, may not naturally wear down their hooves as quickly. It is important to check their hooves regularly and have them trimmed when needed.
Marc visits my stable every couple of months to check all its equine residents – the donkeys, one Fell pony and four Friesians. These donkeys are very well behaved and easy to work with – they are accustomed to these routines because they are groomed and handled every day, but don’t underestimate the strength of a donkey. Donkeys have powerful rear legs, which they use to kick when they feel threatened or nervous.
A farrier always has his or her box of important tools – this is Marc’s.
Marc uses a hoof knife to remove any debris and to trim the hoof sole. Notice, there are no shoes on this donkey’s foot. Donkeys also don’t typically wear shoes.
A farrier’s hoof knife is made of high quality stainless steel and has a sharp blade. It is used to clean up the exfoliating sole, to trim the shedding frog, and to cut the bars.
This is called a nipper. It is used to cut and remove any overgrown hoof wall.
Here is a piece of overgrown wall – not much. Removing pieces of the hoof wall requires considerable knowledge since the area is so close to the sole.
Jude “JJ” Junior looks on. These donkeys are very close and do best when they can see all the other members of their herd.
The next step is to clean up any rough edges around the hoof. Marc does this with a filing tool called a rasp. Rasps are made of high carbon steel and chrome.
The finished hoof should look neat and well-rounded, and be free from any diseased tissue. Trimming them should be done often enough, so they don’t overgrow and cause issues with walking. Look closely, a donkey’s hoof is U-shaped. It is narrow, and longer than it is wide. The toe is rounded and the quarters are upright. In the center of the hoof is what is called the frog, identified by its V-shape. It consists of spongy, elastic tissue, marked by a central groove and two collateral grooves. This acts as the animal’s shock absorber.
Marc also files the front and then feels all around the hoof to make sure there are no rough edges.
Here is one all done, and one still left to do – can you tell which is which?
Most of the time, donkeys are calm, intelligent, and have a natural inclination to like people. Donkeys show less obvious signs of fear than horses.
Marc moves onto another donkey – always on the back feet first and then the front.
Marc talks calmly to Jude “JJ” Junior while he is working to reassure her that this is a quick and painless procedure.
Billie, who is one of our two resident jennys, or females, also wears special donkey sneakers to protect her sensitive hooves on the cobblestones.
Here she is walking with Jude “JJ” Junior in the courtyard.
Do you know… a donkey is capable of hearing another donkey from up to 60-miles away in the proper conditions? They have a great sense of hearing, in part because of their large ears. It is a big responsibility to care for 10 equines. With the proper care and maintenance, all of them continue to be very healthy and very happy.
Even if you’re not a fan of cold weather, the first flurries of the season are always fun to see.
Although no one here at my Bedford, New York farm remembers seeing snow in the forecast yesterday, at about 3pm ET the skies darkened and heavy precipitation began - first as freezing rain, then as graupel or ice pellets mixed with sleet and large snowflakes. The weather system did not last long. In fact, it was all done in less than an hour. Fortunately, all the plants are tucked away in temperature-controlled greenhouses. We are still in the process of preparing for the winter season ahead - soon all the shrubs, hedges and cold-sensitive garden containers will be covered in burlap.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
The donkeys were already inside the stable enjoying their afternoon meal when the wintry mix started. The skies were heavy with cloud cover and within minutes sleet, snow, and graupel began falling.
The term graupel describes ice pellets shaped like tiny balls. Graupel should not be confused with sleet, which is sturdier and more frozen. Graupel occurs when a snow pellet falls and is encapsulated by ice. It is also different from hail, which is formed from raindrops that are lifted upward into freezing air by the wind. Graupel is more like “soft hail.”
Hard to believe these great pin oaks were filled with foliage just weeks ago. Now their interesting branch habit can be seen – its pendulous lower branches, horizontal middle branches, and upright upper branches.
The day was very gray, but patches of color were still visible. Here, one can see the reddish tint of the blueberry bushes and the green in the lawn and boxwood.
The grass and gardens beneath the mighty bald cypress are a coppery bronze from the fallen ferny leaves of the trees.
The short storm left some of the ground covered in white. This is my herbaceous peony bed surrounded by a wall of boxwood.
Thankfully, we were able to get all the cold sensitive plants into the hoop houses before the snow. We also use some of our old hay bales that the horses don’t eat to further insulate the perimeter of the structures.
This carriage road leads to my tennis court. It is also beginning to show a light layer of snow. This road is flanked on both sides by a row of Styrax japonicus ‘Marley’s Pink Parasol Japanese Snowbells’ and a row of Styrax japonicus ‘Evening Light.’
In the woodland, streams are filled with water. We’ve had a very wet summer and fall this year.
As many of you know, I am constantly planting trees here at the farm. I’ve planted tens of thousands over the years. Here is a grouping of young evergreens in the back hay field.
And another group not far from my compost yard. This grouping of trees was planted in 2009 – 640 small “Christmas trees.” They’ve all grown so excellently.
Within minutes after the sleet, graupel, and snow started falling, visibility decreased. Hard to see, but this is a view of my golden weeping willows on the edge of the middle field.
And here is another view of the foggy atmosphere.
This is a look west up the carriage road to my long and winding Boxwood Allée.
By 3:20pm, the precipitation changed to all snow. This is my allée of lindens that stretches from the carriage road in front of my carport all the way down to my chicken coops. On the right, one can see a bit of the old corn crib.
The pachysandra in front of my Winter House was nearly all covered in snow…
… And so were the horizontal tops of the antique fence rails.
These are the stone pavers on my terrace parterre – outlined in snow. The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts more than an average amount of snow will fall this season… we’ll see.
And look at my geese. While there is a large covered shelter just feet away, filled with a thick layer of bedding hay, they all choose to be out in the elements. Geese are actually very cold hardy and resilient birds, and don’t mind the snow and cold at all.
The snow slowed down within the hour. There were even some peaks of blue in the skies overhead. The cold season is here. Temperatures today are expected in the high 30s with below freezing temperatures at night with possible rain this weekend.
I always enjoy seeing photos from others taken during their vacations.
This Thanksgiving, I invited friends, colleagues, and social media followers to share photos of their holiday tables. We all enjoyed learning about the various dishes families made and shared, and all the decorations used to make each one of their gatherings extra special. This year, my longtime special projects producer, Judy Morris, did something a little different - she spent several days in Scotland visiting two of her three sons currently attending the University of St Andrews. Founded in 1413, it is the oldest university in that country and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. Judy and her family also toured the historic county of Fife, where they visited a longbow range, learned about some birds of prey, and shopped in local Scottish establishments.
Here are some of Judy's photos, enjoy.
St. Andrews is a seaside town northeast of Edinburgh, in Fife, on Scotland’s east coast. St. Andrews Castle is a ruin located in the coastal Royal Burgh of St. Andrews. It sits on a rocky promontory overlooking a small beach called Castle Sands and the adjoining North Sea. A castle has been there since the times of Bishop Roger, son of the Earl of Leicester, 1189 to 1202.
These are the ancient ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral. It is open, but fences surround its walls. The cathedral was built in 1158 and became the center of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland as the seat of the Archdiocese of St Andrews and the Bishops and Archbishops of St Andrews. It fell into decline after Catholic mass was outlawed during the 16th-century Scottish Reformation. Now it is a monument under the care of the Historic Environment Scotland. Based on what is left still standing, the building was approximately 390 feet long, and is the largest church to have been built in Scotland.
This is one of the smaller arched doorways on the grounds of the cathedral. During the Reformation, when the structure was ransacked in 1559, the entire interior was destroyed and then abandoned by 1561. It wasn’t until 1826, when efforts started to preserve the building and the surrounding walls.
Judy and her family spend several days touring the area. They passed this section of Loch Lomond, a famous lake surrounded by mountains in west Scotland.
This is Jimmy, Judy’s eldest son, now a senior at the University of St. Andrews, and Judy’s husband, Jim.
Judy noticed many of the old cobblestones in Fife – still beautifully intact for having been hundreds and hundreds of years old.
Judy loved this quaint book store – filled with so many interesting titles, old and new.
Another stop was Balgrove Larder, a hub for locally reared, grown, handmade, and prepared foods. There was an entire section of baked goods ready to buy and bake. Pain au raisin is a spiral pastry often eaten for breakfast in France. It is made with creamy custard, golden raisins, and flaky puff pastry.
And look at these beautifully made croissants – almond and plain.
We all know pain au chocolate – the Viennoiserie type pastry consisting of a cuboid-shaped piece of yeast-leavened laminated dough, with one or two pieces of dark chocolate in the center.
At the butcher counter, Judy saw these steak truffles…
… and chicken orchids stuffed with haggis, which is a savory pudding containing sheep’s pluck – the heart, liver, and lungs – minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and seasonings.
Here is another quick snapshot of Judy’s family – Jimmy, her second son Eddie, the youngest Billy, and Jim.
Here, the four tried shooting longbows. The longbow is believed to have originated in Wales. The weapon was first made as tall as a man with an arrow about half that length. The bow was held with outstretched arm and the arrow drawn back to the bowman’s ear. Now modernized, using a longbow is only for sport and only aimed at paper targets.
On this day, Judy went to the Criterion Bar, a family-run traditional Scottish Pub established in 1874 in the heart of St Andrews. This is a chicken and chorizo pie. She loved it.
It didn’t take long to devour it.
Here are Judy’s “boys” with Steven Brazendale, known as the Scottish Countryman. He offers outdoor experiences with archery, wildlife and fly fishing.
Steven introduced Judy and her family to a few raptors, such as this barn owl. Barn owls are crepuscular hunters – meaning they prefer to hunt at dawn and dusk, when they have the best chance of finding prey and not having to compete with other species for it.
Here is a long-eared owl – a medium-sized owl with long, feathered ears. It is often found in woodland areas where it feeds mainly on small mammals such as voles and mice.
And here is a hooded falcon. Hooding is a technique used to calm and control a raptor.
Anything a raptor cannot see, they do not fear. Hoods are used to help get the birds accustomed to humans positively.
When in Scotland, it is customary to see a kilt shop. The kilt originated in the first quarter of the 18th century. Known to the Gaelic-speaking Highlander as the “little wrap,” it evolved from the “big wrap” or belted plaid, the first identifiably “Scottish” form of dress. The kilt provided more than just a covering. It allowed those who wore it to move easily, especially in the Highlands of Scotland where the weather can be very damp. With its tight weave of strong wool, it also created a warm barrier between the rain and skin.
These are called sporrans, a traditional part of the male Scottish Highland dress. It is basically a pouch that performs the same function as pockets. Sporrans are made of leather or fur, and worn on the front of the kilt, hanging by light chains or leather belts.
And here a photo of one of the quads at the University of St. Andrews. St Andrews is made up of a variety of institutions, comprising three colleges — United College, St Mary’s College, and St Leonard’s College.
The oldest college building stands to the west of the entrance. The West Range and the Founder’s House were built by Archbishop John Hamilton in the 1500s. Notice, the house has a unique belfry looking as if it is about to fall off the structure.
This is an old door that leads into the courtyard of St. Andrews.
And this is the massive Holm Oak, Quercus ilex, that stands in the center of the quad in front of St. Mary’s. This species of evergreen oak, also known as the holly oak, was introduced into Britain in the late 16th century. This specimen was planted in the 1700s.
This is a monument to Bishop Wardlaw, Scottish church leader, Bishop of St Andrews and founder of the University of St Andrews. This is considered the remains of Bishop Wardlaw’s Pedagogy. On this site, the Scots Parliament was held in 1645. Thanks for the beautiful photos, Judy. And for allowing us to visit such a historical place through your images.
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