THERE'S A NEW BOY IN TOWN...........!!!

Lynn, Linda, John and I went to up the Phoenix area today to pick up Jasper.  Doug stayed here to hold down the fort, clean the pens, because our usual cleaner didn't show up and gave an impromptu tour.  He almost had as busy day as we did..........!!!  LOL

The trip up went well, although we got there a little later than we had planned.  Steve and Liz were waiting for us, Claire and her friend Deanna (I'm not sure of the spelling)  that does animal Reiki got there right after we did.  

Lynn taking Quilla out of the trailer.  Quilla was chosen to be Jasper's traveling buddy and had to get OUT of the trailer.  Otherwise Jasper probably wouldn't be the least bit interested in getting IN the trailer, with a strange donkey.  The way this works is, you put 2 donkeys in a trailer and during the trip, they bond or at least have other things on their mind than showing each other who is in charge.  So many people bring in a new animal and introduce it by putting it in a pen with an animal that thought the pen was it's personal space and will fight to prove it.  The other poor animal is in unknown territory and scared and will fight to protect himself. This way, by the time the trip is over, they know neither is interested in dominating and the worst is over.  We stopped one time and Jasper had his head on Quilla's rump, not in an aggressive way, just like they were buddies, and Quilla didn't seem to mind. 

Jasper and I getting to know each other

 

He seems to think Lynn is more interesting

Deanna working her magic on Jasper to make him less stressed. Thanks Deanna for helping with his stress level.

Not much pasture there, but Quilla thought it was great, he nibbled the whole time he was out of the trailer.

Claire reconnecting with her buddy, Quilla

Jasper hadn't been in a trailer in 18 years, and it wasn't what he had planned today.  So it was a little scary, but he actually did really good, although we did have to use a butt strap.  We just run a soft rope above their hocks on the rear legs and they really have no place to go, except in the trailer.

All loaded up and ready to hit the road

Home and in a pen beside his trailer buddy Quilla.  It got pretty exciting when he came out of the trailer.  John and Doug each had a lead on him.  We usually move a new donkey this way, until they get to know us and we get to know them.  They were out of the trailer, and he jumped out, when he did Doug turned quick and his knee went out from under him.  When that happened Doug yelled.  When he yelled Jasper headed for parts unknown.  This is all in the dark except for a couple of flashlights, neither of which were on this disaster in the making.  John knows that this would be a good time to let go.  There is no way a human being can stop a donkey hitting overdrive, but John was right beside a tree and he attempted to wrap the rope around the tree.  Unfortunately he tripped over a rock and down he went.  Now they are both down, him in the rocks, and Doug is sitting on a cactus.  Linda and I are trying to figure out in the dark what is going on.  They both have on light enough clothes with the feeble light we have, so we can see them rolling around on the ground, and I won't tell you what they were saying, but they both were saying a lot of it.........!!  Jasper is light enough I thought I saw him standing close to them, watching the whole scene.  So where is Lynn..........????  Turns out, he's standing there holding the lead on Jasper.  He saw the whole thing going down and thought John had the lead wrapped around some body part, lunged and un-clipped the lead from the halter.  When he saw John was loose, somehow he re-clipped it.  I don't know if Jasper stopped to watch the silly people, or if Lynn was strong enough to hold him, either way we didn't have to go try to find him on 30 acres in the dark, thank goodness.   Doug pulled the cactus spines from his posterior, I brought John in doctored his gravel wounds and we all fed donkeys.

Tomorrow is sure to be a little less entertaining I hope.  We have 4 tours so it might be pretty busy.  Poor Jasper won't even have a chance to settle in before he will be on display.  He seems very interested in what's going on around him and is gentle, just hasn't been worked with a lot. 

Linda took all the pictures today, I forgot my camera........LOL