This morning started out with a crisis. I went out later than John and Debra one of our volunteers and was met with the information that they had been looking for Big Gus for almost an hour and could not find him anywhere. Gus is over 40 years old as per a vet, and has a heart murmur. Also snakes are out now, which is always a big worry.
After looking for that long of course we were thinking the worst, and were looking on the ground, but still no Gus. Everybody else was in, got fed while I used the quad to continue looking. Still nothing, too soon to look for vultures, but we were starting to think that would be the only way to find him. Checked all the gates, just in case, went over the 30 acres more than once and of course we were all looking, hopefully in different directions.
When Debra got thru feeding I told her where I had gone and the only place I hadn't actually walked was what we call the Triangle. It's a small area between the fence between the 10 acres where the pens are and the 20 acres we call Burroland and the big main wash that runs across the property. I headed out again in Burroland and Debra decided to walk the fence line between Burroland and the 10 acres. About 10-15 minutes of me running around on the quad and walking over there, I heard the air horn blast. We use it for these type of occasions to let whoever is out in the brush know it's time to come in.
Debra found him in the Triangle in a heavy brushy area. She said the only way she saw him was his tail was swatting flies and moving back and forth. He is going to make us all have a heart attack before it's over. By the time I got back he was in his pen having his breakfast, like no big deal.........!!! Grrrrrr........!!! It's been a long time since he even went over to Burroland let alone into that area. In order to get to it, he had to go down the bank of the wash and back up the other side. That's a lot of energy for him to use up. He usually just stands under a tree out by the driveway gate waiting for an opportunity to make his escape........!!! LOL
Our new donkey got here from Colorado as planned. His name is Willie. He has lived a charmed life most donkeys could only dream about. He is 21 years old and has lived in one home since he was a year old. None of those 7-9 homes for him which is the average for a donkey. He won the Burro lottery years ago by going into a caring home and being well taken care of all those years. But the cold in Colorado was getting to his knees and his owner wanted him to be in a warmer climate.
He's pack burro raced, pulled a cart, been ridden and in general has had a very interesting life with people that appreciated him. His daddy was a mammoth and his mom was a BLM jenny and we have his history back 3 generations which is very unusual.
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This morning when he got to go out for the first time. We put him in Rosie's pen next to Jasper, hoping they might become buddies. This morning because of the Big Gus crisis our usual routine was out of whack. Usually when we get new donkeys in, we keep them in for a couple of days, then let them out in the morning for an hour or so before the others are out. That way they get a chance to explore a little before being greeted by a crowd.
I went to let him out and discovered Jasper had already opened his inside gate and they were together in Jasper's pen. I opened the outside gate and let both of them out. So much for buddying up, Willie started exploring and Jasper started opening any gates he could find not double latched. He is REALLY good at gate opening unfortunately......!! LOL Willie acted like he had lived here forever no drama or anything. After half hour or so, it looked pretty boring, so we let everyone else out.
The donkeys all know Big Gus usually leaves hay and mush. John said he came around the corner and there were 5 donkeys in Gus' pen and Casper the mini mule was outside sticking his head thru the corral panels without having to deal with the donkeys. John said he looked at the donkeys and noticed one of them was.........Willie. He was right in the middle of the group and no one seemed to care, no squabbling or pushing going on. He's been with a horse for about 7 years, we thought he'd be excited to see donkeys, but guess not, at least not yet...!!!
Next big deal will be going into his pen tonight. From what I've seen I doubt that it will be a problem. He's really mellow and easy going. After dealing with Beefy and his hormonal problem, Willie is a pleasure......!!! LOL
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