Beach donkeys....................

piebaldsparkle

piebaldsparkle

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Owner wants to 'rehome' them for the winter!!!
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7613945.stm

Now there's a plan, use your donkeys all summer, then palm them off to someone else to care for, for the winter!! Anyone else think they have a cheek!!!
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I thnk that it is common practice. The lady who used to own the fields behind my parents land always had seaside donkeys on it in the winter months. Their saddles and bridles came with them too and I was allowed to ride them if I wanted.
 
Oh, I want one!!! I do think this is common practice. I am assuming it is just over the winter months or are they actually retiring them/some for good I wonder?
 
It is common practice, also see adverts in our local paper looking for winter homes for trekking ponies. I've often thought it a bit of a cheek, let someone else spend the money looking after them through the winter and then have them back to earn money in the summer months.
 
I lived in Norfolk for many years and this was normal practice; in fact, at the time, there were often waiting lists for the donkeys for the winter, or they'd go to the same people each year.

It also reminded me of adverts you used to see to loan horses and ponies out on a "meat for manners" basis, which I haven't seen for ages and didn't see outside Norfolk. It did develop quite a fluid meaning, but I think originally it was what it said - you were loaned a young or green pony to bring on and then give back. No one seemed to think it strange or that they were being taken advantage of, it was quite common.
 
Yes, it is common practice. Someoen on here wanted advice just last week as she was thinking of taking some. It greatly concerns me really, but if they tend t oget 'regular' homes, that is not so bad. I don't like the idea though and won't be rehoming my donkeys for winter (they are not worked on beaches but various other places)
 
i've had a weston beach donkey over the winter. didn't have a companion for my mare then so it was the ideal situation. came with saddle and bridle so my little un's could have a ride. it was great - her name was pearl, she was lovely.
 
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This is common practice. When I was a kid I had one, the same one, every winter and I used to go to the beach quite a lot in the summer and I was allowed to canter him along the beach
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The owners vet the homes thoroughly and they usually only loan them to people they know or have done it before, they don't just send them out willy nilly, which I think some of you think they do!
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It just ensures that they will be looked after as the owners will usually do something else during the winter and may be short of resources.

I know that PGL also loan out their horses over the winter so that they don't have to employ people all year round.

I don't see a problem with it TBH.
 
My issue with it is not the welfare side of it actually, more the cheek of someone using these donkeys in their business and then palming them off during a long period when they won't be bringing any money in; if they can't afford to look after them in the winter then they shouldn't have them!

Think of it this way - if a firm manufacturing ice-cream decided that in the winter it couldn't afford to pay the wages/NICs/overheads of its staff and wanted someone to take them on at their own expense and return them when the ice-cream market picked up again, it would be dismissed as completely ridiculous.

If the owners are happy to make the donkeys work during the summer they should be happy to pay for their keep during their resting months.
 
OK Ice cream manufacturers usually either make other things for during the winter or export overseas where it's still hot!

And if you think that companies don't employ 'seasonal' workers then you are having a laugh! Every company that has seasonal changes in demand only employ a certain amount of people wen they need them.....like trekking centres and supermarkets!

And I guess you would rather the donkeys just stood in a field all winter doing nothing or were even used during the winter for something else instead?? Maybe lugging loads of bricks up mountains or similar?????

They are not being PALMED OFF, they are being loaned out.....I have lost count of the number of posts on here about people wanting to loan out their horses as they can't afford to keep them over the winter or worse, they have an injury so don't want to keep them while they recover!
 
No-one seemed to see it like that in Norfolk. They all used to really look forward to having "their" donkey back over the winter and there were tears when they had to go back to work in the season. It was just the tradition.
 
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OK Ice cream manufacturers usually either make other things for during the winter or export overseas where it's still hot!

And if you think that companies don't employ 'seasonal' workers then you are having a laugh! Every company that has seasonal changes in demand only employ a certain amount of people wen they need them.....like trekking centres and supermarkets!

And I guess you would rather the donkeys just stood in a field all winter doing nothing or were even used during the winter for something else instead?? Maybe lugging loads of bricks up mountains or similar?????

They are not being PALMED OFF, they are being loaned out.....I have lost count of the number of posts on here about people wanting to loan out their horses as they can't afford to keep them over the winter or worse, they have an injury so don't want to keep them while they recover!

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1) Of course companies employ seasonal workers - not quite how you managed to make the great leap from me saying that those who do should expect other firms to take on their staff and hand them back over again to such workers not existing
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2) Please refrain from being ridiculous, I don't see how not agreeing with them being loaned out is quite the same as wanting them to lug loads of bricks up mountains
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3) The point is, the people using these donkeys in their business want them back once they can earn money from them again - they should not expect private individuals to subsidise their business!

I hold exactly the same view on amateur horse owners loaning out their injured horse and then demanding it back from the loanee once it's healed.
 
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No-one seemed to see it like that in Norfolk. They all used to really look forward to having "their" donkey back over the winter and there were tears when they had to go back to work in the season. It was just the tradition.

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I'm sure they did, and I'm sure the donkeys were well looked after - as I have already stated, my issue is not looking at this from a welfare p.o.v. but from the business p.o.v.
 
Well from a business p.o.v. the donkey's welfare will be better if they get their winter break. Are you trying to say that you think the donkey's owners don't care about the welfare of the donkeys just their pockets??

I know lots of OAPs who spend the whole winter in spain.....everyone deserves a break
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The trekking centres do the same - often they lend their trekking horses and ponies to equine colleges for the winter months. This means the trekking centres don't have to pay for winter keep, in a business where margins are already tight.
It also means the colleges don't have to invest capital in horses, nor worry about keeping them during their quiet summer period when the staff are on holiday.
From a horse's point of view it works well - schooling in the winter and nice long treks in the summer.
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When shills puts it like that it makes sense. My original reaction to this thread was "bl00dy cheek," and I do still think that to some extent, but hey, if people want to look after somebody else's donkey and have all the miserable weather & lack of light in the winter months and return them when the weather is nice, so be it

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As a child neighbouring farm always had Blackpool donkeys for winter and we learned to ride on them
No idea if any money changed hands for their keep but we certainly enjoyed having them
 
The only issue I have is why the welfare organisation is involved!!!!

To be honest, I think its a lovely idea.... the donks get a holiday and the owner gets one too. After all, he may make his living from them, but he doesnt ride them.

No one is forced to have one, and as many people have said, its quite a popular thing.

No different from people on here wanting the welfare or individual people to take their old or broken horses away to save them the heartache and money of putting them to sleep!!!
 
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