PROBABLY NOT CASPER'S FAVORITE DAY..........!!!

You would think going to the dentist was the most fun day to do today for the herd.  John drove the truck and trailer up in the driveway, came in the house and this is what it looked like when we went out to load Casper.  Not sure who is in the trailer, might be Boaz.  Linda is in the middle, not easy to see her.

 This is me taking a picture of Linda taking a picture of Dr. Debra working on the little man.  She is proud of the fact that she has never had to "drug" a mule to do their teeth.  Well, the little guy didn't ruin her record, he was pretty good, except for trying to crunch her hand in his mouth.  She has special gloves so it wasn't a big deal.

A woman came over and said Hi Tish..... I am terrible with names and faces, always have been and age hasn't helped the problem.  Actually we had never met, BUT, she was instrumental is saving Rosie and Gigi from being shot and buried, she called to see if we could save them a few years ago.  She said she has been keeping up with Casper's story too.  It was nice to finally meet her and get to thank her for getting involved.  Can't imagine not having these girls around.  

There was also a couple there headed home to California from a cutting horse show in Ft. Worth.  They had stopped off at the sale barn, where Dr. Debra works when she comes to Benson.  I think they would have loaded Casper up, when they left if we had said yes.  We were all teasing around, but I got the idea that they would have taken him.  He is a cute little bugger.  Mike Robertson owns the sale barn and said he remembered Casper and thinks every time he came thru the complaint was, he tried to fight with horses.  He's not even looked at the donkeys cock eyed, the only problem we have is going thru the fence to eat grass at the neighbor's yard.  Found out yesterday, that although he's been caught 3 times, he's been over there more than that.  But he seems to be making an effort to not upset us, by making sure to be on this side of the fence when we might catch him, otherwise...........!!!  LOL

This was one of their horses.  He might not look as impressive here as he did in person, but he was gorgeous.  Wasn't too impressed at having Casper where he could see him.  If horses have never seen a donkey or mule, or a mini, sometimes they will absolutely freak out.  This horse was jumping and bucking in a small pen.  Then he'd stop, blow and snort.  After a couple of minutes of acting like a nut, then he was fine.  In the same situation if a donkey saw something that was that scary, they would probably freeze and look at it.  

 Mike Robertson, John, Lynn, Dr. Debra and Cheyenne, chowing down on "real" grass....!!

This is a picture from when we took the girls in for "dental" day.  Mike Robertson owns the local sale barn, and lets Dr. Debra work there when she comes to Benson once a month.  That works out well for her, she doesn't have to drive all over the county, her patients have to come to her.  

Mike is a very special person, I don't think I've ever met anyone that is as amiable as he is.  Considering he runs a sale barn, which means he is in contact with lots of people on a regular basis and has been for a long time, it's amazing how kind and generous he is.  He's the one that wrote a book of short stories taken from his life, called what else............Cowboy Stories. 

I can't say either of the girls were little angels, in fact they both got happy shots, because of bad uncooperative behavior.  There isn't a lot of room in their mouths anyway, and Lynn insisted on chowing down on Dr. Debra's arm.  Cheyenne was just bratty.  Lynn's mouth was pretty good considering she has a lot more teeth than she has room in there.  One of the problems with breeding for down sizing, the teeth didn't get the memo.  Cheyenne has problems chewing, and has had for a couple of years, so she gets mush and a little hay to play with.  We found out she is using the hay to pack into her cheeks to protect from her teeth.  Her lowers aren't lined up as they should be for side to side chewing and the uppers have worn in such a way that they are long on the outside of the lowers, so long in fact that she can't chew sideways like they normally do.  If Dr. Debra had taken off enough of the uppers, so she could chew sideways, she wouldn't have much tooth left.  So she took off the sharp points and a little of the length on the lowers, so they wouldn't continue cutting into the roof of her mouth.  

Today we went into Dr. Nancy's to make an appointment to get the neighbor's dog body clipped.  Boofer is some type of long haired cattle dog.  Last fall he managed to get completely covered with stick tights, which with the long hair makes for a tangled mess.  He is basically feral, he will let you pet him, but if you have anything in your hands like scissors or make any move other than one hand to pet, he's gone in a flash.  So this isn't going to be easy.  They loaned me a rabies noose and gave me some sedative to be given in a muscle.  Our plan is............he is deathly afraid of gun shots, whenever he hears them, he finds John and becomes his shadow.  We will first try to get him in the garage, get the noose on him and stuff him in a crate.  If that doesn't work, we'll have Doug shoot off a gun outside the garage, which usually turns him into a puddle.  Our appointment to get him clipped at the vet depends on if we can get him in a crate or not.  Once he's in the crate, they can gas him at the clinic.  If we can't get him in the crate, we'll have to figure out something else.  He is so matted, I'm sure he's got sores, doesn't stop him from running all over the place like he belongs here.  I'm going to take my big Stewart clippers, in case they want to use them, instead of ruining their clippers.  I'm sure there is a little bit of everything in those mats, including rocks........!!! 

As of this morning everyone has fly masks on.......!!!!

2014 IS ALMOST OVER........!!!

We have one of these, named Snooky.  So far he hasn't figured out how to get the roll off the holder, but he can sure cover the floor with little fluffy pieces of toilet paper.

I can't believe we are still putting fly masks on, the donkeys that have immune issues.  The few flies left after our 20+ degree mornings, have no problem finding those and if we don't put the masks on, they end up with goopy eyes.  

The last few days have gone so smoothly, it's almost boring, no major crisis' or minor catastrophes, "knock on wood".  I don't mind the crisis', but I appreciate it when the donkeys with issues are having good days. 

Penny goes in this week to have Dr. Debra evaluate her teeth and see if there is anything else that can be done to make her mouth better.  I'm sure Penny isn't going to appreciate this attention.  Last time it took almost an hour to pull a bad tooth, and I'm sure she remembers the experience very well.  It also looks like one of us will be hauling her, rather than the usual both of us.  Our appointment is at 9am in town about 13 miles away.  We try to get appointments between 11am and 2pm, but that isn't always possible.  With 24 animals to feed and take care of, especially this time of year when they don't want to move until the sun is up and warm, early doesn't work for us.  So I guess one will haul and one will round up and feed, haven't decided who does what yet though. 

BACK IN THE GROOVE

Didn't take Ruthie and the boys long to get back in the routine.  Yesterday morning when everyone came in, I looked out and here came John looking like the Pied Piper, with Ruthie and the boys right in his hip pocket.  I wish I had the camera, but of course as usual when a Kodak moment occurs I wasn't prepared.  

So this morning, I had the camera with me when I went out.  Of course they were over in Burroland rather than dogging John's heels.  They had been ignoring John, but when I came out they thought I might have a goodie, so here they came.  

The cold nights are slowing the flies down, but they certainly aren't gone.  John has been taking the fly masks off at night now and that's working out OK.  The mornings are cold enough the flies don't get moving very early.  

We will be taking Reba the red mule into Benson today to get her teeth checked.  She is about 31 years old and lately has been a little reluctant to take horse treats.  They are hard as concrete, but before she thought they were great.  So we'll take her to Dr. Debra to have a look.  Hope she doesn't have to have any teeth pulled, that's almost as traumatic as gelding for me.  And I'm sure they don't enjoy it either. 

THIS MONSOON IS GETTING OLD.........!!!

 A GIRL AND HER HORSE

Almost every night at feeding time the rains have been rolling in, which makes for grumpy donkeys and grumpy people.  

Last night it was almost dark by the time John managed to get "almost" everyone rounded up.  Boaz decided he didn't want to, so we ignored him until everyone else had been fed.  By that time it was flashlight dark and he is dark brown.  I was hot on his trail, until he took a turn and I never saw him again.  I covered most of the 10 acres, never saw hide nor hair of him.  Did find 3 skunks roaming around too.  They didn't seem overly upset, although the tails were high in the air as they toddled off. 

So far this afternoon it's sunny, but these thunderstorms don't take long to build up and rain enough to make the wash run.  

Dr. Debra asked if I could send her a couple of pictures of Penny and write a little bit about her story.  I sent it back to her last week I think it was and I got her latest e-mail newsletter  today.  Maybe her story will make some donkey owners aware that they need just as much care as horses do.