Monday, July 9, 2007

Beasts of Burden


Here's one of the many donkey-horse crosses that are used for pulling loads across the city. They are supposed to be restricted to the outer ring roads, but some of their owners dare to bring them closer to the city centre in order to sell their goods, mostly fruit.

I took a picture of this one at Factory 798, waiting for his owner to return. He looked sad and tired, his eyes drooping. He looked pretty lean -- maybe all that muscle? But his hooves told me he had walked further than most humans.

His hooves were hardly looked after and he was in a bad need of new horseshoes. So not only was it probably painful for him, but also grueling labour dragging a load behind him.

I wonder how you tell your owner you badly need two new pairs of shoes in order to do your job properly?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i have taken a picture of a donkey in santorini. his head is so big that it covers his whole body. his head occupies the whole frame only showing the two front legs. a donkey ride up or down from the peir to the town of fira costs $4 eu.