The vet said "wait a month". I did. Sophie and Caramel have been able to touch noses only across the wire divide. Sophie has been getting wet in the storms, and hot in the sun, with little shade and no shelter whatsoever. Caramel has been hogging the barn and so finally I decided that this weekend he would learn to share.
I took Caramel out of his pen and led him towards Sophie's field, he got increasingly excited as he realised that for the first time in seven years he was going to be allowed to live with another animal. He thought he had reached paradise, he thought that all his dreams had come true, he couldn't believe his luck. Sophie called to him, he strained to reach her, they touched noses, then Sophie kicked him in the teeth and chased him four times flat out round the field.
Caramel has not really been a Derby donk but despite the unexpected exercise he wasn't going pass up the only chance he's ever had at meeting a female .However, after the third kick in the teeth he lowered his head, bowed to queen Sophie, and accepted that she was in charge. She condescended to sniff his ears and rub his neck.
The rules are now established, peace and harmony have been restored to little idyll, I have a dry pony and a donkey who, at the mature age of seven, has found his first herd.
Another triumph for feminism!
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