DOWN TIME IS GOOD

Right now things are going really good.  Makes me wonder what is in the future.....?  Nobody is having to be doctored, flies aren't too bad yet, although I released my first batch of predator wasps a couple of days ago.  I had to hold them an extra day because of a cold weather forecast, that actually got down to 25*.  Didn't think the little buddies would appreciate getting thrown out in temperatures like that.  John says he sees them in the big poo pile, year round, so I assume it stays fairly warm. 

This morning when John went out to start chores, most of the donkeys were either in their pens or in a close proximity, which is unusual.  Usually they are off doing their own thing, until John shows up with carrots and escorts them to their pen.  I'd like to think they are turning over a new leaf of cooperation.............but I doubt it........!!!!  LOL

Heard from Claire a few days ago.  Gus and Quilla went up to stay with her until the grass starts growing, and we'll go bring them back here, so Gus doesn't founder. 

 She took a picture of Quilla right after they got there and he really looked Cushings.  She had him checked and his numbers were 353, should be between 6 and 35, if that lab uses the same test my vet's lab uses.  So she's starting him on Pergolide.  He's never been overly energetic, but she thought he was a little too lethargic.

This is a picture Claire took of Gus and Quilla attempting to nibble a little bit of grass.  It's still pretty short, so all they are doing is nipping off teeney little pieces of grass, probably one blade at a time.  Gives them something to do, without a lot of results.  Quilla's coat looks rough, as in longer than Gus' and he is also pretty sway back, another symptom of Cushings.  Of course a lot of donkeys are sway backed from being worked too young or maybe overworked.  Quilla was a roping donkey and then spent 9 years in a dysfunctional home.  I don't remember him being sway backed when he got here and don't think he's ever been trained for any type of work, although he leads very well.  

Heard from Diane about Ruthie and, Marcy and Hank the horse, and their bonding process.  So far Hank and Ruthie are getting along just fine.  Diane said one time she will go out and Marcy has ears back, next time she goes out Ruthie has ears back.  Hank's just happy to have a herd I guess, even if they are long ears, he thinks Ruthie is wonderful.  They are still giving it a try to see if the girls will finally bond.  I think the problem might be, they can't figure out who is in charge.  Diane said most of the trouble is at feeding time, they will NOT eat together and I guess Ruthie is in charge at feeding time from what Diane says. 

LOTS GOING ON RIGHT NOW......!!!

 "This is NOT what I signed on for"

Between doctoring and quite a few phone calls and e-mails about donkeys, I'm staying pretty busy.....LOL  

I think I polo wrapped 10 legs this morning, and could have wrapped 4 more, but John couldn't find my "stash" of polo wraps.  So Penny just got her legs covered with thuja zinc oxide.  I found my other wraps afterwards, so tomorrow she'll probably get wrapped.  

Today was the first time I had doctored her without using the "redneck" squeeze.  John was responsible for keeping her entertained and I decided to try.  She did just fine, of course the amount of animal crackers he stuffed in her mouth probably had a lot to do with it....!!! Ha!  

Have a family looking for a new home for their two donkeys.  Said one is a jenny and one a jack........!!!  Not an easy sell to find a home for a jack.  The clarification said the jack is gelded...........!!!!  HUH?  Words have meaning, and to me a jack is intact and a john is a gelding, if you want to get technical.  Most of us just call them geldings.  Same with jennies, they are technically jennets, but who calls them that?  Not many people I know.  So I've put out the word.

Just talked to Frijolita's former mom about their other two jennies.  One of them either Chimi or Taco coliced a couple of days ago with sand colic.  The vet said to give them psyllium which is SOP and in fact a lot of people give their equine phyllium on a regular basis to prevent colic. But the girl's have made a judgement call on psyllium, they "ain't" eating it.  Ellen called to see if I had any ideas.  Not really, the few times I've used it, the donkeys didn't have a problems scarfing it down and looking for more.  We also discussed, it might be time to start looking for a home for the girls.  Chimi is about 30 and came to them pregnant, Taco is about 27 and has never be off the property.  Ellen and Charlie both have health problems.  Frijolita originally came out here because Margarita coliced and died.  She was odd man out with her friend gone, the other two wouldn't let her in to the inner circle.  She's been here probably 6 or 7 years and has bonded with Daisy, which is one reason we haven't tried to find her a new home.  She is very adoptable, but Daisy isn't because of having Cushings.  Besides if we need a gate opened she's our "go to" donkey.......!!! Ha!  I would imagine eventually the girls will end up out here.  Sure would be nice to get our numbers down before then. 

I have no idea where or when this picture was taken, but it's neat......!!!

Racing tonight, the winner of the drawing for a ride-along is a 14 year old boy.  Talk about disrupt his family's lives..........they were suppose to go to a wedding tonight.  His Father is going to the wedding, & his Mother is coming to the races with Reilly to take pictures.  Glad I wasn't involved in those arrangements, I'm assuming the wedding is on his Dad's side of the family......!!!! LOL  I told them after I found out it was getting complicated that we could do it later, but I guess Reilly was afraid he might not get to go.  I'll try to take some pictures too.  Hope it's a good night for racing & he has fun.  

I've thought for quite some time that Rusty the white mule was developing Cushings.  His hair was long & unkempt looking, goopy eyes & lethargic.  My local vet wouldn't do the ACTH test, but would give me a script for pergolide......!!  A little backwards, but it is Cochise County....!!  Anyway Rusty developed the pergolide fog within 2 feedings, so I kept getting smaller capsules until I was down to .25 once a day & he still stopped eating & stood around like he was drugged.  While I was waiting for the pergolide to get here I had started him on Chasteberry & he likes it.  I finally gave up on pergolide & he's been on Chasteberry for about 3 weeks.  The biggest differences I see is he is slicking out & he's got a lot more energy.  Of course that's about the time Reba came, so maybe she's making a difference, who knows.  He does seem to feel better & certainly looks better, so we'll use the Chasteberry for awhile.  Eventually it will probably stop working, that's what usually happens, but we'll see how it goes.  

Everyone else seems to be doing good.  Gus has his socks on & Quilla his polo wraps to protect their fly damaged legs.  Gus actually has a little hair on his legs, but it wouldn't take the flies long to eat thru it.  Poor Quilla's legs are smooth as satin, where the damage is.  He managed to lose one of the wraps the other day.  It was red & John still didn't find it for days, although he looked all over the place.  Found it when he was looking for fly masks....!!! 

The flies aren't too bad yet, but my fly traps are really jamming out.  I've noticed before, this time of year seems to really fill up the traps, then once it gets real hot the traps don't seem to work as well.  

Little Cheyenne is finally starting to look healthy.  She was so thin for awhile I guess because of infection (Naxcel took care of that) & also something wrong with her jaw.  Still don't know if it's arthritis or TMJ, either way she will probably always have to be fed by herself, because she eats slow.  

Pepper choked on his cut up hay one morning.  I worked with him for about an hour, was just getting ready to give him a shot of Banamine, & he acted like he'd cleared..............That means his ears were perky, he was using his head as a battering ram & wanted out of the pen.  John asked if we should let him out.............why not......!!  If we followed the instructions for a choke with him, (one being no feed for 24 hours) someone would probably get hurt.......!!!! LOL

Went out to a friend's place yesterday.  I knew she had a draft, but I had never really been up close & personal with Boomer.  I reached up to feed him some hay & realized I had never seen a mouth that big before, coming right at my hand.  Stacy wasn't home, but when I e-mailed her about our adventure, she said said he takes treats out of her mouth............!!!!   YIKES, she said he's never bit her, although he is a rescue & has flashbacks to when he was abused.  He is over 18 hands tall, that's 6 feet & weighs almost 3000 pounds.  She said riding him is like sitting on a sofa, I can believe it. 

Ruthie is such a pretty girl & a good momma too...!!

The weatherman says, Tucson has had their last night below freezing.  We'll see if he's right for a change.  We usually run about 10 degrees cooler than Tucson, so that would put us in the 20's, which is better than the 18 it was this morning..!!!

Made an appointment to get Boaz's knee looked at again.  It's been debrided or scraped 3 times I think.  It is so close to being healed, but just won't finish the job, & now has developed a small lump on the edge........proud flesh?  Doesn't really look like it, so it's time to have someone look at it again.  I was hoping it would be healed by fly season, but I've already received my first batch of predator wasps from Spalding.  Poor little things, I doubt that any of them survived their outing into the cruel cold world.  That's OK, flies haven't been a problem yet, although I doubt they've all frozen, unfortunately.  

Looks like a couple of the girls will be going out to a new home soon.  

Daisy & Frijolita have both been here for years.  They are bonded, at least Daisy is bonded with Frijolita.  They are going to a home that already has 2 boys in it, one of which is Jacko, one of our alumni.  Daisy has Cushings disease & has to have daily medication, which Laura is willing to furnish.  Laura's animals are her "kids", so this will be a good "forever" home for these girls.

I don't know what Tula will do, the girls are the main members of her herd.  We have talked for years about Tula going to Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue, in Texas.  Mark has leases, that are monitored daily, but allow the donkeys access to hundreds of acres of freedom.  They are rounded up periodically for worming, vaccinations, & general check-up & then can return to their freedom.

Tula has been here about 8 years, & still has a fear of people.  We can put a fly mask on her & work with her somewhat in her pen.  BUT, it is always on her terms.  Emotionally she will never accept people into her life unless she has to.

Being in a "wild" setting would be the best possible life for her.  PVDR has different leases, some for geldings, some for old jacks off the BLM range, & some are for unadoptable jennies, which would work out very well for her.  Mark said bring her whenever we want to.  We'll see how she does after the 2 girls leave.  If she misses them, we'll probably go ahead & take her to Texas, so she can be part of a herd. 

ANOTHER STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Jenny is "out & about" this morning.  My biggest worry is the duct tape boot might wear thru & let dirt get into her foot.  The layers are, gauze in holes, gauze over holes, brown gauze, diaper, duct tape boot, elasticon, duct tape boot, more elasticon.  So it's pretty well covered, but I know from past experience with duct tape boots, they do wear thru after a day or so of walking out here.  I've never had 2 duct tape boots on at once before, so we'll see how it goes.  I'll be able to see wear on the outside boot, so will check it often.  We'll start her out with a couple of hours a day & see how it goes.  She didn't want to come out this morning, guess she thought we were going in the garage for a bandage change...........!!!

John just informed me this morning we have about 35 days of hay left.  That means Jenny's side of the hay barn will be needed for hay pretty soon........!!!!  Been feeding cheap hay, relatively speaking for the last 18 months...........guess the party is over.......!!!!!  

We've about decided to maybe put Jenny in Boaz's pen.  It is the largest pen, largest shelter, & if we put down a lot of straw or shavings it should be pretty soft.  All of her bed sores are gone, she came home with 5 or 6.  I guess Boaz will go in her old pen.  Next month Eeyore the tri-colored mule will probably be coming to stay.  Our neighbor's gave him a home last year, but they are probably moving to Colorado.  Since I was instrumental in them giving him a home, it's the least we can do.  He's in his 30's blind in one eye, not much vision in the other, but still likes to go out & roam.  Maybe he will buddy up with Jack & Rusty.

Sunday we had a couple of tours stop by for a visit.  For the first time Tula actually took a carrot from a man.  I didn't see it, but John said the man was holding the carrot thru the corral panel, & she just walked over & took it., like no big deal  Amazing.......!!!  Over the years usually during an Open House she has taken treats from 3 different women at different times, but never a man.  It will be interesting to see what she does next time. 

I need to try to body clip Daisy.  Because she has Cushings, even though she's on Pergolide she doesn't shed very well, & I've been clipping her the last few years.  Unfortunately right now, I have a splint on one hand & a cast on the other.  Needless to say my dexterity is lacking.  John said he'd try, but I can imagine how that would go, she'd look like a tractor went thru a field without a driver........!!! LOL  It's still not real  hot, so I'll "think" about it for a little while.  Janet you need to come visit......!!!! LOL