When my mother promised to buy us another donkey in Tasmania, she had no way of knowing how difficult this would be. She found it impossible to buy just one donkey in Tasmania, and so made the decision to buy six wild donkeys from the mainland and start a stud. These six donkeys were; Pete, Jason, Sally, Mandy, Jane and Katey. My mother's book 'A Joy Of Wild Asses' is the story of these six donkeys and their adaptation from feral donkeys to stud donkeys and family pets. Keysoe, our stud prefix, is where we lived in England. My earliest donkey memories are of taming and riding those six wild donkeys and so all six have been important in teaching me about donkeys. Two of these six (Sally and Jason) have also had a lasting influence on the stud and many of the donkeys bred here are descendants of either Sally or Jason.
From a very early age, I helped with training the donkeys and we all had our own special donkey to ride. For many years we were part of the Central Victorian Donkey Club and took part in regular club activities. When we moved near Bendigo, we were part of a small group of people who started The Bendigo and District Donkey and Mule Club, which celebrated 21 years last year.
During this time, we also had ponies and went to Pony Club regularly and although I always enjoyed the ponies and learnt a lot with them, I still found that they could not replace my donkeys. By the time I was in my teens, all my school holidays were booked up with donkey training for myself and for other people. Over the years, I've handled and trained a lot of different donkeys and this is very useful experience to draw on now, of course this is not to say that there are no surprises left!
As well as training/riding/driving the donkeys, we have had an ongoing breeding program. Before 1976, our donkeys were all Australian donkeys, and then in 1976 two foals (Keysoe Mimi and Keysoe David) by the imported English jack Novington Benjamin, were born, and my mother also purchased a colt by Benjamin, Geraldine Lodge Nullabor. The introduction of English bloodlines to the stud marked a split in the breeding program. My mother still owned Sally who had grown up into a nice riding donkey and she wanted to breed larger donkeys from her, so Sally was bred to Jericho (owned by Mag Herbert) and in January 1977 foaled a colt foal, Keysoe Sascha. Since this time, all the smaller donkeys have carried the English/Irish bloodlines (many of them are also descendants of Jason) and the larger donkeys are bred separately and kept free from the smaller bloodlines. Our larger donkeys go back to Sascha and Sally.
As I grew up, I worked with the donkeys and learned from them and my mother, but handing over the reins of the stud was a gradual process. I had my own donkeys from quite a young age but I think the first foal I really bred myself was Keysoe Dulcy, I still regard her as my baby so it is somewhat of a shock to realise that she will be 18 years old this year, and has her ninth foal on the way.
With so many years and so many donkeys there are always our favourites and the ones who stand out for one reason or another, I have mentioned some of them in this story but I would also like to talk about two important foundation jennies who came into the stud many years ago.
Keysoe Dinah joined the stud while we were still in Tasmania although she actually came from Victoria. Never a feral donkey but always somewhat difficult to live with, I have stood and admired her trot many times over the years and tried not to think about the fact that we were actually trying to catch her. She was an outstanding little jenny and the matriarch of our "D" family. She had one foal (Pepe a gelding who was owned by Carol Finch) before we bought her, and then many foals for us. The first of these was Keysoe Debutante by Keysoe Jason. Debbie was also our first live jenny foal, and always one of our special favourites. Dinah stayed with us until her death a few years ago when she was in her thirties.
|
|
The other jenny was Bush Echoes Misty. I'm sure almost everyone has read my mother's book 'Australian Donkeys' but most people wouldn't know who the jenny and foal on the cover are. The jenny is Bush Echoes Misty, and the foal is Bush Echoes Shane. At that time, they were owned by Norah and Cliff Russell but both later joined the Keysoe Stud. Misty was a sweet natured donkey that could be ridden and driven, but for me her standout achievement in the stud was producing Keysoe Mimi, a particular favourite of mine and now the matriarch of the stud. Misty was one of those jennies who had every foal in bad weather. I remember Mimi was born in the stable because there was a fierce thunderstorm that evening.
Of course, there have been the down times in the stud too, we've lost some of our foals and I had to bottle feed one of our foals after his mother died when he was a fortnight old, and we've had the donkeys so long that even some of our babies have grown old and died. Currently, our oldest donkey is Mimi, she will be 26 this year but I like to think I will have her for some more years yet. Sadly, Keysoe Debutante died in 1995 at 23 but we still have one of her daughters, and Dulcy is her granddaughter. Sometimes the Vet's bill gets a bit out-of-hand but I'm thankful that donkeys are healthy, hardy animals and with good care the problems aren't too numerous.
Most of our friends have donkeys and many of our outings and holidays involve donkeys in one way or another. My donkeys and I have such a long history together that they are my extended family, and so much a part of my life, I can't remember, or imagine, life without them.
Ruth Walker
