Tails From Provence

This is Hector, known to his friends as Totor.

Sailor suit and a bandit mask. Hector has it all.

He was the first donkey on the farm to be seen in trousers.

Albert and Grisou thought he looked amazing, so they wanted trousers, too.

Albert strutting his stuff in his new pants

Grisou wasn’t sure about them when he tried them on. He thought they made his butt look big, so he removed the back pair. Twice. And he tore the velcro straps off the second time. This is why there is no photo of Grisou disguised in a sailor suit in this post.

Grisou, for illustrative purposes

Butt seriously..

Why trousers, someone assed? Well we are in France… la mode is a way of life here…

But actually, it’s to keep those nasty, insidious, allergy-causing biting flies off the donkey’s legs.  Hector’s owner loves him to bits and visits twice a week to look after him and his ‘sister’, Quanaille. She saw a photo of these protective trousers on a donkey and ordered a set from a local harness repairer. Hector’s legs were A.ok.

A month ago, Albert’s front legs were a bloody mess. We were treating them every day by washing with an antiseptic and coating with a steroid cream, but they just weren’t getting better. Fly repellent was not enough to keep the flies off all day long, so as long as they kept biting, he kept getting sorer. And worse, the hungry meat-seeking wasps started to arrive and carve little pieces off his legs. It was not pleasant and he was a sad little donkey.

Thankfully, his owner was amenable to the notion of buying protective trousers for him. His legs are now well on the mend.

Phew.

Grisou, on the other hand, is not suffering so badly from the flies this year, so going commando for a week while his pants are being repaired is not a big deal.