Samson is one of our big French stallion donkeys and he is by far the biggest donkey. 

       He came to Clovelly in November 2005, with his best friend Pierre, from Toulouse in south-west France.

       At 13.1hh (5'5" or 1.4m at the shoulder) he is one of the biggest donkeys in England. 

We bought him so that we could give rides to bigger children - he is big enough for a smallish adult to ride.        

Here is Sammy standing by the Tack Room door. His rump is level with the "No Smoking" sign !

Beside him is his friend Pierre, who is also a big fellow, and in the background are two of our ordinary-sized English donkeys, Barney and Kiwi.

Here he is in his Summer coat.

You can see his two-piece shoulder stripe and his long forelock. He also has a long mane for a donkey.

.....And in his winter coat. 

Here he is wearing a boot on his back foot because he had an abscess in his hoof which needed a poultice. 

Donkeys often suffer foot problems in our wet climate, particularily in winter, so we have to pick out their feet every day to try to stop it happenning.

We had a bit of a struggle to get the poultice on Sammy for the first time. He's a big strong boy! He soon realised it was ok, though, and he is very good now.

 Age......9 in 2008

 Size:13.1hh (53")

  Colour:......
          Light grey

 Born: Toulouse, France

Sammy has BEAUTIFUL ears and they are very big, a bit shaggy and have lovely chocolate-brown markings on the back.

Here's Sam saddled up <<<<<<

and

Going off for a Ride    >>>>>>>>

Oh dear, Sammy and Pierre are up to mischeif again.................

(roll your mouse over the picture)

"Hi Bart, Can I help you play with the tools please?"

Here is Sam in his anti-fly rug.

He suffers a little from "sweet itch" which means he is allergic to midge bites. 

Behind him you can see the strip curtain we put across the shed door to make it dark inside. Flies don't like the dark so it gives Sam somewhere to hide.

Unfortunately, dear Pierre thinks its fun to pull off the strips. Naughty boy !

One day Bart was mending the gutter - so Sammy went to sleep under the ladder.

He looks bigger than the horsebox but he does go in !

There's nothing like a good scratch.

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Home

Here are the Mules saying "Hallo" to the Big Guys.

Sammy is bigger than the big mule. 

The donkeys are quite naughty if we ride them together so we like to go out with one mule and one donkey.

The Donkeys

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