"WHY DONKEYS?"

I get asked that a lot.

Last year, someone I didn't know confessed they'd always assumed The Drawing Donkey was a donkey sanctuary. An easy mistake to make, I suppose. After all, everything about my brand seems to revolve around donkeys.

How to respond?

"Not quite... but also, kind of."

The truth is, the drawing donkey (an artist's bench easel) came first. Then came the business name. Then the logo. Long before I owned a real donkey, I’d accidentally built a brand around them.  

I grew up horse-obsessed and spent most of my youth firmly embedded in Kenya's riding scene. But when I reached that stage of young adulthood, owning a horse simply wasn't realistic (the photo above was my last ever competitive ride).

Fast forward a couple of decades.

While hiking Loomuguru on Mt Poi, miles from anywhere and with barely any signal, my phone unexpectedly beeped. A message was asking if anyone could adopt donkeys rescued from a slaughterhouse. More than a hundred needed homes.

Without a second thought, I replied, "Yes please. Two females, if possible."

I had plenty of grass and space and figured a couple of donkeys would be a cheaper and much more interesting alternative to a lawn mower.

In my head, it was all wonderfully simple. Looking back, I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to think donkeys would ever be that straightforward.

As soon as the lorry doors opened, my heart sank.

Both girls were pregnant.

One was also badly crippled with box feet.

Committing to two donkeys already felt like a stretch. The reality of suddenly having four donkeys to care for, one requiring lifelong hoof management, was more than a little daunting.

That first night, they flatly refused to sleep in the perfectly prepared stable. They looked at it with complete disdain, immediately living up to every rumour I'd ever heard about stubborn donkeys. In the end, I had no choice but to leave them outside, hoping the hyenas wouldn't find them before morning.

I spent the night glued to Google.

Donkey care.

Donkey behaviour.

How to train your donkey.

I panicked.

What on earth had I committed to?

I knew absolutely nothing about donkeys, and it didn't take long to realise they were nothing like horses.

Regardless, I renamed them Laisamis and Ngurunit and cracked on.

The next eight months were one enormous learning curve. They were independent, incredibly intelligent, and more than capable of making their own decisions. If they couldn't see the point in doing something, they simply wouldn't do it.

There was drama with flea-infested sawdust, endless farrier visits, worming, dipping, hay deliveries, and countless hours spent simply earning their trust.

It was equal parts frustrating, fascinating and humbling. Every day challenged something I thought I knew about working with animals, and little by little I found myself adapting to them instead of expecting them to adapt to me.

Then the foals arrived.

Poi appeared overnight, a wonderful surprise waiting for us the following morning. Nepero arrived two weeks later on a hot December afternoon.

They were impossibly cute... and completely untouchable.

Nepero relaxed surprisingly quickly, but it took almost five months before baby Poi decided humans were acceptable.

Sadly, Ngurunit's lameness continued to worsen. One day, despite the maximum dose of Bute, she simply couldn't stand anymore. There was no choice but to let her go.

It broke our hearts.

She never truly recovered from what had happened to her before she came to us, but she knew kindness, safety and a herd again. I like to think that mattered.

Her loss was felt by little Poi, the other donkeys, and all of us.

It's now been more than two years of living with donkeys.

Laisamis can still deliver a respectable bite if the mood takes her. Nepero believes absolutely everything is edible, and while Poi may be the smallest of the three, she somehow manages to be the boss of everyone.

They are funny, affectionate, cheeky, endlessly entertaining, and completely woven into daily life. They have jobs too… keeping the grass down and helping control the tick population but they're far more interested in supervising deliveries, chasing the car, inspecting shopping bags, staging break-ins to the studio, eating flowers and tree seedlings, winding up the dogs, and demanding treats.

They've wandered into my sketchbook, onto stickers, signs, greeting cards, and paintings.

Looking back, it's funny how life joins the dots for you. I named the business long before I owned a donkey, yet somehow these three mischievous characters became the very heart of The Drawing Donkey. They inspire my work, make me laugh every single day, and remind me that the best things in life are often the ones you never planned.

So, why donkeys?

Because sometimes the best stories aren't the ones you plan. They're the ones that find you.

Thanks to Laisamis, Nepero and Poi, I now occasionally run fundraising campaigns to support donkeys in the care of the KSPCA. They may not cost as much as horses, and they're certainly not free lawn mowers, but life is infinitely better with them.

 I'm not quite a donkey sanctuary...

But I am, most definitely, a donkey person.