PALADIN BEFORE WE GOT HIM IN THE TRAILER
Thanks Sandra for the picture

He seems to be doing just fine. He has some swelling, not bad it doesn't seem to bother him. very much. This morning our resident "hussy" Jenny was trying to entice him thru the corral panels. He seemed to think it would be a good idea, & we had a hard time getting her to leave the area & go in her pen to eat. Jenny always welcomes the new boys, & they usually think she's pretty cute. Quilla was very smitten when he came, & even now he is usually with the girls more than the other geldings. He seems to like all the girls, well except for Daisy, they still don't like each other, although their tolerance level has improved.

We've been letting him into the other pens, to give him a chance to move around & get use to the place. Rusty & BlackJack really get upset about him being able to go into Jack's pen. His pen is usually prime real estate, for cleaning up hay. They both know it & they guard the gates to make sure they are in first, when Jack goes out. I thought BlackJack was going to tear the gate off the hinges, when he figured out he wasn't getting in.

Courtney sent me some information today on different types of slow feeders. This is a great way to feed equine that have a problem with weight, or might be insulin resistant. Equines aren't meant to eat 2 or 3 times a day, they are grazers or browsers & should eat constantly, but tiny amounts. Except for my 3 oldest guys, this should work. They say even "piggies" can be fed this way, because they lose the "mealtime" crazies.

PALADIN THIS MORNING

Family Portrait, Paladin, Lupe & their baby
Thanks Sandra for the picture

This morning he took treats from John's hand.................as long as John was outside the pen. That's OK, I am really pleased with how well he's taking all this life style change. The donkeys surrounded his pen this morning, gawking at the new kid on the block. He seemed to think that was OK too. I haven't seen him panic yet. Even when we drive the golf cart & hay trailer thru the middle of his pen. He just goes over in a far corner, stands & watches what's going on.

He's eating & drinking this morning too, so hopefully the worst is over. I can't help but think having two large cuts on a rather tender part of your body, plus all the pulling, tugging & everything else that goes on with a gelding, doesn't feel very good.

He's been trying to reach some of the mesquite trees outside his pen. I would imagine a large part of his diet has been mesquite, & he's probably missing what he's use to.

I'm back to doctoring Quilla & Jenny again. I used the honey to get his legs & her spot under control, & am now using thunja zinc oxide on him & Equ-aide on her. Now that's it's cooling off I hope his legs will get better. His owner said his legs always cleared up in winter.

Everyone else seem to be doing good right now, even old buzzard bait, Pepper is walking around pretty good for him. He was trying to romance Jenny the mammoth the other day. I have to give the old boy credit, he still has a strong interest in life. He's always ready to go out of his pen, & has a routine of places to go & things to do, that keeps his day busy. I hope he has a good winter.

HE HAS A NAME

We went down to Dos Cabezas, Tuesday to pick up the jack. We tried to think of everything, ropes halters, corral panels, & of course treats. Our 4 wranglers showed up on time & off we went. The closer we got the worse the weather got. Windy, cold & even trying to rain a little bit. I called Mae to give her time to get him in the pen. When we got there, he was still out running around, & by now it is actually raining. We sat in the vans till it stopped, & even though it was still cool the wind died down. We could tell right off that he didn't see the pen as a safe area. We also could tell that he knew the acreage much better than we did. Six people spread out over acres & acres wasn't doing much. He finally went up in a corner, where there was lots of poo, which meant he saw that as a safe area. He let me get within about 50 feet of him & wasn't particularly upset with me there.

Joe got the idea that we could bring up the corral panels & slowly make a pen around him. The donkey stood there & watched all of these people build a pen around him. I was amazed. Once we got the pen built, John got the van & stock trailer, & backed it up to an opening in the pen we built. We started making the pen smaller & smaller & all of a sudden he stuck his nose in the trailer, stepped up & went in. Just like that! I think we all were shocked. He seems very gentle, just hasn't been handled.

Yesterday was "G" day. I called the vet clinic to tell them, that he wasn't wild & that we probably wouldn't need the dart gun. Figured they would appreciate not having to dread coming out here so much.

They used the middle gate of the trailer to squeeze him, so Nancy could give him a shot. He wasn't really thrilled with this situation & although he didn't kick at anyone in particular, he did kick out real quick a couple of times. Once the shot started to make him goofy, we opened the back of the trailer & he backed out into the pen. Didn't take long for him to go down, & then the fun started.

I hate gelding them, it such a primitive method, but it has to be done. This was right after he went down & they were getting ready to start the surgery. I have pictures of the actual surgery, but I don't think it's necessary to show them. John won't even stay in the area when the scalpel comes out. (G) As you can tell from the picture below, it doesn't bother the other donkeys at all.

It was rather uneventful, although like many donkeys he took a lot of drugs to keep him out. Which means it takes awhile for him to come out of it. This is a picture of him & Shawn when he was still trying to get his sea legs back.


Today he has been laying down a lot & isn't interested in eating or drinking much. He doesn't have a lot of swelling, so I guess that's good news. I hope by tomorrow he will feel better. I'd like to be able to hose him down, but he's not the least bit interested in me or anyone else getting close to him. I can't blame him at this stage.

On the way home I came up with the name Paladin, a good strong name for a real pretty guy. I think it will fit him just fine.

TODAY'S THE DAY.........!!

We got up early this morning to feed, so the old guys would have time to finish their breakfast, before we leave to go wrangle the jack. Our helpers should be here about 10, & we'll hit the road. John was out in the dark last night, moving corral panels from stock trailer to car trailer, & trying to organize 2 vans. We're trying to take anything we might possibly need, ropes, halters (like that's going to happen) & of course treats. That's probably not going to happen either. (G)

There is one little wrinkle, I will be driving the van with the car trailer & corral panels. I have gotten to my advanced age without very much trailer towing. John has "forced" me to drive with an empty trailer a few times, saying I need to know how in case of an emergency. Well this isn't an emergency, but it looks like it's time to upgrade my skills or lack thereof. At least I won't be hauling some poor animal. John tows great, I think you could put a glass of water on top the trailer & it would be there when he got to where he was going. I doubt that I have that skill, I'm more the bonsai type of driver............!!! (G) Maybe I shouldn't tell the helpers that are going to ride with me that I've never towed a trailer much before, what do you think? (G)

GEARING UP FOR TUESDAY

Today John loaded corral panels, t-posts, & a "thumper" in the stock trailer & I got all my paperwork lined up to turn ownership of the jack over to us. The corral panels are to make a pathway to the trailer, & the t-posts are to keep him from trying to run thru the panels, if he wants to. We are planning for a worse case scenario, & hope all of our planning won't be necessary.

We also have another couple to go with us, so there will be 6 of us. I hope so many people won't overwhelm him into trying to escape rather than following the path to the trailer. We had planned on leaving the corral panels there until we go back to get the little jack gelded. We won't be able to load him & the corral panels in the trailer at the same time. But since there are so many of us going, we've about decided to take both vans & I'll bring the corral panels home on the car trailer. We'll see how it all plays out, believe me all our plans are very flexible.........!!!!!!

Courtney came to trim today. She was quite pleased with Frijolita's feet & also Jenny's feet are doing much better. She want's me to soak Jenny, & Quilla's feet in Colloidal Silver . I used it to soak Jenny a few weeks ago, & that may be why her feet are doing better. But she has a spot right above one hoof that has never had hair on it. Occasionally it will get bloody, & I've always been able to heal it up with the Equ-aide. This time it isn't working, & I have it wrapped with honey. Courtney seems to think the Colloidal silver might work, she even loaned me a soaking boot, since Jenny can walk out of mine, at will. So we'll give it a try.

Quilla's legs have broken out again. Maybe it's the time of year or something, since both he & Jenny are crashing on me. This morning I cleaned his legs up, & wrapped them with a honey poultice. I'll check on them Wed to see how they are doing, hopefully before the vet gets here to geld the jack.

All in all she trimmed 7 of them, & said they all looked pretty good. That's always good to hear, I'd hate to have her find a case of thrush or something stuck in the bottom of a foot. That would make me feel like a bad mom.

I got a call today to do a talk at a Tucson school about the sanctuary. It's been awhile since I did one, so I'll have to get out my notes & bring them up to date. I'd like to do a slide presentation, in this day & age kids are so use to videos, some old woman standing up there talking, probably isn't going to be too interesting. If I had a video, at least they would have something to look at.........!!! (G)

OFF THE INTERNET

The dynamics are changing around here. Quilla is following Tula around like he thinks she might care & she looks like she's trying to escape, but it doesn't deter him at all. Oh! well he needs the exercise. He's lost the easy weight, so he's looking a lot better. But both he & Daisy have still got a long way to go. They both have large pones on their sides that might never go away. When he came here, we were told he was crippled & because of his club foot that had overgrown he was walking rather gingerly. But once that was trimmed, he moves just fine, keeps up with Tula when she is trying to get away from him.

Buster & Buddy Brat have been wrestling or fighting. I watched them for quite awhile last night & actually couldn't tell if it was play or real. Buster is really low key, so I'm sure it was play, but it got pretty rough, before I tried to break it up. All they did was run off behind the hay barn & continue the "battle".

Pepper the old buzzard, is still eating good, has put on some weight, & is walking much better than he was earlier this year, thank goodness. Last spring he really looked pathetic, a rack of bones & 3 legged lame. Two vets looked at him & without x-rays couldn't tell exactly where the problem was. The general opinion was he probably had been knocked down or been smashed into a gate & cracked his scrawny hip bone. If that is what happened, I assume it has healed as well as possible. He doesn't have full range of motion, but he toddles along at his old man's gait & gets where he wants to go pretty quick.

For awhile he was eating mush, but over the summer he started eating hay again, & now eats very little mush. The problem is, his teeth aren't good enough to chew up hay, even short stem. But obviously he's getting some food value out of it, because except for his protruding hip bones, he looks pretty good. Both he & Sha'ba will get their "blankies" every night when it starts getting down in the 40's at night.

Next week the dynamics are really going to change when we bring the new guy on the property. I'm sure the girls will think he's an answer to their prayers. I just hope we can get him in the trailer without traumatizing him. From what May had told me, he's not particularly spookie or anti-person. So hopefully he will fairly easy to socialize. Of course if someone forced me in a trailer, left me there all night, didn't feed me the next morning, & someone else came along, put me to sleep & when I woke up found out what had been done to me, I don't think I'd be very social, would you........!!! (G)

Buddy Brat, Lynn & Justin lazying away the afternoon

It looks like we will be picking up the jack next Tuesday & the vet will come out Wednesday to do his "brain" surgery. The vet is going to bring a cowboy friend with her in case we need some expertise. She thinks we might be able to snub him up to the side of the trailer & give him a shot in the neck vein, rather than use the dart gun. But, just in case she's bringing the gun.......!!!

I talked to May tonight & she said he seems just fine with being in the pen to eat, in fact she is feeding him in a shed & he is fine with that. I think instead of being wild, meaning frantic fighting to get away, he is probably just unhandled, which makes him cautious to new experiences in his life. I hope when we drive in with a truck & stock trailer he doesn't decide to panic. Joe & Julie his wife are going with us, which is great. Like I told the vet yesterday, John & I don't mind getting into the fray, but we're too old to be very useful if speed & agility is needed. (G)

I took the "honey" bandages off Quilla yesterday morning. Just like before all the sores were gone after 2 days of being wrapped. I've read up some more on using honey on wounds & it seems like up until WWII i.e. the advent of antibiotics such as penicillin, honey & turpentine were widely used. Farmers use to keep honey & turpentine in their barn in case they needed it for them or their animals. I don't think turpentine would feel very good in a wound for man or beast quite frankly. When I was a kid I remember Merthiolate & that was bad enough. Do they even sell that particular type of torture anymore?

Heard from May this morning & it looks like I will call the vet Monday morning & set up an appointment for the jack's "brain" surgery. Once we know which day the vet can come out, we will go over & get him in the trailer the day before. May said he is comfortable eating in the pen & doesn't mind her being in there with him. It sounds like he might not be wild, just not worked with. Hopefully..........!!!!!

We have a friend that has offered to go with us, if we need more "wranglers". Joe was the one that wrangled Fred the pot bellied pig for us a couple of years ago. He's big & strong & was raised on a farm, all things we aren't............!!! (G) The pen is large enough that John & I couldn't control it by ourselves. We will take corral panels with us to build a chute to aim him towards the trailer, but he probably will look at this as a very suspicious situation & not anything he wants to do.

This morning I wrapped Quilla's front legs with honey, cotton & vet wrap. After doing good for so long for some reason both front legs developed bloody sores again. I had changed over from the thunja zinc oxide to using Equaide because it dries rather than being gooey like the zinc oxide. Unfortunately it didn't do the job, & rather than seeing if the zinc oxide would work, I decided to just go back to square one & start over.

Yesterday Frijolita was limping around. I checked her over & she didn't want her fetlock squeezed. But today she's walking normally so I guess she just stepped wrong. Easy to do especially over in Burroland, where they head as soon as John lets them out at bedtime. Old lounge lizard Pepper is usually the 1st one to the gate. He can just barely walk, I don't know how he gets there so fast. This morning he was posturing at BlackJack, which isn't a real good idea. BJ could knock Pepper over & not even know it. No fool like an old fool I guess........!!!!! I wonder what he was like when he was young. If his personality was anything like it is now, he was a handful.

BACK HOME AGAIN...........!!!

Some of the burros at Hacienda de Los Milagros

Got back from my trip last night about 8pm. Had a great time, even though it was rather quick. I think we spent more time on the road than we did anything else. Jean seemed to survive my driving without any permanent damage............!!!! (G)

Spent an hour or so at Milagros visiting with the burros. Milagros has always been a sanctuary that did not do adoptions. Over the years the numbers have grown & in the last few months they have began an adoption program to reduce their numbers. This morning I got a call from a woman looking for a buddy for Poncho her new little donkey, so I told her about them. I got an e-mail from her this afternoon & she had already gotten in touch with Milagros. Hope it works out for all involved.

This is a picture of Daisy's old pasture mates. Rosie on the left & Andy on the right. They are really pretty mules, & although Rosie wasn't going to allow me to pet her, Andy loved attention. In fact he likes to mouth your hand & sleeves to make sure you know he's there. He's a pretty big guy, it would be hard to miss him even without the smacking lips. He's one of those gentle giant types.

John had a jeep tour this morning, so I fed by myself. I went out & expected everyone to show how much they missed me. Didn't happen, it was more like, "Oh! there you are, where's breakfast"...............!!

I will call May in the morning & see how the wild jack is doing. She left a message while I was gone, & said she thinks he's about ready. I'd like to think that means that he's following her around & likes to be petted..................BUT I seriously doubt it. I'll have to find out what day the vet can come out & we'll try to go get him the day before. That way he will only have to stay in the trailer one night...........that is IF we can get him IN the trailer.......!!!! (G)

ON THE ROAD AGAIN........!!!

I'm waiting for my co-pilot Jean to get here in a few minutes, so we can hit the road for Flagstaff.

Heard from May last night. She left a message that she thinks the jack is about ready. I left a message for her last night, but didn't get to talk to her. I'll call her when I get back Thursday & hopefully we can make arrangements with the vet & get this boy's "brain surgery" done soon.

John just heard the weatherman say it is 30 degrees at Flagstaff this morning. So I just prowled thru my closet to find a coat. Might need more than the little light jacket I have in my bag. Hope it doesn't snow while we're up there, I haven't driven in snow for a LONG time.