I have often said that donkeys are the most intuitive animals I have ever been around, although some might disagree. They read moods and intentions. This is a hard week for people who live in this country, even if you don’t watch the news, it always finds you, creeps around the air like toxic gas, leaves an odor and bad taste. Here’s how it works. The donkeys smell emotions in people, we give off what the scientists call fermones (dogs and cats do this as well). If you are still – I always lie down on the ground or sit near them – they will come over to  you, they are both curious and in a curious way, empathetic.

Simon likes to make physical contact, he presses his head against me, touches me with his soft nose, Lulu is often standoffish but when I am upset she will come close and lean against me, the donkey way of being affectionate, of talking. Fanny is more assertive she will come up behind me and nudge me with her nose – pay attention to me!. There is a profound physical sensation attached to this, it is almost as they are pulling the sadness out of me, they are establishing a calming and spiritual connection. This has happened to me so many times it almost seems routine, but it is not.

I scratch the donkeys, rub their ears and necks, in Simon’s case we touch foreheads and I stroke him along the neck and nose. They are healing creatures in ways I will never understand, I always feel stronger and calmer when I have been around them.