Xenophon was a working donkey in a village near Agros, in the Limassol district. Born around 1992 he was used for working in the fields carrying panniers of grapes and olives for his owner. Unfortunately his owner fell and broke her leg very badly and ended up in hospital. As is often the case nowadays, the lady’s family didn’t live close by and were unable to look after her donkey. Also she was finding it very difficult to get a farrier to trim his hooves and so she asked Donkey Sanctuary (Cyprus) if we would take her donkey.

There was an additional request – his owner also looked after another working donkey belonging to a relative of hers. Both donkeys were very good friends and had formed a strong bond. As she couldn’t look after either of the donkeys, both owners sensibly asked if we could take both as they wouldn’t want to be separated. Some bonded donkeys can get very stressed if taken away from each other and this stress can cause health problems.

So on 14th October 2010 off we went to collect both of them. A family member met us to sign the paperwork and after a little reluctance, both donkeys went on the trailer to travel back to Vouni. Both donkeys hooves needed at good trim although the Xenophon’s friend, who is about the same age, had much longer hooves. Other than this both donkeys were in pretty good condition. We think that Xenophon did more work than his friend which would explain why his feet were in better condition than Bucephalus but they were both a good weight so obviously had been fed the right amount of feed.

Unsurprisingly, neither donkey had a name, so our Office Manager came up with Xenophon for one of them. Xenophon was a Greek horseman who is often referred to as the forefather of modern classical riding. This then led to thinking about Alexander the Great and his horse Bucephalus. Guess what we called our second donkey?! A little too upmarket for our two friends?? We certainly don’t think so!