Little Helena playing around

Although we put our foal, Helena, in with our oldies group a month ago to learn a bit more about being a donkey, at five months old she still has a lot of energy to burn off. A trip to the shop and €1 later, we put two cheap balls into the paddock to see if she would be interested in playing with them.

Within seconds, Helena demonstrated some amazing foot work – kicking, chasing and dribbling the ball as good as many footballers! After zooming around the paddock, she was then determined to pick the ball up and change to rugby tactics. It took her a while to get the hang of picking the ball up but she got there in the end.

Occasionally the ball would go under the fence and Helena would then stand there looking at us with her ears pricked as if to say "Can I have my ball back please?" The only problem is that watching her play keeps everyone from getting on with the rest of their work!

Here is a short video of her playing with her ball.