Active Donkeys Do Award
- Do you enjoy spending time with your donkeys?
- What do you do with your donkeys?
- Do you encourage them to do new and different activities?
If your answer is “yes” to any of these questions, consider registering them for the DBS Active Donkeys Do Award – they will earn a rosette for completing eight different activities over twelve months. It’s our recognition that active donkeys are happy donkeys, not just field ornaments.
It doesn’t really matter what these eight activities are just as long as you clock up eight different occasions and can give us evidence of them. You might encourage your donkeys to do these new things in their paddock, their manege, or beyond the boundaries of their normal world. On wet days you might even encourage them to do something new and different in their stable!
Previously we’ve had participating donkeys take part in community events like Palm Sunday, Advent and Christmas, going to shows (but not showing at donkey breed classes), walking with other donkeys, exploring their locality, learning to long-rein, to wear harness and learning to drive while less experienced donkeys were successfully challenged to wear a head collar for the first time, to pick up their feet, to load into a trailer and to walk through a puddle. Essentially different donkeys will be able to do different levels of activity but whatever the donkey can do, the award recognises that the donkey’s confidence and skill are developing.
What you submit can be a diary of activities, a photographic record of all eight activities with a simple explanation of each activity together with its date, or any format that clearly shows off your active donkeys.
Each ADDA year runs from 1st August to 31st July at the end of the ADDA year, you submit a description of the eight activities you donkeys have achieved.
To enter, just click here, fill in the form and make your payment of £5 per donkey by BACs or cheque.
If you are unable to complete your entry online or would like to know more contact the ADDA Administrator adda@donkeybreedsociety.co.uk
This award and its predecessor the Active Donkey Award (ADA) will always be something special for members of the DBS, acknowledging that an active donkey is a happy donkey. The scheme started following a generous bequest in 2007 from Doreen Heyes who, as a Donkey Sanctuary welfare officer, firmly believed that donkeys were capable of doing so much more than just standing in a field.
