AN ANSWER TO THE CASPER PROBLEM........HOPEFULLY.........!!

Yesterday was Casper's day to be out of the pens, and a couple of hours after everyone went out, we got a call from a neighbor, that Casper was down by their place in the road roaming around without a care in the world.......Grrrrrr.........!!!  

Lynn, Linda and I went to retrieve the little devil and as we spread out with a plan, we found out that he doesn't need to find a place he can go under the fence, he basically goes in and out wherever he wants to.  We got him to the pen area and he went in the pen no problem.  Of course we closed the gate on him, so we wouldn't have to spend anymore time rounding him up.  And Gizmo got to go out for the day.  

The neighbor's that tattled on him, came for a visit yesterday afternoon and we got to talking about Casper's little problem.  Actually it isn't his problem it's our problem.  We really don't like to leave them in the pens all the time, but he just doesn't see a need to stay within the property lines.  They have 10 acres that is fenced with horse fence, which is squares about 6 inches square.  Vic is a horse person and had an old mule named Chief, we helped him find a few years ago.  Chief is actually buried on our property.  They said they would be willing to foster Casper.  It's almost perfect, 10 acres, horse fencing, no other equines and they will let him do whatever he wants.  I don't think he'll be able to get out of the horse fence, unless he knows how to climb it, and that is a possibility I guess.  He's surprised us more than once already......LOL

Linda took this picture during yesterday's round-up.  I'm doing my best to look unassuming and not interested in what he is doing.  He's watching me, just before he takes off running past me towards Linda.  I guess he figured out I was probably interested in him after all.  He ran down the road, took a right hand turn, went under the fence and headed for the pen area.  Bad decision on his part, that's when we got him back in the pen and he had to stay there.  I sure hope this works out, it would be a good home for him.  

This is Frijolita and Daisy trying to figure out what the heck we are doing out there.  We hardly ever go down that side of the property especially outside the fence.  

So now little Gizmo can be out all the time.  Maybe he and Casper can visit thru the fence, they will be sharing between our properties.  

Gizmo is very sweet and loves people.  He's going to have to have a special home, where the people will him lots of attention and he has equine friends.  

Linda and I were going to body clip Daisy today, as you can see in the picture she is much shaggier than Frijolita, which is one of the symptoms of Cushings disease.  She has been on medication for years and it does control most of her symptoms, but every year I do have to clip her.  

The reason we didn't is this morning was jacket weather for some reason and the weatherman says cold nights the rest of this week.  I don't think she would appreciate losing her hair in middle of a cold snap, so we'll just wait.  

This is a picture Doug took of Rosie's new shelter, made out of pallets.  For right now they are just using a tarp, but eventually the plan is to cover it with fiberglass roof panels.   Most of the designs you see for these shelters use tarp, but in Arizona they only last one season, if you are lucky.  Sunny Arizona is good for a lot of things but tarp longevity isn't one of them. 

31 DEGREES THIS MORNING....!!

Not sure what these are, the info said India asses, they look like Kulans a type of Onager.  Onagers can not be tamed and are pretty dangerous to work with.  Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue has 4 of them, they picked up as strays a few years ago.  Texas has canned hunt ranches, where people that don't want to waste a lot of time, can go and kill an animal of their choice.  The ones at PVDR probably escaped and of course the ranch wasn't going to go looking for them.  They have to be kept in special high pens because they can jump, anyone working with them have to be aware at all times of where they are.  Mark told me about one of the workers leaning on the fence on one side of their pen a few years ago, talking to someone.  This was a smaller pen only about 30 feet square and the Kulans were on the other side watching him.  He was talking, not paying attention and all of a sudden his arm had been bit and he had been kicked.  By the time he reacted, the Kulan was back with the others, watching him.  Mark said they never tame one little bit.  But they sure are a pretty animal.  

Still not having to put on fly masks, which is a good thing.  At the rate they were tearing them up and losing them, where we couldn't find them, we wouldn't have enough masks to last if the weather stayed warm enough to keep the flies happy.  I'll wait until after the holidays to order masks for next year.  I order in the winter, when Colorful Equine probably isn't as busy.

We had a little bit of excitement around here yesterday.  John and Doug were out doing whatever it is guys do and I was on the computer, as usual.  Doug comes in yelling, couldn't tell what he was yelling about, but it seemed important.   I finally understood that John had fell off the ladder and was laying on the ground.  Memories of about 4 years ago, flashed thru my mind, when John fell off a ladder in the courtyard and compound fractured his arm.  Sure enough, got out to the feed room, where they had been trying to run an antenna thru the roof and ceiling, and he's moaning on the ground.  Said it was his leg, so I started poking and prodding, didn't get much reaction thank goodness.  Although he was a little touchy with the muscle and tendon behind the knee.  Then he complained about his ribs.  Poked them a little bit and not much reaction, so we decided to get him up and standing.  That went good, and except for complaining about not being able to take a deep breath, he was good to go, even did chores.

This morning he's still complaining about breathing, had to cough a couple of times and didn't enjoy that.  But the leg is OK except when he turns the ankle.  So I think he's going to be OK.  Now as to what happened.  For quite awhile after the earlier fall, he wouldn't get on a ladder, then he started getting on one and I guess had become a little too complacent.  Doug had been holding the ladder, but John told him to go in the feed room and see if the antenna was coming thru the hole.  While Doug was gone, John over reached the ability of the ladder to stand on uneven ground and down he went.  I think it's a guy thing.......LOL

Had some real nice people out today to visit with the donkeys and do some grooming. Now that it's cooling off, we're starting to have more visitors.  The donkeys really enjoy getting groomed, some of them like Frijolita will yell and scream until someone grooms on her and then when they go on to someone else, she starts yelling again.  I think she got groomed 3 or 4 times.

UNFORTUNATE SATURDAY NIGHT.....!!

My last night for points in racing did not go well.  Actually that is an understatement.  I only ran 3 laps in the main event before one of the other racers decided to door slam my car.

 This is the damage from him leaning on me. 

This is the damage after I lost control, hit the wall, lost my steering, went back down across the track into the infield.  I might add without hitting anyone or getting hit again.  Slid to a stop and the firemen came over and said "you're on fire, get out".  

Let me say I envy drivers that can get in their car and get all their gear on and organized in nothing flat, or take it off.  I don't happen to be one of them, John usually "dresses" me and makes sure everything is as it should be.  Of course he isn't in the middle of the track, so I start fumbling and bumbling around.  By the time I managed to get everything unhooked, one of the firemen came up with a little bitty fire extinguisher, and put out the fire.  I'm still not out of the car and because of my fire suit pants, probably not going to get out before the races are over...........so........one fireman grabbed under my arms and another one reached in and grabbed my feet, and out I came.  I have no idea what John was thinking, he said he was just glad they got me out.  But I have a feeling it looked like dragging a body out........LOL  The rest of the night so many people came up to ask if I was OK, never thought so many people would care about a crazy old woman.  That was rather nice, considering my car is totaled..!  That was the last point race, and the guy responsible for the damage was 2 points behind me for 5th place.....!!!  hmmmm, I wonder......????   No, surely he wouldn't do it on purpose, would he?  

Of course by the time we got home early this morning, Doug was asleep.  But this morning we heard about how the evening went.  

A few days ago, while we were gone Doug found the gate to Burroland off the post on the back side two days in a row.  We blame Frijolita, she is our gate challenger, although the rest of them seemed to appreciate her efforts and went with her.  We have been limiting their time in Burroland to cut down on their access to mesquite beans.  Guess they decided to take matters into their own "hooves".  

John fixed it and I guess he did a good job.  Doug said when he came out to round them up for evening feeding, everyone was easy to get in, except Lynn and Cheyenne were missing.  Of course he panicked, said he looked all over the 10 acres and they weren't anywhere.  Amy and Morgan came to help feed and clean pens and so the 3 of them started looking.  Amy started yelling she found them.........over in Burroland, headed towards the closed gate to finally come in for supper.  This morning those two were back over on Burroland again.  But, they goofed up, Doug was watching when they came to the fence and tried to get back in from where they had went out.  Heh! heh!  Busted.....!!!  Our land is not exactly flat, there is a lot of difference in the topography and the fence in some areas isn't low enough to stop a determined mini I guess.  That particular spot won't be usable in the future though.  

The flies are really bad right now, I guess they are trying to complete their life cycle before it gets cold.  I don't think they have to be so frantic, it usually doesn't get to freezing around here until late November. 

HE'S NO LAP DOG.......!!!

We've tried to explain this fact of life to Saddik, but so far he doesn't seem to understand the problem.  He really is a nice young dog, whoever dumped him, probably did him a favor, they obviously didn't appreciate him.  He's still taking medication for Valley Fever, the last blood test still had high numbers.  He'll be tested about every 3 months, hopefully next time the numbers will be lower.  

It was 44 degrees here this morning, John is finally giving up on his shorts in the morning.  He puts them on later, but for morning chores he's putting on his usual winter wear AKA sweats.  

Yesterday we had to go to town for the day.  Doug was going to let them into Burroland about 1pm, so they could gorge themselves on whatever there is to eat over there.  He said he went out about 1 and was surprised to not see any donkeys standing by the gate.  Usually they just stand there waiting for someone to fix the problem.  When he got over the wash he saw why no one was waiting.  Somehow they had gotten the gate off the back hinges, enough to give them room to squeeze thru and not need to wait for one of the stupid people to do their job.........!!!  LOL  My first thought was Frijolita, she is our little gate manipulator. 

I guess they were having a good time over here, because when it was time for afternoon round-up, it didn't go smoothly.  In fact Cisco never did come in.  After everyone was fed and he still hadn't showed up, I asked John if he had seen him.  John said he had seen him 2 or 3 times, happily munching away on stuff, so we didn't have to worry about him being down somewhere.  Usually whoever doesn't come in during the round-up will come waltzing in  before we're thru feeding.  After it got dark, John went out to see if possibly Cisco had come across and went in his pen.  No he hadn't but when John was coming back to the house, he saw him coming across the wash.  I'd loved to be able to channel their minds to see what goes on in there.......!!!!  

This morning after chores here comes a County truck thru the gate, hmmmm....... I'd just as soon they stay in their office and play video games, rather than be out trying to justify their jobs.  John was in the hay barn weighing hay and that's where the truck went.  When he left I went out to see what was going on.  John said the permit we got for the hay barn was still open in their files..........REALLY.....???  That was in 2006, guess they ran out of video games.  Or some big boss came thru and saw the back log.  

The BLM does the same thing on their mustang/burro adoptions.  We got a jenny from a family, they had for 4 or 5 years.  We adopted her to a retired vet in California and a couple of years later the BLM got in touch with the original owner saying they wanted to see the donkey to make sure she was being taken care of properly.  ?????????  Where was all that interest and concern, for all those years?  So we had a flurry of phone calls and paperwork going around and around, so their files would look tidy.  They wanted a vet to verify the burro was taken care of, no problem the retired vet's sister is also a vet.  

Now if the BLM spent as much time and effort with the 50,000 mustangs and burros they have in holding pens, with no shade and no room to move around.  Or if they had as much concern for the mustangs and burros that are killed and injured during the round-ups they insist are necessary.  Better quit before I really get mad..........!!!!  

PEARS............????

One of the neighbor's gives out lots of fruit boxes to employees and clients and had a lot of pears left over this year.  He brought a few down a couple of times after Christmas.  Yesterday he called and asked if we'd like some more.  BlackJack is the only one that doesn't like them.  Of course he's the one that will eat chicken nuggets and pizza if given the chance.  He was raised with a little boy, consequently his eating habits needed a little tweeking when we got him. Everyone else thinks they are just fine. They are a little messy to put in their feed bowls, since the bowls are piled on top of each other for ease of carrying and ripe pears are rather soft. 

This time Larry brought probably 25 pounds of pears in assorted stages of ripeness.  I fed them last night and then remembered a friend has a pig she is fattening up for......... well you know.  I have a bet that this is not going to happen, she keeps talking about how cute he is and when it got cold I told her he needed a blanket.  So now he has a blanket.  Does this sound like she is going to be in charge of his murder and then eat the body........??  LOL

She will be here today, so I'm going to see if she thinks the piggie would enjoy the pears, I'm pretty sure he will, pigs don't turn down anything that can be eaten.  I guess I'm a terrible mom, not willing to go thru the mess so they can have a little treat.  Since they all should be on a diet if it wasn't so cold, I don't really feel too bad about cheating them out of a few goodies. Well, not much anyway.....!!!

Janice and a couple of friends are here today grooming and leveling out some dirt in the pens.   I don't know where the dirt goes, I guess it gets picked up with poo and pretty soon you have an indentation that has to have dirt hauled in with the tractor.  However it happens, I hate to step in the holes.  I was going to mention the "pee ponds", and actually did mention it a couple of days ago to John.  Didn't get a "that's a good idea" back.  They have to dug out with the backhoe until you get to a level that hasn't become saturated with pee.  Then it all has to be filled back in with fill from the wash.  Sha'ba and Max the horse had terrible pee ponds, I don't think either of them ever went anyplace else on the property. 

  Most of the donkeys have very good potty manners, at least for peeing, pooing not so much.  Frijolita is a prime example.  She has a pee pond right in the middle of her shelter, which isn't very big.  If we try to put her bunk in the shelter she will throw it out, because that's where her potty place is.  She will hold it till she gets to her spot.  Road apples, she's not so fussy about, she can string a line of poo 60 feet or more..........one at a time.  I've told John walking probably makes the system work better, he thinks she does it just to be irritating......!!!  LOL

LOOKS LIKE AUTUMN IS FINALLY GETTING HERE

How do I judge that?  That lack of stable flies in my fly trap.  For some reason those particular flies seem to have a season.  I don't know if they need the protein for reproduction or what, but that would be my WAG if I was guessing.  With the reduction of stable flies, I'm starting to remove leg coverings and using Swat or Thuja Zinc Oxide instead.  I think we're all looking to the day when the fly masks get washed and put away and no more doctoring.  Not there yet, though.  

This time of year we have plants that have seed pods we've always called stick tights, probably because they travel around by sticking tight to anything they come in contact with.  We have at least 3 types and each one seems to have their own time to be a nuisance.  Obviously there is something tasty where this type grows, it might be the plant itself, I don't know.  Reba has had her nose buried in them for quite sometime, judging from the vast number of the little monsters on her mask.  The fuzzy material obviously is a great gatherer.  They have to be picked off..........one.....at a time..........SIGH!

This is one of the new masks Michele brought out to see how they will work.  The material is really slick and hopefully not as "friendly" to the stick tights.  So far, so good, she comes in with a few, but nothing like with the other mask.  The mask had ear covers, but I had to cut them off.  Reba has more ear than a horse would.........LOL  Besides she's not a fan of having her ears messed with, I would imagine at some time in her life her ears have been used to control her. Love the design..........thanks Michele.

Have a woman interested in coming out to visit with Pancho and Pepsi.  She recently lost a donkey she had for 15 years and said not only does her family miss him, but the neighbors too.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Right now Ruthie, Ruger and Wister are out on weed control duty, but the way our weeds are drying up, it probably won't be long until they come home.  So if we find a home for the 2 boys, we won't have to put up another pen, right now the pens are full. 

Pancho and Pepsi, dropped right in the herd, like they had never left.  Pepsi actually moved in with the other 3 minis.  They were a herd for years and he remembers.  Pancho hangs with them sometimes, although he also hangs out with some of the jennies.

Speaking of jennies, this morning Pepper was up on Penny trying to figure out what he was doing up there.  How the old buzzard can even get up there is amazing.  I asked John how he got down, we're always afraid he's going to fall and break something.  John said he just sort of slid down and his legs held him up.  He's in a good time right now, eating good, moving good for him, laying down on his left side, so he can get up.  He is such an interesting study, lately he's been coming in almost every time with the "A" team.  That's the fast movers with Tula in the lead.  It's a loose knit group, always Tula, Frijolita, Daisy and usually at least one of the boys, BlackJack, Boaz or Quilla.  It's amazing that Pepper can keep up, he's usually in a rear, but he hangs in there. 

100 DEGREES AGAIN........???

 HOW ABOUT JOHN'S SHOES, THEY ALMOST GLOW IN THE DARK.....!!  lol

What happened to cooling off and the end of the monsoon?  Guess we'll have to wait for awhile longer.  I think Tucson had 3 days in a row over 100 degrees this week.  Today is cloudy so it's not going to get so hot, but it might rain.  The closer we get to the week-end the higher the chances for rain, in fact 50% for Saturday, the next race night.  SIGH!

Had good races Labor Day week-end, I won both heat races and both main events, couldn't do much better than that.............LOL  Unfortunately they weren't point races because they added the Hornets just a few days before the week-end.  It wouldn't have been fair to drivers that already had other plans. 

Pepper is still mostly laying down on his left side.  About twice a week he gets down on his right.  Usually it's in the wash where the sand is soft and deep.  Probably because it's so soft, he loses his balance going down and his weak side goes first.  We just take one day at a time, he is still interested in going out and surveying his territory and will let you know if he thinks he's been in the pen too long.  

A couple of days ago, I noticed Boaz had a wound of some kind right below his knee with the scar tissue on it.  I cleaned it up, wrapped it up and this morning removed the bandage.  It looks to me like a rattlesnake strike, the flesh is starting to look icky.  Called the vet and they said bring him right in.  Unfortunately I let him out after I doctored him.  John and I walked all over the place and couldn't find him, so I called them back and said I'd make an appointment Friday if it doesn't look better when I change the bandage then.  John had already hooked up the trailer, so while I was calling, he was putting it back where it belonged.  Came in and told me while he was backing the trailer up, Boaz came waltzing by from somewhere.  Grrrr.!!

Our "fat" farm is growing, the minis and Frijolita are getting added tonight.  We haven't had any rain for awhile, so the "weeds" are drying up pretty quick, although if it rains some more, they will probably perk up again.  Most of the mesquite beans have fallen and we have noticed the donkeys don't eat beans after they have been on the ground and start turning brown, which is a good thing.  Because of the lack of goodies to eat, we're going to try just keeping them in at night and letting them out during the day.  Their necks are getting hard and cresty, so we'll keep watching them and if being out half the time doesn't work, they'll go in for the duration.  The other 6 will continue to stay in 24/7.  Rosie and Buddy Brat are capable of eating enough in a hour to equate what the others eat in 4-5 hours.  Actually Penny and Gigi wouldn't have to be in the pens, but Rosie and Coquette would have an absolute hissy fit, if their best friends weren't with them.  Coquette especially stresses really bad if Penny is out of her sight. 

MORE OF THE SAME

 Courtney made it out last night and was amazed at how much hoof wall everybody had grown, in this monsoon.  And frog, lots of frog, some were as much as 1/2 inch longer than the hoof itself.  So this morning I'm dealing with sad looks and "my feet hurt" looks.  

It's been awhile since Pepper got down on his right side, but this morning he was down in the wash and had been for quite sometime.  

Unfortunately there was a pretty good size limb right above him and I was afraid he wouldn't be able to get up with it there.  So John cut it off, had to take it off in pieces because of the weight.  Didn't want it to fall on Pepper's head.  

 This is Pepper after he got up trying to figure out if there are any beans close enough for him to get to them.  He checked out the limb and you can see in the foreground where he laid long enough to dig a hole with his head and legs.  The hole he digs if he's been down for awhile makes it difficult to flip him over.  He got trimmed last night.  By the time Courtney got to him it was dark, she works with a headlamp.  She came in his pen, petted him, picked up a foot and said, "is this Pepper?"  He has put on so much weight this bean season she didn't recognize him until she looked at his foot.  He is looking really good for him, unfortunately everyone else is putting on weight too.  Frijolita is really plumping up nicely, it will probably take all winter to get the weight off all of them, and then we can do it again next bean season.............SIGH

 

Here is a picture of Miss Reba the mule, with one of the masks Michele fixed.  She wanted to try the dangles to see how they worked.  They seem to be working just fine and one good thing about the mules, they don't lose their masks.  

It looks like we'll be racing Sat and Sun this Labor Day week-end.  Weren't suppose to, but the track put out the word to see if the Hornet drivers were interested.  Most of them are, I'm not really, putting us on the program with less than a week of warning is a little much.  Besides one of our driver's that has to work both days can't come, and she's in 4th place.  She suggested having non-point races, which would be fine, then I wouldn't have to go.............BUT..........I don't trust the track not to change their minds about having points once the drivers get there and start complaining because there aren't any points.  I'd hate to not show up and then find out later they decided to make them points races. 

PLANS ARE ON COURSE.......!!!!

 

No big surprises as yet, everything seems to be going smoothly.  I've got my plane, my car and my first night motel.  For years I've stayed in the same motel between Grandview and Belton.  Everytime I stayed it was a little less welcoming.  The last time, they were working on about half of it and the room I had looked like it should be next on the list.  

That was almost 4 years ago, so I am assuming the renovations are completed and it should be in pretty good shape.  I only made reservation for one night, just in case. 

I think I've got everything planned, so I can visit with all the family.  One whole family of cousins is coming to the visitation e'mass.  That will be great, some of them I haven't seen since we were kids.

Wednesday night, Rod our son, and JR our grandson came out to see Mother one last time before she flew Thursday morning.  I ordered a cedar casket, my stepfather's casket was maple and my Daddy's was knotty pine.  Knotty pine was available, but the cedar caught my eye.  When we got there, the funeral directer started talking about how beautiful it was..........and he was right.........!!  In fact he had shown me the metal casket that he has chosen for himself, but said he thinks he will change his mind.  

John has been following me around when I'm doctoring, so he can learn the drill.  He will do fine, even though he doesn't like to doctor.  

We have been waiting for Penny to decide we aren't going to eat her, when we want to work with her.  She is very distrustful of ropes and halters and we were hoping that over time she'd decide we were OK.  She's better with John than with me, he is around her more.  She has all 4 legs wrapped in polo wraps for fly control.  They stay on pretty good, but every few days, at least one of them will come loose and have to be rewrapped.  The last few times we've wrapped them, I've had John try to put the halter on her without being in the squeeze.  This morning he finally got it on her before she took off.  She isn't really scared of us, and she knows what cookies are and also knows they are always available for good behavior.  And I'm also pretty sure she knows what we want to do..........BUT........she really doesn't want to give up her independence.  So hopefully this morning will be a break thru.......we'll see.........!!!  

When we get thru messing with her, Gigi will be our next victim, her behavior is almost exactly the same.  We can rub her all over, down in her ears, just about everywhere...........as long as we are outside the pen, and she is inside the pen.  John can actually pet her a little, sometimes when he is in the pen with her, but not always and not for long.  

When I get back from Missouri, we were going to take Frijolita and Daisy to a foster home.  Jodie rents a house with horse property that Mother owned in Tucson, actually next door to our son, on 1 1/4 acres.  She wanted to adopt 2 donkeys, but I didn't have any that I thought would work.  So we decided she could foster, which would cut down on our numbers and she could see if she really wanted to have donkeys.  

Yesterday I got an e-mail about 2 donkeys that needed to be rehomed from a non profit that works with at risk children.  They had horses, goats, donkeys, I don't know what all and are getting rid of the animals, because of a loss of donations.  I called Jody, she went out to see them, and decided to take them.  Didn't help us being over our self imposed limit, but, 2 more donkeys will get a good home.  Jody has kids and does foster care, so these donkeys are already "broke in" for working with kids.  John didn't want Daisy and Frijolita to go anywhere anyway.  Do you know how hard it is to run a rescue, when John wants to run it as a sanctuary only? 

QUITE A FEW HAPPY DONKEYS TODAY

Today was grooming day for about half the donkeys and Rusty the mule.  Janice said she had never groomed donkeys before, but she seemed to have a good time and of course the donkeys thought it was great.  I think Quilla wins the prize for the most hair brushed off.  The ground in his pen almost looked like it was covered with snow.  Rusty the mule, is shedding quite a bit too.  Must have something to do with being white, since both of them are mostly white.  She said she would be back, I'm sure the donkeys are hoping she makes it...........!!!! 

I've been trying to get Daisy's annual  body clipping done for the last week, but it hadn't happened.  I figured if Janice could brush I should be able to clip, so I got out my toys, dragged Daisy out of her pen, to the feed room, and went to work.  

This is before I started.  Because of her Cushings disease she does not shed at all.  If I didn't clip her, she would go thru the hot summer with all this hair.  

 ONE SIDE DONE

 BOTH SIDES DONE

FINISHED.............LOTS OF HAIR ON THE GROUND 

I know one of the 1st things you are suppose to do when clipping is make sure your victim is clean.  Most donkeys, I would say all of ours do NOT like water to touch their bodies, so I just grit my teeth and clip whatever is there.  When I got done I came in and ordered a new set of blades...........!!! LOL  I brushed some of the rocks, gravel and dirt out, but there was still quite a bit.  Now I will have 2 sets of blades, once I get the old ones sharpened again.  I had them sharpened last year, but they don't stay sharp long if you don't take care of them.  

Poor Daisy, by the time I got done, all her buddies like Tula and Frijolita had disappeared.  First she had to scratch and bite all over her body.  I guess getting the hair off made it easier to scratch itchy places.  Then she started yelling to find her friends.  The problem is, when the donkeys yell to find the others, the missing ones never answer them, same with the mules.  Jack the mule use to yell for Rusty and I don't think Rusty ever answered him.  Now if Rusty loses Reba he yells for her, same deal. 

WORMING DAY........!!!

 

Not exactly the type of face that presented itself for worming this morning.  Although Rosie and Gigi surprised me.  I figured they had never been wormed, but judging by the way they grabbed the wormer tube and hung on, I think they knew what was going on.  Thank goodness they were getting the apple flavored instead of the "ugh" flavored cheap stuff.  When our Tractor Supply opened a few months ago, they had a lot of specials.  One was good tasting wormer at more than half price off, so I got all they would let me buy.  Unfortunately their limit didn't cover the amount of animals and mules we have.  So I had to pick and choose who got the good stuff.  The others got double cookies afterwards.  

I have heard that mules are a conflicted animal from birth, they aren't horses and they aren't donkeys, so they have an internal battle all their lives.  We knew Rusty was going to be a pain, he always is, but when we walked in the mule pen, Reba almost knocked John down getting out.  Unfortunately for her, she only ended up in Tula's pen next door.  John really needs to stay light on his feet and pay attention to his surroundings or he's going to look like road kill one of these days.  Reba's big enough to make a dent......!!! LOL 

Justin is always a little pain in the butt, we have to chase him around the pen about 5 or 6 times, then he hides his head in the corner and I put the halter on him. 

Penny had to go into the squeeze, and while she was there I had to adjust her legging.  It is almost impossible to wrap a leg above and below the knee with a polo wrap effectively and she has fly damage above the knee unfortunately.  She doesn't mind the polo wraps thank goodness, putting them on with her on one side of a corral panel and me on the other, is a good way to break a hand or wrist if she decides to freak out and act stupid.  But she stood still, although afterwards refused to take an animal cracker from me.  Guess she wants to keep her independence.  No problem with Coquette, we couldn't hardly work with Penny in the squeeze, because of Coquette outside the squeeze.  I ask her if she was a nurse.  She had already had her wormer and really thought she should continue getting cookies.......!!

Starting tonight Ruthie is going to be eating with her boys, Ruger and Wister.  She is not holding her weight being with Frijolita at feeding time.  I thought they both ate at about the same speed, but guess not.  Frijolita is a real "Hoover" when it comes to food. 

LOOKS LIKE I'M BEHIND..............AGAIN.......!!!

No matter what my good intentions are, it seems like I just get farther and farther behind.  I was shocked when I checked the blog and found out it had been 5 days since I updated.  

Well actually there hasn't been a whole lot going on to write about.  Just the usual, had to take Pepper to the vet yesterday for a choke........again.  This is about the 6th time and we really couldn't tell if he had cleared or not.  In fact the phone calls to the vet were getting silly.  "Can we bring him in", "Don't need to bring him in, he's cleared".  "Maybe not, can we still bring him in?"  Finally I said let's just take him.  Nancy isn't there on Thursdays, and without a mobile vet in the area to cover, we didn't have much choice. 

Of course by the time we got there, he looked like a race horse in the gate ready to run, eyes bright, ears up and trying to knock us down.  Nancy said he looked pretty comfortable to her and we all decided not to tube him.  He has to be drugged and then it's still a wrestling match, none of us wanted to do again, since the last time.......!!! LOL

Gigi is still doing good.  We've been letting them out in the afternoon for a few hours and surprisingly they haven't been a problem to get in at all.  In fact sometimes Rosie is the first one in.  She is one strange gal.  

Our corral panels are finally coming home Friday.  We loaned them out last summer and finally had to borrow panels from some friends.  We didn't even have an extra panel to build a "redneck" squeeze to work with Rosie and Gigi.

When we started the corral shuffle, we put Boaz and Ruthie together to eat.  Almost every feeding John would have to put a halter on her to get her to the pen.  A couple of days ago she went in Frijolita's pen and wouldn't move.  Frijolita didn't seem to care, so we decided to feed Rosie in there.  It's working out just fine, she goes in there and waits for John to come with the cookie.  Probably part of the draw is, Wister and Ruger are in the next pen, at least Wister, she doesn't like him to be out of her sight.  We've got more donkeys eating together than ever before.  We're getting ready to jumble them around again.  Gigi and Rosie can't continue eating together.  When one animal is 200 pounds overweight and the other is almost underweight, it is pretty clear what's going on.  

So Quilla is going to BlackJack's old pen, which is actually an emergency pen, without shelter.  Rosie will move to his pen, and Gigi will have a pen of her own.  Rosie is going to start going out with the rest of the donkeys day and night.  We'll keep Gigi in overnight for awhile, so she can rest if she needs to and have more time to eat.  She's more than willing to move around when the gates are opened.  I hope that means she is more comfortable than she was. 

GOT MY COMPUTER BACK.....!!!

Well, Wednesday I was on the internet and the monitor went black, instantly.  OK, no problem John was going to town, bring me back a monitor.  Hmmmm.............still nothing.  John worked electronics for over 30 years, so he knows about all that wiggle the wires and make sure everything is plugged in.  Nothing........!!!

I took it to a local guy yesterday and he said he'd look at it last night.  This morning I called and he said he hooked it up last night and it worked fine..........!!! He said he'd look at it some more and he'd get in touch with me Monday..............!!!!!   WHAT..........?????   He didn't understand, e-mails were building up even as we spoke.  I told him I really needed to have it before Monday.  So being the nice guy he was he brought it out this morning and sure enough, plugged it in and it's working just fine.  Grrrr.........!! I hate electronics.....!!!  Anyway, it is now working, hopefully it will continue.

Yesterday Courtney came out to do some trimming and Martha came out to see if she could make Gigi more comfortable.  Actually Gigi is doing pretty good I think.  She's not laying down as much and seems to be able to get around easier than before.  Of course she doesn't have 3 pounds of hoof material hanging on the front of her feet anymore either.  She wasn't too sure about all this rubbing and massaging, although she did finally start leaning into Martha a little bit.  

After Martha got through with Gigi we started walking around visiting with the donkeys.  Martha and Pepper have a history, she's massaged him before.  She was quite impressed with how much weight he has gained since the last time she saw him.  She did a little hands on with him and then started to walk off..........not going to happen.  Pepper got right behind her wherever she went, until she did a little more work.  He is such an interesting old character.

Courtney was doing her trimming and we put Ruthie in with Frijolita because she was in the way when Courtney was trimming her two youngsters, Wister and Ruger.  When Courtney went in to do Frijolita, Ruthie wouldn't get out of the way, she was right in Courtney's hip pocket.  Finally Courtney picked up a foot and started up the power tools to get rid of her.  Ruthie just stood there like a statue.  I don't think we've ever had her trimmed before and I seriously doubt if she's been trimmed in the past if it was done with power tools.  They can be such amazing animals, especially if you think you know what they are thinking.  Many times you will be wrong.   LOL 

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. 

FRIJOLITA HAS A NEW NAME.......!!!

We have been calling her Frijole Grande, "little bean" she isn't right now.  She has always been a food whore, seems like she can reach someone else's hay bunk no matter how far it is away from the corral panels.  She's been known to push on the panels to get to where she thinks she needs to be.......wherever the food is.   She can also open some of the gates, usually quicker than we can stop her.

Actually the beans on the 10 acres are disappearing quickly.  They are still shaking trees and listening for the wind to blow beans down, but judging from their poo the pickin's are getting rather slim.  They are all still on short rations of hay, so far no complaints, so I assume they aren't that hungry.  

The skin problems are getting better thank goodness.  I started giving Jack the mini mule allergy pills, and he's looking much better, although we still grease him up with Thuja Zinc Oxide every morning.  

Poor old Pepper, the last few times he's been down and thrashed around trying to get up have really been hard on his bony old body.  It seems there are 6 prominent bone protrusions on his shoulder, hip and legs and he has all of them raw and hairless.  The one on his shoulder is really sore, poor old guy.  I am putting Underwood Horse Medicine on them twice a day and they are getting better pretty quick.  But if he goes down again, (he was down yesterday) he'll tear up all the healing.

I ordered a Sleazy Stretch Pajama for him yesterday.  Found a cheap one to see if I can rig up something to help protect those areas.  The PJs fit real tight, which in itself might be a problem, then of course there is getting caught on trees and bushes.  But it's bright purple, so hopefully we'll be able to find him easier when he's down.  I've thought of attaching a foam circle on the inside of the PJs, at least on the shoulder, that would go around the sore area.  That way if he goes down there wouldn't be as much pressure on it.  I'll see, when it gets here, if I can come up with something brilliant.......well maybe just effective......!!! LOL

We have discussed Pepper a lot.  We will not let him lose his freedom and his ability to be Pepper.  He has such a strong personality, but I'm afraid his body is going to give out before he's ready to go.  Not something I like to think about, but is the reality of the situation.  In a perfect world, we would go out one morning to find him gone on his own.  He's such an energizer bunny, mentally I doubt that will ever happen.  We will do whatever necessary to allow him to be himself as long as possible.  But we will not torture him to keep him here. 

Wister is becoming a big boy

Wister is becoming a big boy....!!!  Thanks Jamie for the picture

I think we got 3 or 4 sprinkles this morning about daybreak, so now we have humidity.  That seems to be all we get.  All of our friends in different areas have gotten inches of rain, we barely have 1/2 inch total.............!!!!  When it's humid for days at a time, the pens start smelling like an outhouse.  Although the pens are picked up daily, & we cover the "pee ponds" with dirt, the humidity lets us know the pee is still there right under the surface.  If it gets really bad, John will use the back hoe & dig out the pond, sometimes he has to go 2 or 3 foot deep to get it all, & bring in fresh dirt/gravel.  

I seem to be getting a handle on the skin problems for the most part.  We're still taking Gus in tomorrow for a scraping, even though I'm managing to keep his legs dry using Columbia Vet Powder, which is powdered zinc oxide.  

This is Jack the mini mule's shoulder, both sides & his belly looks like this.  Never has been wet or gooey, he had raised welts about the size of a pea & the hair sloughed off to this.  He's the only one that has this condition, all the rest are legs, except for the dry flakes, some of them have on their necks & backs.  

Still fighting the battle of the mesquite beans, no one is interested in coming in to eat, & more than likely will leave hay.  John has cut what he's feeding them at least in half, some of them even more than half.  So if they usually get 5 pounds of hay a day they are getting 2 1/2 pounds or less.  They don't seem to care at all..........brats......!!!  

Buddy was looking so svelte, at least for him.  It will probably take all winter to get the weight he's put on off again.  

BlackJack & Frijolita both have crests normally & they are getting bigger.  I'd really hate to have to pen them, but it might come to that if the beans last much longer.  Makes me wish we had a dry lot. 

GOOD DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.........!!!

This morning little Wister got to go out with his momma.  He's a little gimpy, but I don't think keeping him in would make a difference.  He was so happy to go out, his little tail was going 90 miles an hour, as he followed Ruthie over to Burroland.  Haven't seen them since.  

Went ahead and let Jill out to explore.  My main concern with her is she hasn't had access to mesquite beans.  She doesn't strike me as the "over the top" type, like Pepper and some of the others are.  Pepper maybe old and may be crippled, but he can hear a mesquite bean hit the ground at 50 yards.  She is very mellow and cooperative in other areas, so I assume she isn't going to go out and immediately start on a bean hunt.  I just don't want her to go out and gorge on them the first day or two and get a belly ache.  We'll see what her poo looks like in the next couple of days.  It would be nice if she would follow Frijolita around, because "Little Bean", leaves no bean behind.  There wouldn't be much left for Jill to eat.  

This morning we had a shock.  Everyone showed up except for Jack the mini mule.  Jack is usually one of the 1st ones here at mealtime, but no Jack.  Molly was standing looking over at the neighbor's place, John went over there, but didn't even find any hoofprints.  I envisioned him laying someplace with a mesquite bean induced belly ache. 

Once we got everyone rounded up and I got breakfast ready, John pressed on with feeding and I went on a mule hunt.  Twenty acres of Burroland is really a lot of fun to cover, hopefully not missing your quarry.  I finally found him walking along the fence line with another neighbor..........!!  They seemed to be having a real nice walk.  I had a halter and lead with me, BUT, that wasn't going to happen.  So I started twirling the lead & making him move.  It took awhile to get him headed in the right direction.  He is a fast little devil and could cover a lot more ground than I could, which didn't help the situation, when he decided to head the wrong direction.  FINALLY he decided I wasn't going to leave him alone and he took off for the pen area.  Went in his pen like it was his idea........!!!   Grrr.....!!!  I didn't really need all that exercise..!!!

1ST HORNY TOAD OF THE SEASON........!!!

I've always loved these little guys.  I spent a lot of time when I was a kid, catching them & finding an ant hill for them.  I'm sure they could find ants to eat without my interference, but for some reason I thought it was necessary to "help" them.

We usually only see a few each year, when I was a kid in west Texas they were everywhere.  I would imagine a lot of donkey feet pounding the ground isn't conducive to having horny toads habituating with them.  Very rarely see any snakes either.  

The toads here are different than the ones in Odessa, Texas, ours were more sandy colored rather than an off gray color, & had spines on their backs.  These have spines all around their head, but their body is relatively smooth. 

Everything is going pretty good right now for a change.......well except for cute little Wister & his favorite past time.......removing fly masks from anyone that will hold still.  His poor long suffering Mom, Ruthie pays the price when they are in their pen to eat.  She can't get away from him, & the next thing we hear is the sound of velcro  being ripped apart.

BlackJack has been coming in without a mask for the last few days.  Really didn't think Wister was that brave, but you never know.  The mesquite beans are getting ripe & the donkeys know it.  John caught BJ, sticking his head into the middle of mesquite trees, & shaking the trunk to make the beans fall.  Our thought is, when he pulls his head back, chances are the masks are getting caught & off they come.  I think there's 3 of his out there right now.  

We've already started cutting down on hay because of the beans & watching poo piles with a judgemental eye.  Coquette, Penny, Frijolita & Daisy have already went on short rations.  We have to be careful not to cut too much hay, because they need to eat hay to make sure the beans don't go thru their system in a ball.  The local rancher said he has found cow skeletons with a ball of beans as big as a basketball,  they couldn't pass.  I hope we don't have to put any of them in pens until the beans are gone.  Poor little Buddy usually has to spend the summer in the pens, letting us know how mistreated he is every time he sees us go out of the house. 

Well, she's out & about & moving at a pretty quick step.  She has been very upset that she couldn't go out with the other donkeys.  By the time John let her out this morning, they had all disappeared, so she is running around trying to find them.  John just went out to see if he could find HER.....!!!  LOL  I have a feeling getting her back into her pen this afternoon MIGHT be a little bit of a challenge.  She doesn't take directional signals very well, & moves fast enough that us lowly humans probably won't be able to keep up.

Tyler is going to try to come out Tuesday afternoon to trim her feet before she goes to her new home, Thursday.  Yesterday I haltered her & tied her up to see how she is with her feet.  Not too good, in fact I was trying to pick up a front foot & she is kicking backwards with a hind foot, basically having a temper fit.  I let her know that I really didn't appreciate this behavior, & we came to an agreement, that she would let me hold up a front foot for a second or two.  

I decided I wasn't that interested in picking up a back foot, but would like to see how sensitive she was to being touched.  I got a stick about 4 feet long, put a glove on it & touched her everywhere, she didn't even cringe or move.  So I guess everything is OK, except picking up feet.

Last night when John shut her pen off from the other 5 pens she had access to all day, she spent quite sometime banging the gate hard, & kicking out that hind foot.  I guess that's her temper foot........!!!

The people said she's been eating bermuda hay, but so far she isn't much interested in it, although she is eating the Lakin Lite & beet pulp mush.  I even tried her on a little alfalfa this morning, which she picked out of the bermuda.  We've had a couple of incidents of hyperlipidemia over the years, & Louise died unfortunately.   It isn't normal for an equine not to eat if food is available, so I hope she eats tonight after being able to run around all day.

This morning John played "musical pens", much to the confusion of Frijolita, Daisy, Jack & Molly.  Gus & Quilla are coming back tomorrow after being up in Phoenix since last fall.  Gus likes structure in his life, which equates to having a shelter.  We decided to put Gus & Quilla in Frijolita & Daisy's pens, where there are permanent shelters.  The 2 mules went to a pen John & Steve built last week out of half of Buddy's pen.  Frijolita & Daisy, went into the 2 pens the mules had been using.

Needless to say they were all confused, since they had done their part, by being in their pens when John went out this morning, waiting for treats & breakfast.  It went OK, but I'm sure they thought he'd lost his mind.  Probably won't go any smoother tonight, & then we'll have the added fun of getting Eloise back in her pen.......!!  I think we'll start early.....!!! LOL

This is what Boaz's knee looked like after 2 days of not putting Thuja Zinc Oxide on it to keep it soft....!!

Dr.Nancy making it bleed.......!!!

I let it dry out, so she could see what it does if I don't "doctor" it.  She actually thought it had come a long way, but did find a little bit of proud flesh to cut off. Said I should keep it bandaged.........Sigh......!!  He is very good at either tearing them completely off or wearing holes in them.  She said rather than changing bandages every day or so, to leave them on until they wear out or fall off.  So I guess I'll see how long I can keep one on there.  She thinks it will eventually heal over, I hope so.  Fly season is coming & it's bad enough without having open sores to deal with.  

Looks like Heloise might be coming to visit us this Friday.  For right now I wouldn't feel comfortable for Frijolita & Daisy to go down into "vet deprived" country, which the Elfrida & Gleeson area is.  They just have too many health issues to not have a convenient vet.  I told Laura maybe in the future, but in the meantime I would keep my ears open for a couple of jennies that were healthy & having a vet in the neighborhood wouldn't be quite so important.  This morning I heard about a family moving out of state that can't take Heloise with them.  Haven't heard back from Laura if she is interested, but it sounds like it would be a good "fix" for everyone.