Annabelle to turn 40

In New Canaan, Connecticut, Annabelle celebrated her 40th birthday with a grand party, complete with many guests, and of course, cake. The June 4th celebration featured Annabelle's favorite bakery convection, carrot cake, of course! Annabelle had even requested that guests bring no gifts for her and instead, leave a donation for her favorite donkey rescue, Turning Pointe. Thanks Annabelle!

We became acquainted with Annabelle through her human mom Bethany by way of our website and since then have had a wonderful relationship with her. When we heard about Annabelle's 40th celebration, we thought she deserved a special spot of honor on our website!

Below is a letter we received recently from Bethany, describing some of the wonderful moments they have shared with Annabelle. We think maybe she needs to write a book to share with donkey lovers everywhere!

This letter indeed shows, once again, the amount of love and compassion that we feel for our wonderful long eared friends.

Taken from Bethany's letter:

She will be having her big 40th on June 4th. We will be serving carrot cake of course. The games for the kids are Pin the Tail on the Donkey, Horseshoes, and make your own carrot pens.. All those invited have been touched in some way by Annabelle's magic.

She was at a breeding farm for 16 years and then she was given to a farm where she was used for pet therapy for abused children for 16 years. At the age of 32 the farm could not afford to keep her and so we adopted her. These past 8 years she has been the Pride of our Paddocks. When we would bring in auction and ex-race horses to our farm, Annie would be their calming agent. She truly was the one who eased them into trusting the world again. As they slowly rehabilitated, Annie would always be by their side giving them equine support.

We have so many wonderful stories about her. When our youngest daughter fell off a pony at the age of 2, Annie came running over to Gracie braying and calling her. Gracie was lying on the ground and Annie would not let us touch her. She sniffed Gracie all over and then when she knew her friend was not hurt, she let us pick her up. Gracie stopped crying as she was sniffed from head to toe. We were all quiet come to think of it.

When Gracie was a year old, she learned to walk by hanging on to Annabelle's leg and she would take a step and then Annie would take a gentle step. For hours they would walk around the back yard this way as Annie helped Gracie gain her balance. When Gracie was able to walk on her own, Annabelle continued to stay by her side but never in harm's way.

She has this unbelievable maternal sense. When our pug was a puppy, she ran into the road one day. I was screaming for her to come but she just kept running. Annie heard me screaming and she came running over to the road and let out the loudest bray. The pug stopped running, turned around and ran back over the stonewall, into the paddock and sat right by Annabelle's front legs. Annie looked and her, nudged her and the 2 of them turned around and walked side by side back to the house.

The stories are endless because her ability to recognize when she is needed is unexplainable. I cannot imagine what we would ever do without Annie in our hearts. This is why we celebrate her 40th birthday because she celebrates life everyday by helping people, animals and anything else that needs to feel her magic.

Many thanks again for celebrating Annie's life with us!

I have attached our Christmas card picture we used this year. She would not let Chipper, her donkey friend, in the picture. She kept pushing him away. We realized then she wanted the picture to be just of the girls in the family! Is she not beautiful? I just cannot stop talking about her!

Warmly,

Bethany.

Bethany, many thanks to you for sharing your wonderful girl's story with us and many warm wishes to her and you from all of us at Turning Pointe Donkey Rescue!

Annabelle's Party

Annabelle casually milled around the back yard, surrounded by children and adults, some paying attention to her, while others mindlessly enjoyed the afternoon and the beautiful country setting. She was calm in spite of all the excitement and appeared rather reserved and above frivolity as those around her played recklessly assuming a donkey�s birthday was cause for more than the usual enthusiasm. Perhaps being the 40^th and all, we were all concerned with making her feel, well�special and doted upon. I do think she knew�and though we did not really know the birthday girl well, her family seemed quite used to this sort of thing. Just another party at the Zaro house.

Well, the kids seemed equally excited about the little tractor and the lawn was expansive and welcoming. So they ran around, drove around and naturally, jumped around. But not Annie, she was resolute and not nearly so interested in displaying her childish side, particularly on her 40^thbirthday. The mixture of adults, children and small dogs zipping around was just simply gay and light. There were no worries here, and the birthday girl certainly handled the numbers quite well, it seemed that the Zaro family may have invited just the right number of guests for her age.

We mingled and occasionally gaped at Annabelle and Chip as if we were old pals, familiar and yes, here to celebrate her many years of experience. Wellingtons, stone walls, scattered perennials and importantly, familiar faces reminded us were still in New England and we hadn�t jumped right smack into a Freddie the Pig novel, Walter Brooks giggling at us from inside the barn. We felt grounded. What a beautiful spring day it was; the sun was strong and telling tales of summer, the sky was bright blue and forbidding memories of rainy days and the birds were telling secrets in the surrounding trees, although we could hear them if we listened carefully.

A table for Annie sat at the edge of the patio, gently reminding us that she was loved and that there were other donkeys like her waiting to be rescued and we were welcome to help by dropping a little envelope into the apple gathering basket. We did and it felt good. We would look up occasionally and nod to each other as if to say, �Yup, there goes Annie.� Everyone seemed anxious as usual for cake and we were subtly ushered to the patio for festivities. Annie came escorted by the middle Zaro teenager youthfully leading her elder in for song and snacks. Yes, it was just another birthday at the Zaro house. We sang. She blushed I think. � Annabelle that is�and then she headed quickly out, away from the crowd and returned to the grass and her dignified anonymity. Cake was served. Carrot cake. Yum. I for one was thrilled that Annabelle loved carrots.

We laughed and talked and told tales of summer events to come and looked around Annabelle�s very special home. You could almost hear a gentle sigh of relief as Annabelle wandered to the far end of her private yard. This was her spot, we were free to carry on, but she was going to be calm, look out at the passersby on the road, peak into the living room or just pass the remainder of the day by without a care.

It was time to leave, a little window in the middle of our day was filled with pleasure and we left with gifts of mints and a few simple reminders; old stone walls are spectacular, little black pug�s like to lick the edges of salsa bowls, Chip is a rather spunky donkey, country life is definitely where it�s at, turning 40 is a milestone for any woman and Annabelle appears to be no exception, and importantly carrot cake is truly yummy, especially when eaten outdoors at a donkey�s birthday party.