I'm beginning to think that Paladin might be the smartest donkey I've ever seen.  Yesterday everyone was out & about for the day.  John was working outside in case things got out of hand, with our "Wild Child".  John said the dogs started barking & he saw Frijolita, Daisy, & Hanna trotting across the wash.  They came around the pens into John's area & then headed for the house.  John looked around & didn't see Paladin or anything that would have caused them to run, so he went back to his business.  

A little while later I heard the dogs barking & went out to see the girls running in the driveway.  When I called to them, they came running to me.  Just then I saw Paladin running across the wash from behind the pens, headed for Burroland at a high rate of speed.  "Darn it, I think they saw me this time"..............!!!!  It seems he has figured out we can't always see him, & seems to know where he can be & not be seen.  

I would love to find the perfect home for him, someone that wanted to devote their time to working with him.  He is so quick to learn (good or bad) & really enjoys being around people.  Of course he also enjoys playing with the donkeys too.  He seems to be very intelligent, thoughtful & willing.  I've only seen him spook once & that was a little boy.  I doubt if he had ever seen a child before.  But he is a challenge at this time in his life because he is so full of himself.  He needs someway to use up all that excess energy, besides being obnoxious.  Ha! 

He & Gus have been playing a lot lately, & this morning we noticed Gus has some swelling & a bloody place underneath his belly at the flank area.  I'm not sure but after watching the geldings play I think one of their favorite tricks is to go for the "boy" parts.  I would imagine in the wild they try to rip the scrotum when they are fighting for dominance.  One way to cut down on the competition for the girls I would imagine........... YUCK!  Of course the geldings don't have much to grab, so the surrounding area suffers, if someone like Paladin is particularly aggressive.  

Of course Gus is one of those, that thinks if you start messing with him, you are probably trying to kill him, & he goes into protective mode.  And he's big & strong enough to make his point perfectly clear.  Consequently, I didn't get a very good look, noticed some swelling, a little blood, a lot of hair in the way.  So I sprayed vigorously with betadine, dabbed a little with a rag, which was when he decided I was trying to kill him, & consider it doctored at least for now.  We'll watch it for a few days to make sure he's OK.  He's suppose to go to his new home next week, so it would be nice if he was still in one piece by then.......!!! 

WHAT TO DO, WHAT TO DO..........?????

Well we're working on an answer for the Paladin & Frijolita "problem".  He is doing just fine out with the others, he plays for awhile & then stands around.  BUT, I can't trust him not to chase her, nor can I trust her not to run if he does chase her.  It's a 2 edged sword, because both her & Daisy encourage him to chase them.  But when they get tired of the game & want to quit, he's still got lots of energy, & that's when Frijolita starts running in a panic.  Soooooo....... the game plan at this time is, Paladin gets to go out during the day.  If we are here, the 2 girls can be out & if panic chasing starts the girls will go in their pen, where they feel safe.  If we  are gone to town or somewhere else, we will put the girls in their pen before we leave.  Did that today & Frijolita was rattling the gate as we left, I guess to let us know we forgot to let her & Daisy out..........Jeesh, we can't win.....!!!  At night Paladin has to stay in, because we can't watch them all night. 

He does seem to be relating better to the other donkeys for whatever reason, I wish there was a better answer, but we'll try this routine for awhile & see how it works.  

Katie is starting to interact with the other donkeys a little better.  We know she had a baby about 3 years ago & wouldn't accept it.  I hope they raised it on a bottle or with a surrogate mother.  The more I watch her I am beginning to think Katie might have been an orphan & raised by people, which could be why she refused her baby.  She relates to people much better than she does to donkeys.  But I've noticed lately she is staying in the general vicinity of some of the other donkeys.  For awhile, she was off by herself, & showed no interest in the others at all.  I've caught her hanging with Buddy Brat a couple of times.  That would make a cute couple, they are about the same height, & both of them are a little bit broader than they should be. 

 

Buddy Brat with Visitors

MORE RAIN, MORE MUD, YUCKY PENS...........!!!!

I don't seem to recall how icky the winters were in Missouri when I was growing up, obviously, since our recent weather, really seems to be nasty.  And I'm in Arizona, where I know in the next couple of days it's going to dry out quickly.  Besides our property is covered with sand, gravel & rocks, so even when it's wet, it's not that boot sucking mud a lot of people have to contend with.  BUT I DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT.........!!!!!!!

Paladin has been a bad boy.  After being a good boy for 3 days & 2 nights the 3rd night John let everyone out of the pens & came back in the house.  It was one of those nights where our TV watching wasn't compatible, so John went down in the bedroom to watch TV.  I don't think he'd been gone 5 minutes, when I heard thundering hooves.  Went out, was smart enough to grab a flashlight on the way, & Frijolita was running & Paladin was chasing.  I yelled at Paladin & Frijolita headed right for me with him in pursuit.  That's fine, as soon as she got close I stepped between them, yelled & started waving my arms around.  He screeched to a halt & she stood behind me, while he tried to figure out what happened to his fun.  

I wanted him in his pen, since he couldn't behave, but couldn't take time to go get John, & lose Paladin in the dark.  Soooooo...........  I started following him & telling him to go in his pen.  Like that's going to happen, right..........??  I figured I'd still be following him in the morning when John came out & said, "I wondered where you went"..........!!!!!  LOL  One pass went fairly close to the Burroland gate, so I peeled off long enough to shut the gate, before he went over there.  It didn't take but about 20 minutes for him to give up & go in his pen.  He really is a smart guy, just likes to play too much & too hard.  

He does seem to be better, but Frijolita is too afraid of him to not run.  And once she runs he thinks it's great sport.  Yesterday we let him out for an hour or so before afternoon roundup & he did fine.  He stayed in last night & I let him out this morning.  He went out & started playing with any of the geldings that would play, even Justin one of the minis.  Justin doesn't seem to realize he's little, & Paladin does seem to pull his "punches" with Justin.  

Later on, I noticed Frijolita & Daisy standing under the big tree, with Frijolita on guard.  They wandered over to their pen, so I shut the gate on them.  I told them if they felt safer in there that was the best place for them.  We'll keep trying to let him out as much as possible, but only when we are here.  

I also worked with him this morning with halter & lead.  Haven't gotten brave enough to take him out of his pen on a lead yet, but soon, hopefully. 

PEPPER'S NEW BLANKET

It's a Weatherbeeta, which in our price range, is about as good as it gets.  It even has a little tail flap, to keep his tail warm.  

He's been walking really good for him the last few days.  In fact this morning he has been "chasing" the girls like a dirty old man. " Chase " might be a little over the top for what he is doing.  Long distance stalking might be closer to the truth.  All Daisy, Frijolita & Hanna have to do is walk off & here he comes toddling along at his little old man pace.  But the ears are up & he has a purpose in mind, if he can just catch up & make them understand what a fine catch he would be.  Of course if one of them did agree that he's "sorta" cute the logistics would keep him from his goal.  He can't hardly stand on 3 legs for me to clean his feet, let alone anything like foreplay..........!!!!  But he's hanging in there, so good for him.  

Paladin is actually behaving himself for the most part.  This morning before roundup he was irritating the girls, but not chasing them & being rough.  It was more like the little boy on the playgound being obnoxious.  He was playing rough with Buddy, but no missing hide or blood.  I went out & told him to leave the girls alone.  He looked at me, spun around & headed for his pen.  I thought "this is great" he's really listening to me.  Got to his pen, & took off at a dead run for Burroland, where the bulk of the herd were.  Maybe not listening so good, but when I went over to Burroland to get him, I told Tula to bring them home, & everyone headed for the pens.  Paladin really didn't want to go in the pen, but a couple of false starts & me pointing, he finally gave up.  Today will make 2 days & one night he's been out with the girls & not had to be separated.  I hope it continues like this, sure makes life easier on everyone.  The girls hate being in their pen overnight, & I can't blame them.  And he hates being in his pen during the day, so if he will behave himself it's a win, win situation for everyone. 

Returning from The Battle of Wounded Knee - 1890

Susan called yesterday morning & said the girls are getting along just great.  They are fitting into their new routine & she is really enjoying them.  I think they will have a great long term home with her.  She said she will call with updates, which will be good.  We like to keep in touch with all our donkeys, although technically these 2 girls were never "ours".

Yesterday morning before Paladin went in his pen for the day he decided to see if Lucy might think he was cute.  Buster, as you might expect, didn't think much of Paladin's attention to his Lucy Girl.  Lucy didn't think much of it either, & kicked the snot out of him.  Once she kicked him a couple of times, he left her alone.  We were going to be gone for most of the day, so he had to stay in his pen for the day.  

But this morning he got to go out with everyone else including the girls.  He got his "slow down" drops in his feed this morning.  I also told Daisy & Frijolita to not run from him, & told him not to chase the girls unless they wanted to be chased.  He went out & was moseying around not really going after anyone & Hanna came over to entice him.  He really didn't show much interest & the last I saw of him, he was walking west on the property, following Buster & Lucy with the minis trailing him. John is going to spend most of the day outside to be referee if necessary.

This morning I heard the sounds of hooves outside the bedroom, so of course I had to get up to see what was going on.  There was a herd of 9 mulling around the windows, Paladin was checking each & every window out, like he was trying to figure out what they were.  I moved real slow, so as not to scare him, & started talking to him.  He seemed to find it all very interesting, hopefully in the future he won't try to see if he can push the windows in.  This summer when we have the windows open, the screens will push real easy.  In the past John has had to replace the screens in the spa room windows because to big fuzzy noses.  Of course that lets the cats out, which makes another problem.  

When they got tired of snotting the windows, they wandered off towards the feed room to await their breakfast.  The 5 jennies were still in their pens, until after breakfast, when it would be their turn to get out.  But hopefully if he behaves himself for a day or two, we'll be able to let him & the girls out together all the time.  It sure would make life easier on everyone.

Pepper got a new blanket.  His old one is still in good shape, but he's lost so much weight, even though it's adjustable, I could only adjust it so far, & it still was way too big.  He sure looked "dapper" last night, I'll try to get a picture of him with it on.  

He's been walking better the last few days.  I've tried different things to help make his legs more comfortable.  I sure the weather getting warmer helps as much as anything else.  When we drove in yesterday afternoon there was a "herd" down by the gate.  Pepper was wooing Jenny, prancing along, ears up & nuzzling her sides as she walked along.  Keeps the old boy moving I guess.................!!! Ha!

This afternoon we decided to let Paladin out for an hour or so, before feeding time, to see how he would behave.  John let him out & said he walked out slowly, someone brayed over on burroland & Paladin took off like he was shot from a gun.  John figured he better follow along abeit rather slowly, so off he went.  By the time he got over there, he said they were all standing around looking at him, like they wondered what he was doing over there.  That's what they usually do when we go over there, for some reason they think that is "their" place & it's off limits to us humans.

John came in the house to report & about that time we heard thundering hooves pounding dirt.  I ran out to "save" whoever, & there went Paladin running for his life, with Gus in hot pursuit............!!!!  WOW this has never happened before.  Pretty soon they were rearing in the air & biting at each other & seemed to be having a great time.  Later on when John went to round everyone up, he said Paladin & Tula were.................well.........they were.............!!!!!!   Ha!  The other girls were in the neighborhood, but as far as we know he didn't pay any attention to them.  Tula was not mentioned as one to ignore, she's always been very capable of holding her own with him or anyone else.  Now maybe after an hour or so, he might get bored & try to stir up some of the others, but I was really amazed, his behavior was different than usual.  I'm willing to give it a try.  Linda sent me an herbal essence today to put in his food to help him not be quite so "energetic".  

I called & left a message for Susan tonight to see how the girls are doing in their new home.  Hopefully she will get a chance to call me back.  I'm sure everything is just fine, but I always like to check just to make sure. 

The girl's pen "finally" dried out enough they can eat in there again, rather than eating out with Quilla, Buster & Lucy.  I know Quilla is happy for them to be in there, rather than out with him. at feeding time .   This morning we had to make sure we clipped the gate or Hanna would have let everyone out, she is really quick at it.  We'll be going to town today, John is hoping his doctor will let him take the sling off his arm.  It's only been 5 weeks, they originally said 6 weeks,  we'll see.  So Paladin will have to stay in his pen.  I would like to let him out when we can watch him, & chastise him if he doesn't behave, but can't do it if we aren't here.  He's actually pretty good about going back in his pen, if we have to run him in.  I guess he sees it as an area of safety, when the silly people start running around chasing him.  

John actually worked in their pen yesterday with the tractor.  The ground was really torn up from them walking thru the mud, so he leveled it  & put down some PDZ to help sweeten it.  They have 2 long term "pee" ponds in the pen that need to be dug out & new sand put in.  He has to do this periodically, not only in their pen, but in Sha'ba's shelter.  For some reason Sha'ba has built & designed his pee pond right in the middle of the shelter.  And he lays down there.  I won't even tell you what his blanket he wears every night smells like.........and that's after being rinsed off.....!!!!  So John will have some digging to do when his arm gets back up to speed.  He doesn't trust me with the tractor in the pens.  I'm not real good at watching all 4 corners in close quarters, I guess he's afraid I'll cause more work than I accomplish........!!!  Ha! 

PALADIN TALKED TO THE COMMUNICATOR TODAY........!!!

I've never done this before, but figure it's worth the effort to help Paladin settle down.  As it is now he can't be out with the girls because he thinks it's great fun to chase them when they run.  And they run because he chases them.

Linda Johns called me this afternoon for his appointment.  After asking me a few questions, about his age, & how we got him, & what changes we wanted in his behavior, she said she would hook up with him for questions & answers.  We were on the phone almost an hour & I was impressed with what she was saying.  At one time she wanted the names of the 4 jennies he enjoys chasing the most.  I gave her the names & she came back with the information that the older one, actually thought the chasing was fun.  That would be Daisy & she is the one that ran in front of Paladin the other day, when John was trying to get him to quit chasing Frijolita & chase her instead.  

She said Paladin said he likes being here, except for the structure.  I didn't realize we ran such a tight ship around here. Ha!   Granted we have more rules than May had at his old home, since he was basically running wild on acreage.  He said the geldings don't let him be part of the "herd",  & the girls are fun to chase.  She said she told him that isn't acceptable behavior & he needs to work on his social skills with both the boys & the girls.  Quilla seems to like to play with him sometimes, but I haven't really seen any of the others pay much attention to him.  Of course he is 3 years old & the youngest male on the place is probably Chester at about 9.  Chester likes to play & can hold his own with the other geldings, even though he is lame.  But Paladin is so young, quick & strong, I doubt that Chester could keep up with him. 

We tried letting him out this afternoon, & at first he was behaving himself, although he did go over to Burroland where everyone was.  I followed him over there & watched what was going on.  After hanging out for a little while, he started after Cisco.  Cisco is probably in his late teens & was used as a roping donkey for years.  He was even loaned out to people that were learning how to rope.  So his legs aren't in real good shape.  But he was kicking Paladin as they ran around.  I finally yelled at Paladin, he looked at me & broke off the chase.  I thought, "this is working out pretty good".  I came in the house & the next thing I hear is the sound of thundering hooves.  Went out & he is in hot pursuit of Frijolita.  Linda said she told all the girls to not run, that he thinks it's great sport & a lot of fun & doesn't realize the girls are running because they are afraid of him.  But I guess Frijolita didn't get the message, because she was doing her best to keep ahead of him.  And he was really enjoying the chase.  I got between them 3 or 4 times, & he gave up on her, & started chasing Katie, who he has never chased as far as I know.  John & I got him to run into his pen, & we shut the gate on him.  Sooooooo..................  I'm not sure this is going to work.  I didn't see the start, so don't know if Frijolita started it by running or what.  He doesn't even bother the minis at all, not even the jennies.  And he didn't chase Daisy, Jenny & Hanna this time.   

 

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.....!!!!

It didn't rain today, so the pens have had a chance to dry out a little bit.  We've been letting the girls eat outside because their pen is the worse one.  This morning I had to chastise Miss Hanna, she is a little bit of a food hog & decided that she was going to run everyone else off of the feeders.  She threw a kick in the vicinity of one of the others, & unfortunately for her I was also in the area.  That's the hardest I've gotten on her since she's been here.  I'd like to report that she was very contrite, but it would be a lie.  She did keep an eye on me while I was there, & did allow Daisy to eat with her, so I guess she at least was paying a little bit of attention.  

This afternoon when it was feeding time, we put the girls in their pen, & that was OK until we started putting out the hay.  Hanna decided that we forgot they were suppose to be eating outside.  She got the gate open, (yes, she's one of "those") & if John hadn't been quick, she would have been out.  Michael, our neighbor that's been helping feed, was in their pen parceling out hay, but she wasn't paying any attention to him at all.  From her point of view (I know this from reading her body language) we had forgotten how it's suppose to be done & it was up to her to "fix" it.  John had to physically haul her over to one of the feeders that had hay in it before she would give up on her mission.  

Quilla much prefers for the girls to eat in their pen.  They keep running him out of the feeders, so he is enjoying being able to eat in peace & quiet tonight.