Update.....!!!

 Cheyenne converting an admirer, thanks Jamie for the picture...!!

Rusty is on the mend, he's been kept in his pen the last few days to not only monitor his intake and out put, but to keep him away from the beans.  

Yesterday morning Rusty had "puddin nose" on one side.  I called Dr. Megan had said call her if there was any changes, so I did even though it was Saturday.  She said start him on Tucoprim, and also said she had thought the "colic" was probably a secondary problem.  She had said his lungs sounded a little noisy, Friday when we took him into the clinic.  

So he's been getting his Tucoprim mixed into applesauce, dumped into his mush.  I was going to just mix the Tucoprim into the mush, but for some reason he isn't eating it very well right now.  Loves his hay, but John had been "chumming" his bermuda hay with a little alfalfa.  Unfortunately the little bit of alfalfa hay we had is now gone, so he'll just have to eat bermuda.  Might let him out for an hour or so before afternoon round-up this afternoon, surely he won't be able to get into too much mischief in an hour.  

Day before yesterday Jill's former Mom called after she got a letter I wrote her, questioning her surrendering Jill to us, without first asking.  I don't think she still sees that asking someone to take care of Jill until they find a new place to board her, and then sending a surrender letter a week later, is a little bit out of the "norm".  She said that when they won the bid for Jill at the local auction, Lisa one of the owners of the auction house came to them and said if they ever wanted to rehome Jill, she would be interested.  I told the woman there wasn't a problem with Jill staying here until we found a home for her, but if she wanted them involved, to have them call me.  

Mike the other owner of Robertson Horse Sales called me and said they had someone that would give her a real good long term home that had been looking for a nice donkey like her.  We talked for awhile and I decided that this would probably be a good home for her, so John hooked up the trailer and we hauled her to them.  I told Mike that we wanted her to come back here if it didn't work out, and he agreed.  So we're again down to only 2 donkeys over our limit.........!!!  

Seems like I spend more and more time every morning doctoring, mostly stable fly damage.  Poor Quilla has polo wraps on all 4 legs as of this morning.  I'd been keeping ahead of the stable flies on his rear legs, but noticed this morning they had battled thru my chemical barriers and drawn blood.  When it's humid it seems like the flies really are bad.  Penny's front legs are bare like Quilla's and at first I thought it was probably fly damage.  But the flies don't bother her at all hardly, although her legs are both scarred.   As "squirrely" as she was with her front legs, when she came, I have a sneaking suspicion someone has roped her front legs, because there are actual wound scars on her legs unlike Quilla's that are just bare.  

Little Jack the mini mule is another one the flies or something seems to love.  He has round swollen places about the size of a dime all over his shoulders, and some on his belly, and of course the usual stable fly bites on his front legs.  Every year I buy 6 jars of Thuja Zinc Oxide to last me thru the summer, but this year I'm going to have to reorder it looks like.  Coquette also has some of the same stuff Jack has, and an added problem that seems to be some sort of skin condition.  It's dry, flaky, and builds up on her neck and behind her shoulders running down into her "armpit".  This morning I combed all the residual build up off and greased her up with zinc oxide.  It doesn't seem to bother her much if at all, but if you run your hands across it, the dry flaky stuff just flies.  Dr. Megan said we could do a scraping to find out what it is, but so far I've been able to keep it under control.  I can use that money to buy more zinc oxide.....!!! LOL  Same thing with whatever Cisco and Boaz  have on their legs.  I'm pretty sure what they have is called jack sores.

Although the experts lump jack sores, summer sores, & habronema all together as one, I'm not really sure they are.  I'm certainly no expert, but I can spot habronema larvae damage at 20 "paces", it looks like it looks.  What Cisco & Boaz have is an area covered with gooey serum, if you pull on the hair it comes right off the skin without leaving an open sore.  It's generally below the knee & above the fetlock, on the outside of the canon bone.  A couple of days of Underwood Horse Medicine and the hair starts coming back in and usually they don't have another break out in that area until the next year.  And what are the little closed circles that Jack the mini mule has?   

BOY, WE'RE HAVING FUN NOW.......!!!

We spent this morning at the vet, with Rusty the big white mule.  He's been rather lethargic the last couple of days, not much interested in eating, unless we bribed him with alfalfa mixed in with his bermuda hay.  

Of course none of them are very interested in eating hay and mush right now because of the beans.  John keeps saying they are about gone, then the wind blows and a new batch blows down, which of course causes a feeding frenzy.

They have become a little bit more cooperative about coming in, although not enough to make it a quick process.  At least Penny and Coquette finally realize that one of us will be dogging them for the rest of their lives if they don't go thru that gate and head for the pen area.  But we have to instigate the movement towards the gate, which means we have to find them.  

Dr. Megan said Rusty was her first official probable mesquite bean colic this season, I doubt if he will be her last.  He had no gut sounds when we went in although he did have some faint ones yesterday.  Decent looking poo, a little dehydrated, relatively perky, and he peed in the trailer.  He got tubed and we're suppose to try to get him to drink this week-end, dehydration can really be a problem.  She doesn't want him eating unless it's a watery mush, which I have a feeling isn't going to be a real big hit with Rusty, he has definite ideas about how food should be served.  

Got an interesting letter yesterday from Jill's family.  They sent a letter of surrender and said they were giving her to us......!!!!   HUH?  Not even a request, guess no good deed goes unpunished.......!!! She is a very nice donkey, big enough to be rideable with very good manners.  Oh! well I'm sure we will be able to find a better home than being in a boarding situation.   

BRATS...........!!!

If anyone in my presence EVER says the best way to exercise your cardio-vascular system is to go to a gym or use a treadmill, I will personally slap them in the face & if they stand still slap them again.......!!!

The last couple of days, round-up has been......well, interesting.  Mesquite beans & access to them, obviously erodes the mental capacity of equines, especially donkeys & mules.  

Each round-up has gotten more involved.  Not everyone participates in the "let's exercise the humans, they look like they need it" games, but the ones that do, have gotten more determined to NOT go in their pens.  

Jill, new kid, bless her heart, goes in her pen when she sees John walk out the door to start the game.  Actually most of them go in pretty good............except for........... Jack & Molly mini mules, Reba & Rusty big mules, BlackJack who knows better, and Coquette & Penny the 2 girls from the Milagros rescue......!!!  All of these animals have gone in their pens like little angels, BJ has been doing it for something like 13 or 14 years without a problem.  He was a little PO'ed at me because I had the audacity of smack his rather broad butt 4 times in quick secession with a riding bat & decided to make us pay.  The others we couldn't get close enough to throw a rock, let alone smack with anything..........Grrr......!!!  

Molly becomes a darting running machine, Jack follows along like he doesn't know what's going on, but is willing to participate.  If you try to get him in the pen by himself, he has to go find Molly, wherever she is.  BlackJack we basically ignored, he's too lazy to invest much effort into being "wild & free".  Reba & Rusty were just trying out their independence, so they weren't that big a problem.  

Coquette and Penny were horrible, so our big problems were 2 groups of two.  Two people trying to control 4 animals on 30 acres, or even 10 acres once we got Coquette and Penny  thru the gate so we could close it isn't easy.  I have no idea how far we walked, ran, tripped over rocks & darted thru the mesquite trees, hopefully ducking when needed, but it took about 1 1/2 hours.  Of course all this time the others are in their pens, yelling when they saw us because breakfast wasn't forthcoming...........!! 

Short term, I guess you could say they won, long term (at least once they went in their pens) the mini mules & the Milagros girls are going to be staying in their pens for a few days, to hopefully remind them of where they are suppose to go, when we ask them to, and to also give us a rest, we're both wore out.......!!! LOL

Courtney came out last night to trim those that needed it.  Cisco has self trimmed for years, but recently he's slowed down quite a bit and I noticed recently that his hooves were getting pretty long.  Not only was he really long, but he had a huge rock caught crosswise in one of his hooves, that can't be comfortable.  Courtney said that if it had been in there a long time he might pop an abscess, so we'll be watching him for the next few days.  

Gus is ouchy this morning, she didn't really do very much to him at all, but I guess it was enough to make a difference.  He is so hard to keep comfortable, he has to be kept longer than normal, but there is a fine line between long enough & too long.  

Wister got a little trimming too.  I think he is over his sore fetlock, except for when he lays down.  When he gets back up he's ouchy & limping for the first few steps.  But in just walking around he's good, even turning is OK.  

Rusty the big white mule even got trimmed for the 1st time in about 7 years, since he came here.  He has been real good about self trimming, but lately he had chunked out a gouge on one foot & the others were all chipping off pretty ragged.  So it was time to get him all tidied up, so he can self trim again for awhile.  Maybe that's why he was being "difficult" this morning, as payback for doing his feet, who knows, I know I sure don't........!!!   LOL

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..!!!

I'VE HAD BETTER DAYS.....!!!

 Nigel watching an unhappy male tarantula yesterday

Jill settled in nicely last night, enjoyed her supper and was busy eating her hay when we came in from chores.  When John went out to let everyone out, didn't have to let her out, she had taken care of that little detail herself.  

The 6 panels John used to make her pen were mismatched and it isn't easy to get them put together at the corners, when they have different types of latches & hooks.  

She didn't go anywhere, she was standing beside the pen and came right up to John to see what he was going to do interesting.  He came to get me, I put a halter on her (thank goodness she is a very well trained young lady), we threw Boaz out of his pen.........well he was going out anyway and put her in there for the night.  

I went back in the house and a few minutes later, John came to tell me little Wister was 3 legged lame.  Sure enough, not putting that foot down on the ground, lame......!!!  Since he and Ruthie had been in their pen, and he was just fine when he went in, I think she probably stepped on his fetlock, when he was laying down.  He expects everyone to walk around him when he's "resting", and doesn't bother moving at all.  I guess she miscalculated her step, poor little guy. 

This morning Jill was still in Boaz's pen, which is good, but Wister was still 3 legged lame.  I put a halter on him & checked his leg out better than I could in the dark last night.  There's no swelling but it is definitely sore.  

I wasn't sure about giving him Banamine since he is just 7 months old, but as usual if anyone of them are going to need a vet it will be on a week-end or holiday.  It didn't take very long before he was walking almost normal, which can be another problem.  If it isn't bothering them, life goes on & more damage can happen.......!!!  So he is having to stay in the pen today and for the 1st time in his young life momma isn't with him, we let her out.  She comes by every once in awhile, which stirs him up.  But as long as she is out of sight, he seems to forget about her not being there.  

Remember the 7 donkeys we hauled from the auction area in Buckeye?  One of the jennets has not done well.  She was the one that was definitely PG & had not been eating or drinking much if at all.  Thursday they got her to a vet & she had internal bleeding, infection, high fever really a horrible situation for all involved.  She was euthanized yesterday.  What a sad ending for a very pretty girl, that up until a month ago was running wild & free with her family, until the state decided they knew what was best. 

When the workers were trying to load the donkeys in our trailer, they had them all crunched at the back of the trailer, with a gate closed on them, so they couldn't even move unless it was to jump up into the trailer.  One of them went down on the ground and stayed down for awhile.  I'm wondering if it might have been her and while she was down, she got kicked or stepped on by some of the others?  I was not impressed with the way the state people did their jobs up there and this just adds to my displeasure. 

One little ray of sunshine was Lynn, Jeff and their daughter and grandson came out this morning to groom on the donkeys. They've been coming out about once a month and groom anyone that wants it.  They walk thru the pens with grooming supplies, if the donkeys walk off, so be it.  Most of them not only don't walk off, but will stand really still as long as someone will groom.  BlackJack almost fell over he was so "into the moment"........!!  Tula of course never participates, Penny wasn't interested, but most of the others thought it was great....!!!  They even brought apples & animal crackers......!!!  

Everyone is getting their rations cut, except for Jill, because she's not going out.  The others are all eating mesquite beans like there is nothing else on the planet to eat.  John has cut a pound of hay each day for each and everyone of them, much to their disgust.  Judging from their poo I don't think they are quite as hungry as they would like us to think they are.  Sure don't want to have to pen them. 

JILL HAS COME FOR A VISIT........!!!

We picked up this pretty girl this afternoon in Tucson.  Her family is looking for a permanent place to board her & asked if we could take care of her until they find a place.  What's one more when we're already over our quota.......right?  LOL

She is very well mannered, & really is a nice young lady.  They got her at the local horse auction a couple of months ago, which surprised me.  I hadn't heard that the auction houses were allowing donkeys to be brought in again.  For awhile they wouldn't let donkeys be unloaded, because people were unloading them & if they didn't sell, they would just drive off & leave them there. 

She's about 5 years old & has already had a baby that was with her at the auction.  

As you can see she needs to be on a diet, her neck is crested & has already fell over a little bit, which of course will never stand up again unfortunately.  

We'll keep her in for a couple of days, so all the "looky loos" can gather around & gawk at her.  Most of them have already checked her out.  And hopefully she'll know where her pen is, once we do let her out.  

Of course most of them are more interested in mesquite beans than anything else.  Pepper had to stay in his pen again today, because it looked like rain & we couldn't take a chance on him getting down in the wash & getting drowned.  First thing we did when we got home, was let him out.  He took off like he had someplace to go, probably to the nearest patch of beans..........!!!