JOHN, THE HUNTER

Probably doesn't look very exciting but I was "ecstatic"  when John came in the door carrying Jenny's 2 missing boots.  After the rain I had given up on ever finding them.  They are hard enough to see if she just lost them.  These had been missing for days, a couple of hard rain storms & lots of opportunities to get stepped on & squished into the ground.  

I had about decided to order a couple more, when John said he was going to go out & stay out until he found them.  I thought about sending him out with a bedroll & food, since I didn't think there was a chance.  He was gone over into Burroland at least 2 hours, just walking back & forth.  She usually stays on the trails or takes a side trip to the wallows, so that's where he paid the most attention. He said they were actually pretty close to each other on one of the trails.  One of them was turned upside down, which made it look weird.  He said the extra Vel-cro I sewed on, showed up pretty good, because it was white.  I've got to sew some more Vel-cro on the other one, she only had it on 1 day before she lost it, & I hadn't put the Vel-cro on it yet.  The regular straps probably would fit on a "normal" hoof, but aren't long enough to fit over her bandaged foot & stay secure.  

I called to see how Tucker & Mocha are doing.  Sounds like they've got the household up & running to their standards.  Unfortunately George the Goose got helped to make his final journey by Mocha.  He flew over the fence to challenge the donkeys.  January said they tried to ignore him, but he got right in Mocha's face honking & threatening.  Geese can really be nasty if they want to be.  So Mocha stomped him.  Our donkeys aren't getting along very good lately, first Honcho with the goats & now Mocha.  January doesn't blame Mocha, she says it was George's fault, but he was a pet, & I know they all feel bad about it. 

Heard from Bill that Maddie is lame on her good front leg.  He said her & Zorro didn't come in to eat, so he started looking for them on 40 acres of heavy brush.  Said he spent hours & couldn't find them.  Finally Zorro showed up to eat & when he finished, he led Bill to Maddie.  They have had a lot of rain, & Bill said her feet looked like softballs from a build up of mud.  He cleaned her feet, but said her knee looks a little swollen.  She probably fell off to the side with her feet built up like that & twisted her knee a little bit, sorta like falling off your high heels.  He's going to watch her for a couple of days & if she isn't better, I'll probably go see what's going on.  

John noticed some quids in the mini pen this morning. Cheyenne has lost some weight lately.  Actually she looks really good, we're so use to seeing overweight donkeys that seeing one that's in good weight, looks funny.  We had talked about getting a blood work-up on her, to make sure everything was OK.  So now this...............we'll try to look in her mouth tonight & maybe we can see something if she has a problem. 

This picture of BlackJack was taken just before I put the crupper under his tail.............!!!!  He let me know that wasn't acceptable in our relationship.  Perhaps in his earlier life he had to put up with such an indignity, BUT, no more......!!! 

The last couple of days have really been hectic, seems like there's been a lot going on.  John has been trying to change the motor mounts on my little race car.  The old ones had no rubber left in them, which meant the motor & the transmission were pretty loose.  Last race day I was trying to keep up with the gear shift & it was flopping all over the place.  When John checked it he said he could see why.  Like most of these projects it didn't go smooth, he spent one whole afternoon trying to get a bolt thru one of the mounts & it just wouldn't go.  We jacked & pushed & shoved & pried all one afternoon.  It was soooooooo close, but he said he needed a tapered bolt.  Went to town, got one, & what a difference that made........!!!! So I'm good to go racing tomorrow night, John says he expects a good finish, with new tires, new motor mounts & a stearing wheel I can't stick my hand thru.......!!! 

Because we are so overcrowded donkeys have been getting moved around. Jenny finally got HER pen back, & we tried leaving BlackJack out to eat by the feed room, rather than in a pen.  Doesn't work, because as soon as he gets done eating, he starts checking out all the pens to see if someone has moved their bunk too close to the edge.......!!!  He also insists on helping us parcel out the hay from the golf cart & wagon.   So he got stuffed in the hay barn.  Didn't bother him in the least, do you know how much hay is laying around on the floor of a hay barn?  Enough to keep him happy for hours............!!!  We're going to have to have hay delivered in the next couple of weeks, so he'll lose his "stall".  

We were in Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon & someone said, "Hi".  I am horrible with putting names & faces together.  I recognize a face, but don't always know why.  He said something about Zorro & "bingo" it was Bill from down south of Tombstone.  I had been thinking about calling to see how Zorro & Maddie were getting along, so it was great to get to talk to him.  He said they are doing just fine, he & Kelly are really enjoying them.  He said Maddie has not gone lame since she's been there, so exercise seems to be the answer to her lameness.  He also said Zorro has learned to chase their car.  He will stand in front of the car & lick the windshield, until they give him a treat................hmmmm.  Then when they drive off, he chases them like a dog would.  Bill said he's been up to 20mph......!!!  Sounds like something good to put on Funniest Home Videos.  

 

Bijou is still a little gimpy even in the boots, but I think he likes them.  This morning when I got ready to take them off to check for rocks etc, he started trying to get away from me.  So I assume they feel pretty good.  I held his foot up when I took the boots off, put a little baby powder in them & stuck his foot back in it before setting it on the ground.  Once he figured I wasn't going to take them away he stood real good for the other one.  He's staying on his feet most of the time & is a little "talkie" guy whenever he sees us. 

Redid Boaz's knee this morning, it looked real good.  Vet called yesterday with the results of the biopsy, it was all proud flesh, no cancer or anything like that.  So if we can keep the proud flesh from reforming, it should heal good, although I'm pretty sure it's going to take awhile.  It doesn't slow him down any, this morning about 5am we were awakened by donkeys serenading us real close to the house. It sounded like a party of boys yelling at each other, so I assume one of the girls was batting her eyelashes at them.  We recognized Boaz & Cisco, not sure who the others were.   Actually Cheyenne came in with a chewed up ear, so it probably was her.  She is only 32 inches tall, so I don't think she's going to get much out of the boys except for a sore ear.

This afternoon we went down to see Rambo.  Amy said he is really a good guy & when we got there, he came over & wanted to be petted immediately, kept trying to run the horses away, so he could get all the petting.

He's such a good guy they've been calling him Bo instead of Rambo, she said he's too sweet to be a Rambo.  Too bad she didn't see him in action when he was up here with the girls...!!!! (G)

Checked on Drifter yesterday in his new home.  Crystal said he is absolutely perfect they are more than satisfied with him & how he has fit in at the stables.  She said there is one woman that use to come out to see her friend take lessons.  Now the woman comes out on her own to visit with Drifter.  He also has a little 5 year old girl wrapped around his hoof, she's too young to read the "Do Not Feed" sign, so Crystal has had to intervene in treats headed his way.  Crystal's 2 year old son, leads him around all the time & grooms on him. I love it when they get a great home like this one seems to be. 

Also checked in on Maddie & Zorro.  Bill said they are fitting in nicely, getting a routine & getting him & Kelli trained to their ways........!!!  Sounds like typical donkeys to me.  He did say he cut back on the small amount of hay he was giving them because Maddie looks like she is gaining weight in her neck crest.  There is so much to eat on their property, I'm not surprised, I hope this isn't going to become a problem, they don't want to put them in a pen, & I certainly don't want them to either. 

THE HERD IS GROWING AFTER ALL..........!!

The best laid plans of mice & men sometimes take a detour, which is why it is a good idea to "never say never".........!!! 

We had made a decision to not take anymore animals in for awhile, because our numbers keep creeping over our self imposed limit, even with some in foster care.  But a woman I know that runs a private sanctuary like us, is having to downsize.  She has a mini horse with nasty feet, demineralized coffin bones, somewhat like Jenny's are.  Rusty the white mule, LOVES the little horses, we've had 2 here & he literally worshipped them, put his life on hold to go with them & do what they wanted to do.  Bijou is only 10 years old, & the chances of her being able to find a home that would be willing to take care of his special needs long term, isn't very good.  Soooooo, I told her if no one wanted him we'd take him.  

As these things often do, as we were trying to figure out a cheap way to haul him about 200 miles, a friend of hers that lives close to us is going up to her area this week-end with a horse trailer.  He offered to haul Bijou back & we'll pick him up Sunday.  There are good people out there, & although it doesn't really make up for the people that destroy these animals, it is wonderful that the good ones still outnumber the bad ignorant ones.  Haven't seen him, have seen his x-rays, poor little guy.  

Of course our pens are full, so where are we going to put him?  Can't put him in with Rusty, as Rusty doesn't "share" well at meal time.  Hmmmmm!  Finally decided that BlackJack can eat out of a pen & Bijou can  go in his pen.  BJ doesn't care, he's become very flexible over the years & as long as there is food he could care less where it's at.  

Got a call from Bill yesterday.  Kelli his wife got home from the hospital & is really having fun getting to know Zorro & Maddie.  He had a question about their behavior.  He said Zorro was jumping on & biting Maddie & she was kicking the snot out of Zorro.  I keep forgetting to tell new owners about donkey foreplay...!!! LOL  Guess I should make up a list of behaviors that donkeys do.  

 

Poor Boaz, what he has to go thru, just because he wasn't taught to lead & never had his feet trimmed.  Courtney & I both were afraid the wide open cracks running vertical on his hooves, might get caught on limbs or something & damage the coronets even worse than they already are.  He actually was a pretty good boy, although when it was time to load him this morning, he let us know that wasn't what he had planned for the day.  He wasn't mean about it, but once his feet were firmly planted, we couldn't change his mind couldn't even push him off balance.  We don't like to use a come-a-long but he wasn't budging & we didn't want to be late for our appointment with Courtney at the vet.  

When John uses a come-a-long he doesn't pull them in the trailer, he just tightens the cable when they move forward a little bit.  Once they get close enough to the trailer, I will put a front foot in the trailer & "try" to hold it there.  Usually about this time, they figure out it's a losing battle & will hop in the trailer.  It didn't take long for Boaz to figure out the jig was up & in he went. 

I was surprised to see how much of a tummy he has, he looks much more svelte when he's standing up.......!!!!  (G)

Once he was on the ground the vet noticed that his gelding area hadn't healed properly & had yellow "yuck" in it.  So she cleaned it up & wants to see it again in 2 weeks.  He hadn't acted like anything was wrong & I assumed it had healed after 10 days of antibiotics.  I hadn't bothered to grope him to see...........!!!!  LOL  She said instead of the cut ends of skin healing to each other, they have adhered to the tissue underneath, so there is an open area down the middle.  Poor little guy, I'm glad she noticed.

In the picture Courtney had already cleaned all the trash off his hooves & his front feet are getting soaked in White Lightening.  There is no telling what gunk is trapped in all the cracks & crevices in those feet, & since White Lightening makes a gas, it hopefully got in all of them.  

When he got home, he came out of the trailer like his tail was on fire, & ran to find the other donkeys, so I guess getting his feet trimmed wasn't too traumatic.  He had muscle spasms the whole time he was on the ground, & we were afraid his muscles would really be sore, but if they were it certainly isn't bothering him. 

The vet also thinks the place on his leg might be proud flesh rather than a sarcoid.  It doesn't look like proud flesh to me, but then again, I didn't go to vet school, so I have to bow to the expert.  She wants me to use Wonder Dust on it for a couple of weeks & see what happens.  I HATE WONDER DUST, almost as much as I HATE xxterra.  Both of them are caustic so you have to be very careful to not get "good" skin involved.  Of course where the place is on his leg he can rub it if he wants to, which will probably smear it around.  So we'll see how it goes. 

I called Bill this morning to see how Maddie & Zorro were doing.  He said they come by the house frequently to see what he's doing, which is really neat.  He said he hasn't had to use the bell at all.  While we were talking Maddie was trying to figure out how to get on the porch.   Hmmm..........that seems to be the MO of most donkeys, if they know their people are in the house, they really want to know what the heck people do in there.  A friend that had a donkey years ago, said the donkey got out one night & went over to the neighbor's to visit.  When the neighbors woke up that morning the donkey was looking in the bedroom patio door.  That's not really a problem, except the bedroom was on the 2nd floor.  The donkey had climbed steps to get up to the patio area outside the door.  As I recall, they had a heck of a time getting him down.  It's much easier to climb up than down I guess. 

MADDIE & ZORRO ARE HOME..............!!!

We delivered them this afternoon, let them out of the trailer, & they disappeared into the brush, well they did after Zorro had a dust bath in the powder dust that covers most of the open area.  He thought that was great.  Maddie was too busy running around trying to see everything.  

THIS IS WHAT MOST OF THE 20 ACRES LOOKS LIKE, THEY'LL HAVE TO MAKE TRAILS THRU IT.  

Bill got some hay pellets. to "chum" them in with.  We also took him a bell to use to call them in.  He has a bale of hay, but I seriously doubt that he'll need to feed them.  Maddie hit the ground with her head down chomping away.  It's all native grass which shouldn't be really high in sugar & starch.  Once they are there for awhile, they should eat more like a "wild" burro would & hopefully won't gain weight, they are both in pretty good shape right now. 

 

On the way home Bill called our cell phone to ask a couple of questions.  I asked if he'd seen them, & he said they kept coming thru the area by the house, & in fact Maddie was licking his arm, even as we spoke.  She really picked him out when he was here last week, followed him all over the place, & tried to put her head on his shoulder.  

Remember I said the road into their place was like a tank proving grounds?  We checked the distance & the time today.  It took us 15 minutes to go 1.4 miles, which works out to about 6mph.  I don't recall us going that fast.........!!!!  LOL  At least we got the donkeys there without bouncing them around.  

I was worried about how Chantilly would take Zorro not being here.  She was pretty much bonded with him, although he didn't seem to return the thought.  She came in with Tula's gang tonight, followed John into her pen, & seems to be just fine.  Donkeys are "in the moment" animals, so they don't carry a lot of memory baggage around with them, at least that's what the experts say.  But I would imagine they would recognize each other if they met again, I don't really know for sure.  I know Ruger was very glad to see his momma Ruthie after being separated a week.  And Ruthie latched onto her little boy & is busy mothering him & making sure the other donkeys don't get too close to him.  He's about a year old & almost as big as she is, but I guess she's still going to take care of him.  

Tomorrow morning we'll be taking Boaz into the vet clinic.  Courtney will meet us there, we'll get him sedated, so she can work on his nasty front feet.  They are cracked & split with quite a bit of damage to the coronets.  I hope it isn't permanent, but it looks pretty bad.  I'll probably have the vet look at his sarcoid on his leg & see what she thinks.  I think most vets inject chemo drugs into the sarcoid to get rid of them.  That can be quite expensive.  There are a lot of old time home remedies too.  It actually is smaller than it was when he came.  A lot of times sarcoids will disappear spontaneously, the general opinion is, the immune system goes into hypermode & attacks them.  If that is true, I think when he was gelded the 23rd of Dec, & he developed swelling on his belly, his immune system went after the infection from the gelding, & took a swipe at the sarcoid.  Two times after he came here the whole thing turned into a bloody mess & shrank in size.  But once I started giving him Tucoprim for the belly infection, we didn't see any more changes in the saracoid............SIGH.......!!!!!!!  

Boaz got to go out of his pen yesterday during the day.  We were gone for the day but before we left, the "herd" went over to Burroland, & we let Boaz out on this side.  

When we came home, Boaz was standing in his pen, & BlackJack & Justin were pounding on the Burroland gate, with the "herd" behind them.  It was just about feeding time & I guess they wanted to make sure they weren't forgotten.  

It sure would make life easier for everyone involved "IF", Boaz & Zorro could get along.  Last night after Boaz was shut in his pen, Zorro came by & postured..........that doesn't help matters at all, of course Boaz had to let him know what he'd do to him if the gate was open..........SIGH

ZORRO WITH HIS HERD

Ruger is a momma's boy.  He loves his momma & she wants to be with him.  In fact she spent the night in his pen.  Boaz has slowed down quite a bit from chasing the girls, so we're going to try letting EVERYONE out today.  John will close the gate to Burroland, so they have to stay close to the pen area, in case it goes wrong.  Hopefully Boaz will leave Zorro alone & everyone can be out to roam around.  I think Ruger will stay with momma.

Yesterday morning John went over to Burroland to stir up some donkeys since no one seemed interested in coming in for breakfast.  He found the whole bunch together & told Tula to get in her pen, which gets her moving.  She took off running with the herd trailing behind.............including Pepper........!!!  John said he was actually running, although he was going more sideways than straight.  There are times when he can't hardly move, & it's been years since we saw him run.  This morning he almost knocked Dave down when he went in Pepper's pen to pick up poo.  Dave hasn't been around long enough to remember when we use to call Pepper "Bulldozer".......!!!  So I assume he is feeling pretty good.

UPDATE:  So much for letting everyone out together.  John let Zorro & Chantilly out so they could get away from the pens.  He said when he let Boaz out, it took him a couple of minutes to find Zorro & start biting & chasing him.  Zorro ran behind John & Boaz slowed down enough to pay attention to John & followed him into a pen.............BIG MISTAKE, on his part.  He's still in a pen, we're waiting to see if Zorro will go over to Burroland, which is now open.  If he does then Mr. HotShot can be out over here in the pen area.  If not he may stay in a pen all day.

 BOYS & MULES WORKING THE MINES

Well, we're trying something new today.  Boaz is just too rough on Zorro.  Zorro is pretty young & although he hasn't been gelded very long, he's been gelded longer than Boaz.  Boaz sees him as a threat & has been chewing on Zorro's neck until it looks like a science project.  Yesterday Zorro & Chantilly stayed in the pens for the day.  i got the brilliant idea that if Boaz & the herd went over to Burroland, I could shut the gate & let the kids out on the 10 acres.  

So that's what we're doing today.  Should work out just fine, we'll put the kids in their pen before we let the others come back over here.  Almost had a problem, I went over to make sure where they were, & Ruthie followed me back to the gate.  I guess she thought I wanted her to follow me.  I had to push her to get her out of the gate, so I could close it.  

Tomorrow we're going to pick up Boaz & Ruthie's son.  We were suppose to pick him up the 1st time, but the owner wanted to keep him even though we explained donkeys need to be with other donkeys.  He called & said he had changed his mind.  

Now we will really be over full, not even counting the ones farmed out to foster homes, as the web-site now reflects.  Hope everyone doesn't come back at the same time, or John will get to build some more pens.  Right now there aren't very many people looking for donkeys, I'm sure the price of hay has a lot to do with that.  Chantilly & Zorro are bonded, gorgeous & ready to go...........to the right home.  

Heard from Amy about Rambo.  They haven't put a halter on him, because he has a wound under his jaw where he probably had a too small halter on for too long.  He also has a permanent ridge across his nose.  But she said they've done about everything else & he's cooperative & enjoy the attention.  What a difference from the hormonal brat he was here.  I asked her if she thought someone traded donkeys on us during the trip to deliver him to her?  LOL  What a difference not having girls around has made in his behavior.  She said he's easier to work with than Gus.  I can believe that, I remember Gus as having a lot of attitude & definite opinions on what he would allow or not. 

Thanks Mary Jo....!!

Looks like Gus is enjoying visiting with his friend Trinity.  Trinity & her brother came out to visit with the donkeys.  I think you can see Tristan's hands on Gus' withers.  Gus absolutely adores kids & wants to be with them, so I'm sure he was really enjoying all the attention. 

Quilla, not so much, Claire said he watched from a distance, but wasn't interested in "getting involved".  When he first came here, if kids came out to see the donkeys, he'd disappear if he could.  If he was in a pen, he'd get to the farthest corner.  So he's getting better, although I don't think he'll ever enjoy being with them as much as Gus does.  I think the white spot in the background is probably Quilla.

Looks like we'll be going Wednesday to pick up Boaz & Ruthie's son.  The owner has decided it will be better for him to be with donkeys.  His daughter thought he'd change his mind & do what is best for the donkey, & I'm glad he did.  Although we certainly don't need another donkey.......!!! (G)

Poor Zorro is getting his neck chewed up.  Boaz doesn't recognize that he has been gelded, & wants to control his world.  He'd not anywhere near as obnoxious as Rambo was about the subject, but he is making poor Zorro's life miserable.  

Speaking of Rambo, heard from Amy.  She said he's fitting in & is very sweet.  I thought he would be if he'd just think with his big head instead of his little head.  Glad to hear it's working out.   

JENNY BIG GIRL

It's been rather peaceful most of the day today.  Of course Jenny is still in her pen.  Unfortunately she was almost 3 legged lame this morning.  I guess she needs to be moving in order to keep that long term abscess from bothering her.  It's only about 1/5th of the way down her foot, so if it keeps plugging up & making her lame, she'll be dealing with it for months.  I soaked her foot in epsom salts this morning, & if she isn't better in the morning I'll soak her in White Lightening.  The gas should kill off any bacteria that might be lurking in there. 

Rambo & Zorro for the most part behaved themselves.........well after Lynn who is a mini, wiggled by this morning for her close up view of the new boys.  They both got rather lively, till John ran her off.  She hasn't come back so far, so I guess she was just looking.  Jenny is serious about it unfortunately.  

Tomorrow we're going to probably put a halter on her & lead her far away from the boys.  Hopefully she'll find something else to do & forget about them.  If not the next plan of attack is to lead her over to Burroland, hopefully with some of the others following, & shut the gate for the day.

If we could get all of them over on Burroland, we could let the boys out to see what they will do.  I don't want the old boys to get hurt by getting in the way. That's how Pepper got his cracked hip we think, trying to be in the middle of all the fun.  Years ago we saw him knocked down a couple of times.  I'm sure he got knocked down at other times when we didn't see it.  

JUST WHAT WE NEED.............!!!!

 RAMBO

I think Zorro & Rambo haven't been gelded very long.  This morning Jenny "discovered" them & worked all her wiles before we finally put a halter on her & dragged her to her pen.  Rambo has been upset every since & trying to get out of their pen.  So far pawing, braying & shaking the gate.  I hope he doesn't try to climb out like Beau did in September.   I'd go ahead & let him out, make Jenny happy...........but........he's aggressive enough I'm afraid someone like Pepper or Jack might get hurt if they couldn't move out of his way fast enough.  So we'll have to figure out a plan, the longer he stays in the pen without exercise, the more agitated he'll probably get..........SIGH!  Zorro was interested, but not quite as silly.  

We've been separating Chantilly from them at feeding time.  With this latest turn of events, if they have all been together since before the boys were gelded, she might be PG.

Got an e-mail this morning from a woman with a young family & a jack.  They got him from ropers & he was in bad shape.  Now that he's feeling better he's acting like a jack, up to & including going after her young son.  They want him gone now.....!!!  And we are over full & can't take him.  Life would be so much easier for everyone involved if people would get these guys gelded as soon as they have anything to geld. 

BEEN WORKING ON NAMES..........!!!

CHANTILLY

Chantilly is a shy little girl, & seems to have developed a method of hiding behind the boys.  We are probably going to put her in a pen by herself, at least part of the time, so she can learn to take care of herself. 

 ZORRO & RAMBO

The boys don't know what the word shy means & Rambo is a "gate worker"........!!!  I was hoping when Thelma went to her new home, we'd get a break from having to keep the gates double locked, but guess NOT.....!!!!  In fact if you look at his lip in this picture it isn't just hanging on the bottom of his face, it's being "busy"...............!!!

Already have a call in to get their feet trimmed.