As we’ve had the donkeys for five years now, we decided to get their teeth looked at, which you are supposed to do quite regularly. Head collars on and awaiting the vet.

Saskia duly arrived and a confab ensued, which first, where, how – do I inject with a sedative or straight in. We decided on a sedative, and Mother first (dark one) and inside the stable. A bit of a karno then started with Mother leading me and Saskia around the stable and yard trying to inject. We settled on doing Littley instead as Mother was by now getting stroppy – and we don’t want to lose her trust.

It took ages and two injections to subdue littley who was by now close to lying down and falling asleep, so now instead of trying to encourage her to accept what was happening, we now were trying to keep her awake.

Modern technology takes over and a battery operated rasp is employed to take out (sorry, file down) the raised bits on her teeth

At this point we decided to leave Mother until the summer – called a tactical retreat.