KATIE'S HERE............!!

KATIE'S OPINION OF JENNY BEING LESS THAN WELCOMING

We picked Katie up today & got home just in time to feed.  John put everyone in their pens, so we could unload her without so much help.  When they see the stock trailer come in they all try to see what we brought home.   She is very sweet & halters & leads, which is great.  We didn't have a pen for her, & our corral panels are loaned out, so my brilliant idea was to put her in with Jenny, who is usually very sweet & docile.  Well, she turned into Miss "I don't want you in my pen" instantly.  Katie didn't seem particularly upset & is agile enough to stay out of Jenny's way.  So Quilla got moved out of the pen that Hanna, Daisy & Frijolita are in & is now eating out with Lucy & Buster.  Jenny got her unfriendly self moved in with the other girls, & now Katie has Jenny's pen all to herself.  We'll keep her in the pen until Saturday & let her out to roam around.  It seems like after they are out for the day, everyone forgets they are new & need to be put in their place. 

She's got some issues, a very thick cresty neck,  pones down her side & a bubble butt.  But other than that, she seems healthy, alert & doesn't seem to have any behavior issues.  I would imagine she has been eating alfalfa hay & more than she needed.  A couple of weeks of eating bermuda should have that neck softening & hopefully getting out & moving around will help with her weight. 

NEW GIRL TOMORROW

FREIGHT MULES

I know, I know, our limit is 20..............well Katie girl is coming tomorrow, which will make 23............!!!  The final word was John's although since he's having rotator cuff surgery the 11th of January, & will be out of commission for about 6 weeks, I'm not sure his vote should count.......!!!

Katie is at a feed store in a petting zoo type situation.  She is overweight, with a thick cresty neck, & in a small pen, so she's getting no exercise.  A woman got in touch with me & we went into to town yesterday to see for ourselves her conditions.  She's about 7 years old, & hasn't foundered yet, but judging from the setup it wouldn't be long if she stayed there.  The woman talked to the owner this morning & he is willing to give her the donkey, but the woman isn't in a position to take her.  Soooooooo...............!!!!  (G) 

Right now we have our extra corral panels loaned out.  They were just suppose to be gone for a few days, to move some cows, but they are still gone.  We aren't sure where we will put her just yet.  But we better figure it out by tomorrow........!!!!! 

BUSTER'S IN THE DOGHOUSE........!!!

This is usually how close to each other Lucy & Buster are.  He never leaves her side, but this morning John couldn't find him.  Lucy was here, following John around & talking to him.  But no Buster.  John got thru rounding everyone up & we were getting ready to go out & beat the bushes looking for him.  I looked across the wash & here comes Tula, Chester & good old Buster plodding along.  Tula is "entertaining" the boys & I guess Buster decided, he could take a little bit of time away from his Lucy girl & go for a little "tomcatting".

John put Tula & Chester in their pens, & I watched Lucy & Buster to see what would happen.  He walked over to Lucy, she turned around & walked away to the other side of the well house.  If you put human behavior traits on them, I would say she wasn't happy with his running around.  It's really funny, because she usually ignores him for the most part.  By the time we brought the hay, they were back together, so I guess all is forgiven.  It does make me wonder, if she was actually upset with him.  As I  observe donkeys, their behavior makes me think they are more aware & complicated animals than we give them credit for sometimes.

It was 16 degrees here this morning, I'm glad Pepper & Sha'ba had their blankets on.  They move much better in the morning if  they are blanketed. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE.........!!!!!!

 

We actually got a little rain last night, & at 4:30 this morning it tried to snow.  But by the time we got up you could hardly tell it.  It's suppose to be 22 degrees in Benson tonight, which means we will be in the low teens probably.  So Sha'ba & Pepper have their blankies & booties on, Pepper will just have to stay in  whether he likes it or not.  The girls will be staying in, so he'll have company.  

Hanna seemed to be just fine today.  I know that leg has to hurt, but she isn't favoring it at all.  This afternoon she was at the back yard gate, John uses to go out & feed the birds.  I swear she was trying to figure out how to get in the back yard, you could almost see the wheels turning in her head.  

Actually everyone seemed to get along just fine today, with Paladin in his pen.  Of course he wasn't happy, but the rest seemed to be just fine without his nonsense.   I put a halter on him this morning which doesn't seem to bother him at all.  I snapped on a lead, & tried to lead him...................hmmmm we might have to work on that a little bit.  His feet were firmly planted & he wasn't moving.  I tried tickling his ribs & found out he isn't ticklish, unfortunately..........!!!!  But he didn't try to get away, so I guess it was success in a very small way.  Something to work on I guess.  I need to work with Hanna too, she doesn't know anymore than he does.  Actually less, if she sees a halter in your hand, she takes off.  

SCARY DAY........!!!

GENERAL CUSTER & HIS MEN 1874

 

We had something happen today that absolutely scared the "bejeepers" out of both of us.  I was making some fudge & John hits the door yelling, "I need some help".  I had the good sense to set the pan off the fire, & ran out the door asking what was happening.  He said Hanna was hanging from a corral panel.  Good grief ...........we got to her & she was hanging from the top rail of the 5 foot panel with her left rear leg over the top of the rail, & the hoof caught behind the 2nd rail.  Her head & shoulders were laying on the ground.  I dropped down to her head & she was willing to lay, her eyes were quiet.  John said he was going to get the hack saw & pipe cutters to cut the pipe.  I stayed with her & she laid quietly until right before he got back, which was  probably less than 2 minutes although it seemed like forever.  When she started thrashing, I tried to hold down her neck, but she's very strong, even in such a grotesque position.

Once John got back it took him just a few seconds to cut thru the pipe on one end & twist it enough to release the hoof & she slid to the ground & just laid there.  Her hindquarters were up on the panel & John grabbed a hind leg & dragged her enough, so she could get her feet under her & up she jumped.  She was a little gimpy on that hind leg for awhile, but by feeding time, she wasn't even favoring it.

She had a wet slobbery place on her ear, & although we don't know for sure, John's guess is, Paladin got her cornered in the pen, & she climbed the panel & when she went over, her hoof got caught.  Sounds pausible to me, so we rounded him up & in the pen he went.  And we will probably stop trying to have them out together, he'll be in when they are out & visa versa since obviously they aren't always noisy when he's being a bad boy.  The dogs started barking their "something is wrong" bark, which is why John came to see what was going on.

John was suppose to have jury duty today, but they cancelled it.  Afterwards I started wondering if I had been here by myself, or even if John was by himself, how would we have handled it.  I honestly don't know what I would have done, I doubt if I would have thought of a hack saw.  And I'm sure she was calmer having someone with her, so it was really a 2 person operation.  And what if we hadn't been here?  The way her leg & foot were caught, I'm sure it could have broke if she had been there very long, thrashing around. 

It brought to mind how much responsibility it is to take care of these animals.  They rely on us to keep them safe.  I sat in the house afterwards & tried to think of what I would have done if I was here by myself, & still have not come up with a good answer. 

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY

I know it probably doesn't look like much to most people, but to me it's wonderful.....another golf cart & also a little dump cart........!!! An ad on Craigslist caught my eye, & it turned out to be a gonga deal, the little cart is probably worth what we paid for both of them. It needs new batteries which is why it was so cheap, but even then it was a good deal. One of my other Christmas presents was having our son fix our poo cart. The metal had literally worn out. They don't make that cart anymore, so when Rod asked what I wanted for Christmas, I took into consideration he is a federally certified welder & asked for what I REALLY wanted......!!! Yesterday he & our grandson spent all afternoon thrashing around under an old van in a junk yard to get the steering box out. That's what John wanted for Christmas, a steering box that has less than 500,000 miles on it for the old van. We have found out that once you go over 400,000 miles the steering box starts to deteriorate, for some reason.....!! And they will even put it in, WHAT A DEAL......!!!

Poor Paladin is in the dog house again. He just can't help behaving like a jerk, from the girls point of view. Actually most of them have managed to discourage him, except for Frijolita. She is afraid of him, & rather than stand her ground & kick the snot out of him, she runs. Of course that makes it great fun to chase her, which he does with great enjoyment. Sooooo we're back to him being in at night, & during the day he can go out, until he starts acting rude. Yesterday John broke it up & ran Frijolita into her pen. I asked John how that was fair, Paladin acts like an idiot & she gets put in the pen. So today, if he can't behave, he'll go in his pen, if we can catch him. Actually he's pretty good to follow us...........but once he finds out he can't get out of the pen, he might choose not to play the game. He's such a sweet guy, to be such a jerk. Hopefully his hormones are dropping..................can't be too soon for everyone involved.

Pretty Hanna

John is still hauling skunks on a regular basis, one every morning. I have no idea how many he's hauled, nor do we know how many are probably repeat customers. Quite a few neighbors say they are having problems too, so I guess we just have a lot of skunks this year. I am really surprised John hasn't gotten sprayed although he did have one "poot" a little. It took almost a week & scrubbing with different potions to get the smell out of the bronco. Although he's pretty careful to keep the live trap covered with a blanket, they like to chew holes in the blanket if they can. John says when he can see their eyes thru the holes in the blanket, he knows they can see him, & it's time for a new blanket.

The last couple of days Paladin has been allowed out with the girls & we have been keeping an eye on him. He's been pretty good, although if we hear running, grunting, or anything else that sounds like trouble, we go see what's happening. All day yesterday we reacted & they always looked at us like we were nuts. Today we were gone all day & when we got home we saw dust flying. Paladin was chasing Daisy & Frijolita around & around, thru the pens & in general acting like a prepubescent brat. John yelled at him, which got his attention for about 5 seconds, after which it was great fun to really speed up to catch the girls again.

John dragged out the equalizer...........the bb gun. We hadn't tried it yet, although we had threatened him a time or two verbally. John ran out in front of him one time, shook the bb gun at him, & Paladin slammed on the brakes turned left & promptly ran into one of the upright posts on the feed room. He doesn't pay attention to where he's running a lot of the time. About this time, Daisy doubles back to run in front of him, so he could chase her again. Here we are trying to save her & she's egging him on............!!!! He's 2 1/2 & she's 23 or more, so we've been calling her "Cougar" Daisy, the older woman, younger man thing. When he took off after her, John popped his butt with the bb gun. He tucked his tail & kept running. John popped him again & the 3rd time he finally decided to stop & figure out what was going on, which gave me a chance to put Daisy in a pen. Frijolita had taken an opportunity to disappear, she really doesn't like him at all. But Daisy seems to, & she likes to run with Frijolita. I would imagine all Frijolita was trying to do was get away from both of them.

Hanna seems to be having fun running with the herd. She's usually close to Tula, but if John shows up she will follow him anywhere. We still haven't started working with her, although she does have something that will have to be corrected. If you are standing with a group of donkeys, & not paying attention to her, she will nudge you with her nose, & it isn't always gentle. Actually she will do it if you stop petting her too. It's cute...............but probably shouldn't be allowed. So starting tomorrow we will being discouraging such behavior. She's a smart girl, it probably won't take but a few times for her to figure out we don't want her doing that.

HANNA'S OUT & ABOUT.......!!!

This is Hanna headed out this morning for a day of exploration. She wasn't all that interested in the other donkeys this morning, although this afternoon when John had to go out & find her, she was hanging with Chester & Tula. When John found her, he told her to follow him, & she did, all the way to the pen, & in she went. She seems to be very mellow & should be easy to work with. We're still letting her get use to her new surroundings. Of course if she & the other girls got out today, that means Paladin had to stay in for the day. Boy was he upset this morning when he didn't get to go out, as usual. I worked with him a little bit to get his mind off of how mistreated he was. I put a halter on him & he didn't seem to care at all. That is a milestone, the next big deal will be learning to lead. After that, picking up feet & maybe a little clicker training for fun. Then he will ready to start looking for his new home.

Yesterday Patti & I spent the day visiting with Claire up in Waddel, AZ, close to Phoenix. Started out early in the morning, & had to scrape ice off the windshield. This is NOT why I live in Arizona..........!!!

We had a great time visiting with Claire, her 2 horses & 2 donkeys. She adopted the 2 donkeys from a rescue about a year ago & knew at the time that Ruthie had really bad feet. Since then she has found out just how bad, & although Ruthie has a hard time moving around, she is alert & involved in what goes on around her. Eventually Claire will probably have to make a decision, but right now Ruthie is very loved & Claire will do whatever necessary to keep her comfortable as long as possible.

Ruthie & Claire

Gus is carrying some extra weight, she hasn't been able to get off of him. She knows how to feed the right way, so I would imagine he's like Buddy Brat, everything he eats turns to fat. Poor Buddy has been on a diet ever since he came here & still looks like an over stuffed sausage casing. And Gus looks like he has the same problem. She's going to have his thyroid checked to see if it's working properly. Buddy has been on thyroid meds for years, & I don't know if it's helped him or not. He's still "rotund" or worse.

Claire & Gus

In this picture she is showing us how Gus will lead with her putting her hand under his chin. Of course when she tried it, he wouldn't move. One thing you should never do with a donkey is say, "they will do ........... (fill in the blank)", because chances are they won't, especially if you are showing someone how obedient they are. Never works..........!!!!

EDDIE & THE CHRISTMAS PLAY

This was sent to one of the Donkey Groups I belong to. What a fun time was had by all I guess, it certainly made my day.
Tish

Just wanted to share the success of our participation in the Christmas play at our church.
Last Sunday we had been asked to bring Eddie our mammoth jack to church so that "Mary" could ride him to Bethlehem. The kids had prepared a cardboard set complete with the Bethlehem Inn, the stables and manger and off to the side a campfire where the shepherds would be visited by the angel. The plan was that mary would mount the donkey and Joseph would lead the donkey in the front door, down the aisle to the front where they would stop at the Bethlehem Inn. After being told the was "no room" at the inn, they would walk forward to the stables where Mary would dismount and she and Joseph would kneel by the manger. I would be waiting behind the set to lead Eddie around behind the set where we would wait for the end of the play for him to be in the pictures.

Everything was great but here are the minor flaws:
Flaw #1. I think everyone totally underestimated the height of a mammoth donkey. Poor Mary had to practically lay on him to get in the doorway.

Flaw #2. They also underestimated how long a donkey that big is. When he made a turn at the coffee pot, it looked like trying to turn an 18-wheeler into Sonic. He made it but it was sure a tight fit.

Flaw #3. Stopping this big donkey while wearing a "Joseph" costume that is dragging the ground can be a daunting task for an 11 year old boy and can make for some colorful language. Nuff said there.

Flaw# 4. Set design should take into account the size of the donkey you are "hiding" behind the Bethlehem Inn. He looked a bit like "DONKEYZILLA" towering behind the set.

Flaw #5. When they angels come to celebrate the birth of Jesus, they need to be told NOT to flap their gossamer wings directly behind donkeyzilla's butt. He didn't do anything but he tucked his tail and did a lot of ear switching that said he would rather that angel moved on to higher ground.

And last but not least,
When a play is done and you have a miniature cardboard city and a donkey the size of a sky scrapper, it might be wise to forgo the standing ovation and the band bursting into a rousing chorus of "joy to the world". That was a tense moment for sure. I paid Eddie lots of granola treats during the last 5 minutes.

All in all, everyone agreed that he just made the play. He was such a sport. He even let Me use the shop vac on him to clean him up before the big day. In fact the only thing that he really made a face at was the smallest of the three kings who had a shiny crown and sequined vest. He didn't like the looks of all that glitter and kept giving Me a look that said, "he doesn't have to stand by Me, right?"

We all agreed that you could never ask a horse to do all that he did. Lots of pictures were taken and he gave every child a ride after they were done. BTW, not a pile left at the church in or out. He waited til he got back in the trailer like a good boy.
Kim- Texas
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

HANNA HAS ARRIVED.......!!!

Hmmm.....nothing like being the new kid on the block, especially when you arrive about suppertime.

Needless to say she was very interesting to the gang. She hasn't seen a donkey in 2 years, so I think she was rather overwhelmed by all the braying & attention.

When we went to pick her up, she was in a large area & we found out although she will follow people around, she is afraid of ropes. John backed up into a corner, she was willing to walk behind the trailer, which basically trapped her in the corner. But she wasn't willing to "hop" into the trailer. It took about an hour to finally get her in. We did find out she isn't a kicker, which is always good to know.

She's really quite friendly with people, but not sure if she wants to buddy buddy with them. That's OK, we'll give her a few days to figure out her new lifestyle. She's a very pretty girl, I'll get a picture of her soon. Right now she is in with the other jennies, during the day & by herself at night when the girls go out. Paladin is still acting like a stupid little teenager. Jenny is finally walking without limping, but we don't want to put her out with Mr. Busy Body again. So he's hanging around the "girl's" pen yelling & prancing around to show them how wonderful he is. All the girl's are in except Tula, she seems to be able to put him in his place & keep him there.

Since Lucy is in with the girls we have to figure out what to do with Buster. He was running himself crazy trying to "protect" her from Paladin. The 1st couple of days we put Buster in with the girls. But this morning I put him out. So far he seems OK with that, he's just hanging around the pen & lunging at Paladin if he gets close. Pepper is still in with the girls, he was a little slow this morning. I'll have to go check on him, & see if he is ready to go out. He's been a little pokey the last few days. He's eating real good for him, but just seems to be a little off. Hope he's OK, at his age of 35+ he doesn't need any problems.