| December is a busy time at the Gambia Horse
and Donkey Trust with the Annual Horse and Donkey Show, and 2011 was no exception! We had
another wonderful group of volunteers from the UK to help us to get everything set up and
ready for the big day, and as if that wasn't enough to do we managed to get plenty of
other jobs completed too. Ros, Russel, Anthony, Lynn,
Jeanette, Helena and Toby made a wonderful team to set to work on cleaning up the Sambel
Kunda Village Clinic, in preparation for it re-opening this year. There was plenty of
cleaning, painting, re-tiling and organising to do in a very short space of time. As
always once work began, the local villagers were keen to get involved. No matter how many
times Ros and Lynn tried to do some painting their brushes were grappled from them by the
keen villagers happy to do their bit! Kerry, Jeanette and Helena undertook the daunting
task of organising what was found in the cupboards and after working their magic
everything was beautifully organised and arranged in a way that makes it easy to find
anything you might need. News travels fast when there are nurses around, and patients
started trickling in to the clinic to see Kerry and Jeanette, who were kept busy for the
duration of their stay!
Meanwhile, our visiting vets Pat, Laura, Sally, Becky, Nina
and Stefanie headed out to the local villages to undertake important veterinary duties. It
was always easy to find them as wherever they were working there was an enormous crowd of
locals gathered around, all keen to get a glimpse of the veterinary action and all
desperate for their animal to be attended to. They worked non-stop for hours on end
without even stopping for lunch, and their work was greatly appreciated by the villagers.
Many tents, gazebos and marquees are required for the Show
and we were blessed with having a brilliant and very enthusiastic team of erecters! Even
without the instructions Immie, Ellie, Jo, Toby, Anthony and Pete were able to get the
marquee into what looked like the correct shape, and that is no mean feat! Once the tents
were up things really started to take shape; the bunting was added and fence posts
painted, turning the rustic looking GHDT centre into a colourful Show ground, just in time
for the competitors to start arriving.
Since some people walk for days with their animals to
attend the show, they often start to arrive a day early to allow their animal's time to
rest and have a wash before the big day. It was a promising sign to see our yard full of
stallions and their carts the day before the show, especially when they were all in such
amazing condition.
Once again the Show was a wonderful demonstration of how
much equine care and management has improved in the area. Year after year we are now
seeing an increase in the number of healthy animals, and it is becoming increasingly
difficult to judge between them! Both the numbers and standards of competitors have
improved again, and the owners really are proud to display their beautiful animals. With
over 200 horses and donkeys this year it was complete chaos, with horses and donkeys
everywhere you turned. It is so difficult to choose between donkeys who are all in good
condition, all have a gleaming coat and a young handler with a beaming smile. It somehow
seems unfair that they don't all get a red rosette for keeping their animals is such
wonderful condition despite the harsh environment.
Between the showing classes were games of Donkey Ball,
played by three teams of 7 boys who had been attending Donkey Club Training twice a week
for the past few months. Trying to gather them all into one place to prepare them with
their coloured bandages, fly fringes and shirts is no easy task amongst hundreds of people
and all the excitement! Incredibly they all managed to get ready just in time for their
matches, which entertained the crowds as always. The boys are very competitive and take
their responsibility of setting an example to other donkey handlers very seriously.
Amazingly, after all their matches all three teams were on exactly the same number of
points, so all competitors did get a rosette for being such good sports and for playing so
well. Perhaps it will only be a matter of time until Donkey Ball teams start emerging in
different areas of the country now that donkey Ball is becoming quite a sensation in The
Gambia!
The show not only gives the owners an opportunity to show
off their animals, but it also gives us the chance to provide valuable education as well
as carry out valuable research. We were honoured to have a small team from ITC (the
International Trypanosome Centre) to assist us in the laboratory for the show day, in
order to continue our research into trypanosomes (which cause Sleeping Sickness in humans
and trypanosomiasis in horses and donkeys). Blood was to be taken from every animal
attending the show, so that it could be analysed, and the help from the ITC team meant
that instead of taking days to process the samples, they were all completed by the end of
the Show - an incredible achievement! All of the vets had an incredibly busy day both
taking blood and treating any sick animals.
This year saw some new Champion winners take the trophies,
and they were a wonderful example of well cared for animals. The Supreme Champion this
year was a beautiful bay stallion called Boycee, who pipped last year's reigning Supreme
Champion, a mare called Tiger, at the post. Such a fantastic day was had by everyone, with
lots of happy owners going home with new reflective jackets, head collars and fully health
checked animals. Not only was the Show enjoyed by those of us attending, but it has also
since been televised to the whole of The Gambia which has helped the message of good
equine management spread to all corners of the country.
A huge Thank You goes out to all the GHDT Staff who worked
tirelessly in the run up to, and throughout the show, to all the volunteers who came out
to help us, and to all of the competitors and spectators who go to so much effort to
travel the long distances to reach us and be a part of this annual special day.
And lastly, but most certainly not least, an enormous Thank
You to all the sponsors of the show classes, farriery equipment, veterinary medicines,
rosettes and prizes for the show. Without our generous sponsors the show would not be
possible and for this we cannot thank you enough. |
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