MEET MACHACHO

 I always like to give a special name to donkeys that come in without a name or have had a hard life.  Machacho has had a very hard life judging from his looks.  A woman called me this morning wanting to rehome him, although the reasons she gave, didn't quite match the actual donkey.  What she probably didn't realize is when we saw him there is no way we wouldn't have taken him.  

She said she had only had him a few weeks and she had too many animals and he was having to have hay pellets because he couldn't eat hay, and she couldn't afford to keep feeding him pellets.

The obligatory welcoming committee when the trailer returns to the property.  There were more donkeys, but by the time I got ready to take a picture they went to the other side of the trailer to get a better look.

Machacho is going to be a long term work in progress, he hasn't been wearing a fly mask and has lots of habronema larvae damage under both eyes.  He has edema under his belly, and wounds at the throat area.  He also has a large open area in his right armpit.  Quite a few other assorted small cuts and scraps all over.  

Long term he has a large open area above his left nostril that couldn't be anything except man made I'm pretty sure.  He also has a smaller opening on the right side.  We had another donkey years ago that had a similar smaller opening that looked like someone had punch a hole thru to maybe use a bull snap instead of a halter to lead him.  Sha'ba also had both ears cut about half off.  Sha'ba was a term of respect for an old man in Arabic  Machacho is a word for a young man in Spanish.  Machacho isn't young, but I don't know if he even had a name when he was young.   He has a special one now. 

He was shut down when we picked him up, not involved in what was going on around him although he leads and does what  you ask of him.  We got him home and the first thing Suzanne and I did was give him a bath.  I'm not sure, but I think he liked it once he figured out we weren't going to hurt him.  His ears started rotating and he started looking around.  

We had to put Willie in his pen, he wanted to help, got in the trailer and in general was in the way.  Willie seems to be taking over Big Gus' job as amb"ass"ador.  He likes to "help" when anyone is doing something outside.  He's a lot easier to work with though, he has manners..........LOL

We gave Machacho some cut up Bermuda hay when we got him home and he ate it just fine.  Tonight he got more hay and some senior feed and had no trouble eating it, so I'm not sure what the problem was for the woman to have to feed him pellets.  Tomorrow we'll try him on some hay pellet mush, but I have a feeling he will eat just about anything we put in front of him.  

Tonight I went out to help let the donkeys out and take off fly masks.  I had some animal crackers in my pocket and although Machacho wasn't going out I stopped at his pen and yelled for him to come over.  He came over head up, ears up and trotting. He already thinks animal crackers are pretty good.  When I first tried to give him some, he sniffed at them a long time before he took one.  By  tonight sniffing wasn't necessary, but watching your fingers is pretty important if you want to keep them attached to your hand....LOL.  I doubt that he's had many cookies in his life.    

We'll probably give him a day or two to acclimate to all the donkeys and the change in his life style and then we'll let him out to roam around.  

SUZANNE'S BACK FROM COLORADO

 She and Koshare got back Sunday afternoon, after a whirlwind week-end.  It sound like Koshare lived up to his reputation.  He has always been an interesting character, with a mind of his own, which means he isn't a "go along to get along" type of guy.  

He has done really well at pack burro racing and about the only time he goes anywhere in the trailer it's to a pack burro race.  Travel for hours,  get to camp out with other donkeys, lots of people in the area, head for the middle of town, gun goes off and run, run, run for the front of the herd.  

Hmmm......  the Mancos Burro Fest wasn't a race, it was a gathering of some of the wonderful artists from the area, to showcase their talent and also to pay homage to burros, who were instrumental to the settling of the state of Colorado.

That means that rather than racing, there was a parade, and obstacle course and the burros being on main street with the artists for the public to meet and greet.  From what Suzanne said, Koshare did NOT get the memo about the difference between racing and a festival.  She said he was head up, ears up and prancing like a race horse, pretty much when he came out of the trailer and stayed that way the whole day.  

Of course people love bad boys, so he got a lot of attention, while Suzanne tried to stay in control.  Koshare doesn't have a mean bone in his body, he loves people and I've never seen him kick or bite people or other donkeys.  But he is very strong and can be very determined, which kept Suzanne busy...!!  LOL  From what she said the parade was interesting, Koshare decided to head for the front, so he got to do a lot of turning in little circles.  

The bridge that tilts, no problem

The obstacle course had  8 obstacles and 8 minutes to finish it.  Suzanne said they finished the first 5 obstacles in about a minute or a little more.  Then they came to the dreaded water crossing which put a screeching halt to their forward motion.  Suzanne said she even stood in the water, and Koshare didn't care.  It's a timed event with points for each obstacle, so he would get more points if he did the obstacle and 1 point if he at least tried it.  I guess the rest of the course went about the same.  

Squeeze thru walls of hay, without eating it

Stomp thru piles of limbs, why not

And the winner is...........Koshare complete with a wreath of sunflowers which incidentally he tried to eat.  Suzanne plans on putting it back together.........!!! LOL

Suzanne with a beautiful painting of Arlo by Elizabeth Kinahan the featured artist of the 2022 Mancos BurroFest. This was the prize for Team Koshare winning the obstacle course.  It will look really good in our new office.

Koshare isn't the only one that didn't get the message about behaving and being a good team member. Our friend India and Sparkle Nelly made the trek from Tucson to participate in the BurroFest.  

Not sure but this might be the beginning of their run, Nelly has all 4 feet on the ground, LOL

Looks like she wants to be a dancer

Nope, not what Nelly had planned for the day....

Nelly seems bound and determined not to participate, at least on 4 feet.....

After the obstacle course the burros were suppose to go up on main street for an hour or so, with the artists so the people could visit with them.  Koshare ended up in TIME OUT, tied to the trailer instead of participating in all that attention.  He was still hyped up, head up, ears up and ready to go, Suzanne said her arms were tired.......!!! LOL  

It sounded like a good time was had by all, even Koshare had a good time, just not as good as he would have liked..........!!!   LOL  Hopefully next year Koshare can try to repeat his win, only this time finish all the obstacles.    Suzanne plans on working with him in the meantime, so he knows the difference between racing and  a festival.......!!!  

Tombstone 2022 video

 I was looking for the finish for the Creede pack burro race last week-end and ran across this wonderful video from the Tombstone race this spring.  Thanks, Roland and Tin Cup for a great opportunity to get a glimpse of what it's like to be in a race.  

TOMBSTONE 2022

The monsoon is here with all the heat and humidity that brings.  I think they said a 60% chance of rain this week-end.  We've had a few........very few sprinkles so far and that's all. 

  

CREEDE FINISH THIS WEEK-END

 What an exciting finish by 2 great competitors and their handlers.

Couldn't get much more exciting than this.........!!!  Little Buttercup and Yukon are really battling for the win.  Yukon has won the 1st 2 races this season, but Buttercup is fighting back for the season.  It will be fun to watch who comes out on top.  

WILLIE'S STILL GOT HIS FLY MASK ON...........!!!

 After losing 3 masks in the first 5 days he was here, I consider it being a miracle.  Actually it isn't a fly mask, it's a fringed fly bonnet.  For some reason it's staying on and seems to work just fine as a fly deterrent.

Back when Willie was still working for a living with his lifetime owner

I think this was in 2014, looks like fun playing Wagon Train, thanks for the pictures Sue

We had hoped with Rosie gone Willie and Jasper might bond, so Willie went in Rosie's pen.  Hmmm..... they could have been on different planets and basically ignored each other, so Willie is now in Big Gus' pen which is quite spacious compared to Rosie's.  

All in all he's settled in nicely.  Don't know if he's been around jennies, but he thinks Bonnie is his type of girl.  He's not as obnoxious as Beefy, but he does like to go down to her pen and escort her out when the pens are open.  Beefy is usually there also, one day John went to let her out and there were 5 donkeys in her pen and it isn't spacious.........!!   LOL  Poor little Casper the white mini mule was trying to squeeze into the pen also so John ran everyone out.

Actually Beefy's hormones have FINALLY leveled out to gelding status, thank goodness. They said it would take about 6 months, and that's about how long it took.   He's still attentive to the girls, but he's not so focused you can't get him to cooperate.  

Our monsoon season has started, we had a monsoon shower yesterday and also today.  Not much rain in it, but enough to get our hopes up.  Unfortunately it raises the humidity and the temperature is already over 100* and the nighttime temperatures don't cool off because of the cloud cover.  Makes living in the desert interesting.......!!!

The flies of course love the humidity and heat and the fly traps stay busy.  Boaz has to be doctored every summer because of fly damage especially to the side of his mouth.  He is so cooperative to doctor don't know if he appreciates getting rid of the flies or if it's the cookies he gets when I'm done.  I had a couple of fly masks made, that cover the corner of his mouth, so the flies don't have an open pathway directly to his mouth.  Hopefully they will give his mouth a chance to heal.

This is a picture one of John's cousins took of wild burros over by Lake Havasau in Arizona.  Arizona is suppose to have the most wild burros of any state.  There aren't any around us, mostly up north or over by California.  

Nugget's opinion of snow

 

This is so funny and probably many people in Colorado thought the same thing when they got up the morning of June 1, 2022.  

Nugget's opinion of snow

Mamacita, who now has a wonderful home in California with her BFF Sasha, is Nugget's mom. We were told she had 5 babies in her life, he was the last one about 3 years ago.  

        

Mama and Nugget got a chance to see each other at the race in Tombstone a few weeks ago.  Don't know if they knew each other or not, but they were friendly to each other.  I put this picture on the blog at the time it's the only one I have of them together.  

We're now officially closed for tours until the end of August.  Sure is quiet around here and our mornings aren't quite as hectic.  After a couple of days the donkeys are going to wonder where the people with the red solo cups are.  In other words the animal crackers are going to be few and far between for the next few weeks.  

They'll have to be satisfied with mesquite beans.  We've been watching the trees and although it's really dry, they are setting clusters of beans.  They are still green and not filled out, but I'm sure the donkeys will be ready when they ripen and start falling........!!!  Hopefully we won't have a heavy crop of beans and we can monitor their time out enough to control their eating without having to keep them in the pens all the time.  

Willie the new boy, is a people donkey.  He's not been with donkeys since he was young.  He hangs in the general area of donkeys, but isn't real excited about them.  

This is the fly mask type he's wearing these days.  The 1st 5 days he was out and about, he lost 3 regular masks.  Unfortunately he's a big enough boy, my normal donkey masks are too small.  I only had 3 masks his size, so in desperation I dug this fringe mask out, we got for John Henry last fall.  So far it is staying on him. Went on the internet to buy back up and no one has them and don't know when they'll have them in stock again.  Bummer........!!!   

I guess he is going to take Big Gus' place as amb"ASS"ador.  He comes running when we go outside.  He also watches the gate, hasn't quite figured out the process yet, but I'm sure it won't take long.......!!!  

        

 Gus won't be coming home..........  I've always told people on tours that he is either the most interesting animal they ever met or the most obnoxious, it just depended on what he was doing or what he was in to at the moment.  He was never boring. 

I don't want to remember him as he was the last few days.  I want to remember him being involved  in everything going on here.  His big nose was in everything and everywhere.

Last week he wasn't interested in eating which wasn't like him.  The vet came out tubed him and had a hard time getting the tube to his stomach to make sure the esophagus was clear.  No change Friday, tried again and decided that he needed to go to the clinic up in Gilbert.  I wrote about what happened up there before we came home in Sunday's blog.

Yesterday the clinic didn't call to update, which I take as good news.  This morning Dr. Holden called said he was pretty good yesterday and was crashing this morning.  Copious amounts of pudding like infection out his nose, coughing and gasping rather than breathing.  He was over 40 years old and the last few days were difficult days for him.  So I put on my big girl pants and made the decision to let him go.  Been doing this for a long time and it doesn't ever get any easier.  

He was such an interesting donkey, loved people and did so many things that made your teeth clench, that you would have a fit about and then have a good story to tell.  Cars with windows down were fascinating to him, once he got his big head in the window it was almost impossible to get it out.

Not long ago he got out of the driveway gate, and disappeared in the brush.  We looked everywhere and didn't find him.  I came home and made up some flyers to put in the neighborhood.  Came home from putting them out and he was in his pen.  One of the neighbor's has horses and came home from work to find a donkey visiting.  He put a halter on him and was bringing Gus home with his jeep.  

He's been out quite a few times.  He had a tree he liked to stand under fairly close to the gate but far enough away you wouldn't think he was paying any attention to the gate.  Since John broke his leg, he's a little slow on getting in and out and Gus seemed to know that.  

People are commenting and sharing pictures on the rescue Facebook page, many of the pictures I've never seen before.  He really touched people's lives.  

 

 

He will be missed, as they all are, it's never easy to say good-bye

LOTS GOING ON AROUND HERE......

 Suzanne and her mother should be heading back from Indiana this week.  Haven't heard any different that was the plan when they left.  Our volunteers have really been helpful making sure everything was getting done.  John and I can do it, BUT it takes us most of the day and we really appreciate their help.

Saturday morning we had to take Big Gus up to the clinic in Gilbert on emergency.  Dr Jeremy our local vet had been out Thur and Fri and tubed him for choke.  Most things equine related can be taken care of in the field.  But some of them need to go to a facility, where there is more equipment.  Dr. Jeremy had the tubes, x-ray and endoscope, but sunshine, heat, wind and an uncooperative patient made it really difficult to get an accurate assessment of Big Gus.  

Yesterday morning, Nora, Susan and Debra were here bright and early to help us get on the road as soon as possible.  It's about a 3 1/2 hour trip, we like to get there around noon, so if they are going to come home with us, we can get home in time to feed the homebodies before they starve to death.  They seem to think if we are late with feeding they will not survive.  A lot of them decide to take off and feed themselves off the land.  The others will stand in the driveway yelling when we drive in.

Gus got evaluated and 3 vets went to work.  Poor guy got tubed again 2 or 3 times before they managed to get the tube all the way to the top of his stomach.  Most chokes are high in the esophagus, but of course Gus' was at the entry to his stomach and was so packed they had a really hard time getting thru to break it up so they could flush it out.  

One bucket is clean water, the other two are to catch the water used to flood the esophagus.  

 

Checking his esophagus early in the game to try to figure out where the obstruction is.  It was way far away all the way down to where his stomach starts.  

It was a long hard fight to finally get a small amount of the blockage of food matter to start breaking up.  By this time Gus has lost any patience he had with the process and started fighting even though he was drugged.  Where the buckets were had lots of overflow of water so the floor was really wet.  Hooves on wet concrete isn't a good match and he went down.  

He showed no interest in getting up, which is really scary, we were afraid he was giving up.  We had already talked about him staying up there for a few days.  With that decision already made, we decided to head for home and leave him in capable hands.  

Got home there was a message on our phone, that he had gotten up on his own, they had managed to  flush lots of feed matter out and weren't going to do anything else that night.  They have not called today, since it is a holiday week-end I wouldn't expect a call unless he took a turn for the worse.  

He is also dealing with a swollen gimpy rear leg.  We thought it might be a return of the cellulitis he had last year.  Dr. Jeremy got x-rays that showed bone chips and a possible cactus spine.  So they are going to try to figure out what that is too.  Poor old guy and poor people that have to deal with him.  He is NOT a patient patient and will use his head to let you know he isn't happy.   

This week-end was the first 2 pack burro races in Colorado this season.  One was in Georgetown the other one today in Idaho Springs.  I believe they had 87 teams at Georgetown, which is quite a crowd to all try to run in the same direction thru town............!!  Ha! 

START OF GEORGETOWN PACK BURRO RACE

This is Nell and friends, one of our alumni that ran in the Idaho Springs race today

This week-end was the big annual Bishop Mule Days in Bishop, California.  Mamacita and Sasha now known as the Gorditas (little fat girls)  participated in the parade.  They have a wonderful home in California now and are going to be doing all sorts of fun things, like going to assisted living homes so the people can visit with them.  Karin said they seemed to enjoy all the fanfare.  Unfortunately they aren't going to appreciate the diet it sounds like Karin is going to have them on until they get more svelte bodies.........!!! LOL

EXCITING MORNING

 This morning started out with a crisis.  I went out later than John and Debra one of our volunteers and was met with the information that they had been looking for Big Gus for almost an hour and could not find him anywhere.  Gus is over 40 years old as per a vet, and has a heart murmur.  Also snakes are out now, which is always a big worry.  

After looking for that long of course we were thinking the worst, and were looking on the ground, but still no Gus.  Everybody else was in, got fed while I used the quad to continue looking.  Still nothing, too soon to look for vultures, but we were starting to think that would be the only way to find him.  Checked all the gates, just in case, went over the 30 acres more than once and of course we were all looking, hopefully in different directions.  

When Debra got thru feeding I told her where I had gone and the only place I hadn't actually walked was what we call the Triangle.  It's a small area between the fence between the 10 acres where the pens are and the 20 acres we call Burroland and the big main wash that runs across the property.  I headed out again in Burroland and Debra decided to walk the fence line between Burroland and the 10 acres.  About 10-15 minutes of me running around on the quad and walking over there, I heard the air horn blast.  We use it for these type of occasions to let whoever is out in the brush know it's time to come in.  

Debra found him in the Triangle in a heavy brushy area.  She said the only way she saw him was his tail was swatting flies and moving back and forth. He is going to make us all have a heart attack before it's over.  By the time I got back he was in his pen having his breakfast, like no big deal.........!!!  Grrrrrr........!!!  It's been a long time since he even went over to Burroland let alone into that area.  In order to get to it, he had to go down the bank of the wash and back up the other side.  That's a lot of energy for him to use up.  He usually just stands under a tree out by the driveway gate waiting for an opportunity to make his escape........!!! LOL

Our new donkey got here from Colorado as planned.  His name is Willie.  He has lived a charmed life most donkeys could only dream about.  He is 21 years old and has lived in one home since he was a year old.  None of those 7-9 homes for him which is the average for a donkey.  He won the Burro lottery years ago by going into a caring home and being well taken care of all those years.  But the cold in Colorado was getting to his knees and his owner wanted him to be in a warmer climate.  

He's pack burro raced, pulled a cart, been ridden and in general has had a very interesting life with people that appreciated him.  His daddy was a mammoth and his mom was a BLM jenny and we have his history back 3 generations which is very unusual.  

  a

This is a picture Sue sent from Colorado

This morning when he got to go out for the first time.  We put him in Rosie's pen next to Jasper, hoping they might become buddies.  This morning because of the Big Gus crisis our usual routine was out of whack.  Usually when we get new donkeys in, we keep them in for a couple of days, then let them out in the morning for an hour or so before the others are out.  That way they get a chance to explore a little before being greeted by a crowd.  

I went to let him out and discovered Jasper had already opened his inside gate and they were together in Jasper's pen.  I opened the outside gate and let both of them out.  So much for buddying up, Willie started exploring and Jasper started opening any gates he could find not double latched.  He is REALLY good at gate opening unfortunately......!!  LOL  Willie acted like he had lived here forever no drama or anything.  After half hour or so, it looked pretty boring, so we let everyone else out.  

The donkeys all know Big Gus usually leaves hay and mush.  John said he came around the corner and there were 5 donkeys in Gus' pen and Casper the mini mule was outside sticking his head thru the corral panels without having to deal with the donkeys.  John said he looked at the donkeys and noticed one of them was.........Willie.  He was right in the middle of the group and no one seemed to care, no squabbling or pushing going on.  He's been with a horse for about 7 years, we thought he'd be excited to see donkeys, but guess not, at least not yet...!!! 

Next big deal will be going into his pen tonight.  From what I've seen I doubt that it will be a problem.  He's really mellow and easy going.  After dealing with Beefy and his hormonal problem, Willie is a pleasure......!!! LOL

LOOKS LIKE MAMACITA HAS TAKEN TO RUNNING

 Karin and John in California have given Mamacita and Sasha a wonderful home.  It looks like Mamacita is going to have to earn her keep, rather than just walking around looking cute.  She sure has those little legs moving..........  Thank you Karin and John for giving the girls such a great home and showing Mamacita how much fun racing can be.  Looking forward to seeing her first race, she looks like she is going to be a fun team member. 

MAMACITA IN TRAINING

Tomorrow should be an exciting day, Willie is suppose to get here tomorrow from Colorado.  We are always excited to have a new donkey come in.  It's interesting to watch them figure out the herd dynamics and eventually they usually find a friend to hang with.  

When Melvin and Big Jackson came in they were totally bonded from being together for a long time.  Once they were out on the acreage, for a few days they split and did their own thing.  They never really hung around with anyone else, but separated from each other.  After a few days they went back together and are still best "buds" I guess.  

I do have an update on Beefy.  As some of you know he had been used for breeding, was 15 years old when he was gelded in December before he came to the rescue in January.  It's been an interesting 6 months.  He has been pretty much of a jerk most of the time.  Yelling and screaming, running after the girls, just in general acting like an idiot with a mission.  

Sometimes he would be very calm and easy to work with, other times....not so much.  The last few days, he has behaved like the gentle boy we always hoped he would be.  He's hanging with Bonnie, most of the time and he's behaving himself, just seems to enjoy her company.  Because she has been chronically foundered, she spends a lot of time laying down in the wash in the soft gravel.  He spends most of the day standing by her and seems very content.  I certainly hope this behavior continues, he's such a sweet boy and as a mammoth he big enough to make your life miserable if he wants to.  Hopefully he is now a bonafide gelding and will continue to act like one.