A FIRST.............!!!!!

Well, John met his match this afternoon. He had gone to town & when he came home, the "herd" was at the gate. This isn't really unusual, they spend a lot of time in that area, for some reason.

Driving in has never been a problem, but today, they were really curious about the van, the gate & how this whole situation of "big metal box" going in & out of opening that isn't usually there works. I was in the house & didn't know about the problem. He said he kept trying to open gate, jump in van, drive thru & shut gate. I assume it looked something like a scene from a 30 year old movie called "the Gods Must be Crazy". The scene was about 10 minutes long of a guy trying to drive thru a self closing gate & was absolutely hysterical. But John never could put it all together before the minis & Frijolita tried to "run the gate". The first I knew of the problem, he was opening the back door & saying, "don't ask why I walked in". He waited about half a hour, & by then they had wandered off to bigger & better things.

I hope they didn't find this so entertaining that it becomes a routine past time. We've never worried about people opeing the gate & driving in before. I don't think it would be a problem to get most of them back in, if they did happen to get out. But I'd rather they never find out there is a great big world out there, they've never had a chance to explore.

THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD...........!!!

Well, according to Buster on the left & Lucy on the right. It was nice today & I opened the feed room dutch door. Lucy is continuing to blossom. As far as I know this is one of the first times she came up on the porch, & it's definitely the first time she has stuck her head in the door. Of course I rewarded bad behavior by giving them treats, but they were so cute about it. Their necks aren't long enough to reach anything edible, whereas when Max the horse sticks his head in he can knock the lid off 2 of the feed cans & help himself so I can't leave the top of the door open, unless he's in his pen.

The Furminator shedding tools got here & really works great to help with shedding, even on Judy & her long hair. This morning John was going to groom Max a little. I asked him what he was using & he said a brush. I told him to just try the Furminator & he really was impressed with the amount of hair he got. It must feel good, because they all stand like statues while you're grooming them, even Judy. Usually she squirms when you brush her, but she seems to like the Furminator.

Judy & I are having a power stuggle over the chasteberry. I got it to see if it would help her shed out since the pergolide didn't seem to make a difference. She ate the ground chasteberry mixed into her feed for a week or so. She started turning her nose up at it a couple of days ago. I tried putting in less, & she wasn't impressed at all, she'd smell it & give me "the LOOK"............!!! This morning I left out the chasteberry & she licked her pan & gave me "well you finally got it right" look............!!!

I'm still not putting fly masks on everyone. The longer I can put it off, the longer they can go over to Burroland during the day. The flies aren't very bad yet, & the ones that usually have runny eyes, are doing good, so I'll put it off as long as possible. Max the horse, the mules, Sha'ba & Pepper are wearing their masks. But none of them use the masks as toys, so we haven't had to look for any yet.

This morning I was e-mailing Katie that does our web-site & lamented the fact that I had not updated the blog since Wednesday & really didn't have anything to write about. The gang are behaving themselves.........well except for destroying the trees by girdling the bark, but how interesting is that?

Having opened my mouth about nothing to write about, John came in & said Tula had something hanging from her belly. Oh! great, if there is one equine out there, that is a challenge to work with, it's Tula my wild child. I went out & tried to look, from a distance of course. Her comfort zone is about 15-20 feet max. If you try to get closer, she takes off.

After she finished eating, we got her in the squeeze we made using corral panels. What gets me is she will go in the squeeze, & doesn't really seem scared. She never offers to kick or bite or do anything dangerous. The muscles on her hips don't get tight, but her skin quivers the whole time you work with her. I felt under the midline of her belly & felt a blob of dirt hanging with sharp protrusions. Couldn't see it, everytime I tried to get down low she would start to get jumpy. I went in to get the camera, figured a close up picture might give me a clue as to what I was dealing with. John was handing out treats, & she was willing to take them. So was Chester, he has been in the squeeze so much he thinks it is his private property, & was trying to either help or get in the squeeze with her. Either way, he wasn't much help.

This is what I found. The dirt scab is hanging to the left with an open wound underneath. I still didn't know what I had, but could tell the scab was held on by hair. Got my scissors & really had to be careful, because it was right up to her stomach. Finally got it off & it took a little time to figure out what it was.



At sometime recently she has laid down on a Fishhook barrel cactus hook & embedded it pretty deep into her belly. It stayed there long enough to start breaking down the hook, until it was soft enough to straighten & work itself out. Unfortunately the accompanying infection collected dirt & made a big heavy dirt scab, caught in the hair & she couldn't get rid of it. There is fresh blood on the side where one of the hooks was continuing to poke her as she moved.

I cleaned her up & put some thunja zinc oxide on it. It seems to be healing OK, but we'll have to check it every day to make sure. So she'll be going back in the squeeze daily for a few days.
There were 3 hooks, the one in the middle is the one that made the large hole in her belly & had straightened out. The one on the left, was a non-player it was pointing away from her belly. But there is another one on the other side of the scab that was causing the fresh sore, as she walked.

This is a good reason to check equine over every day to make sure they haven't found something to hurt themselves with. I have my hands on everyone else every day, but she is a special case, I only check her visually. But until this came loose from her belly, I didn't even notice it.

I sure am glad we got Daisy, or at least most of of her clipped, before our latest weather pattern moved in. We've been around 90 degrees ever since Katie clipped her. She seems to be much more comfortable, although I do wish she'd stop scratching with such vigor on the trees. It's like now that air & sunshine can reach her skin she's making up for lost scratching time. She isn't the only one, most of them are starting to scratch & rub, I guess they are starting to itch. John brushed on Max the horse & the mules this morning, & got gobs of hair. I ordered a furminator groomer off the internet, once Katie told me how to spell it. I'm anxious to see how it works, I think it will really help with the shedding. If anyone is interested in buying one, shop around on the internet, I found them at about 1/2 price on amazon.com.

I still haven't put fly masks on all of them. The flies aren't really, really bad yet, & once they have masks on, they won't be able to go over to Burroland during the day. After the "log jam" at the gate the other night, I can imagine what it would be like, if the gate didn't open at all. There are flies & they are going for the eyes, but I'm trying to put off the inevitable as long as possible, they really enjoy Burroland & I hate to deprive them of their fun.

Sunday we had a great bunch of kids come out to visit the donkeys, along with their teachers & chaperons. Everyone seemed to have a good time, including the donkeys of course. They are all developing their little "tricks of the trade" to get the visitors to feed or pet them. Some of them have started braying, if they think the people aren't getting to their pen fast enough. The four that are fed outside weren't in pens & in fact Lucy, Daisy & Buster never showed up, don't know where they were. But Frijolita made sure she was available for interacting with the kids. She really has a wonderful personality, & has jumped into tours like an old pro.
Today we had friends we hadn't seen for awhile come by for the afternoon. They gave Bennie & Nina a wonderful home a couple of years ago & live a couple of hours away, so we don't get to visit very often. We shared donkey stories & really had a good time wandering around looking for donkeys. Actually most of them found us & checked us out to see if we had treats. I don't know if there is a more food orientated animal than a donkey. We didn't, but they hung around for pets & scratches. They found out Susan will give butt scratches, & that's almost as good as food. We ended up in the garage looking at 40 years of racing pictures & trophies & Lucy came all the way into the garage to see what we were doing. This is really a break thru, Lucy has been here over 5 years & just in the last couple of months has shown animation & actual interest in her surroundings. She was probably a roping donkey & when she mentally shut down was used to breed more donkeys. She very rarely showed emotion of any kind. But lately she has had a sparkle in her eyes & shown a curiosity she's never had before. I was really surprised to see her walk confidently into the garage & walk right up to us, to see if we were doing anything interesting. She stood with us for quite sometime, & only left when we did. It's really great to watch them gain confidence & be secure in their surroundings again.

Tonight when John let them out of the pens, he forgot to open Burroland. I went over to open it, & found a herd of disgruntled equine at the gate. In fact I almost couldn't even get to the gate to open it because of the crowd. Daisy was standing behind the gate, & once I opened it a little bit, Jenny got on the other side & started banging on it, which meant it was hitting me & Daisy. I don't know why she just didn't go thru the gate, I finally had to go around the gate & push her away. Then I had to go around & get Daisy out from behind the gate. By this time the horsey group, showed up, & when I started back across the wash, poor old Pepper was crippling along, heading for a night of adventure. Poor old guy, his legs are just about gone, but he keeps moving. This morning everyone had shown up but Pepper. John said look over across the wash, & here came Pepper hobbling back from Burroland. I wish I could find something to help him move better, but so far nothing seems to help much.

Tomorrow will be fly mask day I guess. We've been putting masks on the ones with one eye & Rusty the mule that has pink skin around his eyes the last couple of weeks. It's getting pretty warm, in the 90's today & the flies are starting to be a nuisance to all of them. We use fly predators & fly traps, which helps a lot, but nothing is 100%. So everyone will get masks tomorrow, except maybe BlackJack. Can't keep one on him, Buddy Brat thinks they are toys, & BlackJack encourages him. Daisy's Mom called today, & said she's never had a mask on. Daisy's pretty mellow, so I don't anticipate her being a pill about a fly mask. I haven't noticed the flies bothering her, she has so much hair on her face, so she might not even need a mask.

DAISY GOT A HAIRCUT.......!!!

This is a picture of Katie & Daisy standing ankle deep in hair after the dirty deed was done. We decided to just body clip her. She has so much hair around her eyes, if we clipped it she'd need a pair of sunglasses to protect her eyes, or at least a fly mask till her eyes adjusted to the change. Then we decided if we just left hair on her head, she'd really look out of balance. If later on it looks like she needs more clipping I should be able to do it, although it probably won't be as easy as Katie made it look.

You can see the "extra" little saddle bags she's carrying. We're working on those, it will probably take a year or more to get her slimmed down. It has to be done very slowly or they can develop a nasty problem called hyperlipidemia. She's not a piggy eater & seems satisfied with what we feed her, except for the occasional mesquite limb that ends up in her mouth. But she's not as bad about eating the trees as some of the others. The minis spend most of their time, munching trees or bushes.

Katie brought a neat little shedding comb, I've never seen before. It's called a furilator or something like that. I should have listened closer when she told me what it was. I tried to find it on the internet, but my spelling is too far off, so I'll have to get the name next time I e-mail her. It really grabs the hair, she said it doesn't cut the hair, but it doesn't seem to pull, because everyone she used it on, including Nicky the dog, seemed to think it was great...............!!!

Miracles of miracles.........................Judy seems to like Chasteberry. I haven't got her up to a full amount, but so far she is eating it like it's good. It has an almost sage like smell, that doesn't do a thing for me, but so far she hasn't given me the "look" & is eating it. Hopefully it will help her shed out

AND SO IT GOES................!!!

Yesterday afternoon John found Sha'ba with blood all over his fly mask & down his ear. I checked him over & found an area inside his ear bloody. I think he might have poked inside his ear with a tree branch. How I don't know. He didn't seem bothered by it, as much as we were. Some of the others like to play fight & for some reason, ears seem to be used as handles. They come in with blood dripping & all the hair pulled off. I have a fit about it, & they just try to mug me for carrots. So I can only assume that it isn't as painful as it looks. Some of them were very protective of their ears when they came here. I would imagine humans had grabbed ears to try to control them, & it was painful. Don't know why another donkey grabbing their ears with big strong teeth is acceptable.........!!!

Judy is now back to eating her hay & feed again. She went on strike for about 3 days, only eating about 1/2 her hay & almost none of her feed, although she was eager to get out of her pen, & go check everyone else's leftovers. One morning she ate everything & seems to be back to normal now. I just got the chasteberries today. I will start her off with a tiny bit of ground chasteberries & hopefully add a little more every feeding. As suspicious as she is, I would not be surprised if she turns her nose up to the whole idea of eating chasteberries to help her shed out.

We are still putting Daisy's hay in her pen & leaving the gate open, so she can go eat go out & eat with the others if she wants. She usually starts out eating with Lucy, Buster & Frijolita in the outside feeders & about halfway thru, she & Frijolita go into her pen & eat her hay together. So far Buster & Lucy haven't figured out there is more hay to be had. Didn't take Frijolita long to figure it out.

Katie is coming out tomorrow afternoon to show me how to clip Daisy. I'm not sure how this is going to go. I don't think Daisy will mind, she is a pretty mellow little girl. It's been pretty cool here the last couple of nights. I told John if it doesn't warm up, I'll have to drag out one of the blankets to put on her until the nights warm up. I can't imagine what she will look like with all that hair gone, I'll try to take before & after pictures.

Well I think you can tell from the video Max's opinion of the race car. Actually the "horsey" gang was standing in the middle of the circle drive & the first time John drove around they didn't even move. I guess Max decided he was going someplace else the 2nd time around. He sure moves pretty when he trots. It's amazing considering sometimes his back legs wiggle & wobble so much we're afraid he's going to fall most of the time.

Frijolita is going to become the official ambassador & greeter I guess. We had some nice folks come out to visit today. They had been here during the open house in December & wanted to bring a visiting sister out to see the donkeys. Frijolita, Buster & Lucy were the only ones out, we left everyone else in the pens. Buster & Lucy came by to get some pets & eat some pellets. So did Frijolita, but she ended up walking along with us for most of the tour. She was quite interested in the pellets, in fact her nose got in the bucket John was carrying more than once. But she seem to enjoy the pets almost as much.

Of course, everyone else geared up their braying & sticking their cute little noses through the corral panels, to get as much attention as they could.

It's nice when people enjoy the donkeys enough to come back.

The first few times we had visitors after Daisy came, she didn't quite know what to expect. But today she figured out the routine. We put her in a pen to make sure she was available for petting & pellet feeding. When she saw Judy getting pets & pellets, she marched herself to the gate & when we went around the other side of her pen, she followed us. Another cute little beggar is made, I guess.

The weather was a little iffy, yesterday & by the time we got to the racetrack it was spitting rain & sleet. The track is clay, so if you add rain on top of the clay it really get slick. They finally had to cancel the races when the rain started coming down hard. What a disappointment for all the kids looking forward to the planned Easter egg hunt. Of course all the drivers were pretty disappointed too.

So we got home about 3 hours earlier than we usually do, which thrilled the equines to no end. Everyone except Lucy, Buster, Daisy & Frijolita were in their pens because they weren't thru eating when I left. We got home about the usual time for John to let them out, so they were happy.

Judy the mule is playing games with me. She has been doing so good at eating her beet pulp, & soaked hay pellets mush, that also has her pergolide for Cushings & chromium & magnesium oxide to help with the insulin resistance. The last couple of days she has left about half of the mush, which means I don't know how much of the supplements she is actually getting. I swear she gives me looks that make me believe she has figured out there is "something" in there & she isn't going to eat it. The amount of powder she gets is miniscule & is even apple flavored.............but she's an interesting study in equine nature, unfortunately............... (G) Or perhaps she's just a typical mule, Rusty plays mind games too, with his daily benedryl. I can give him 4 tablets, & find 3 gently pushed to the side, accompanied by the "look".

By the late Victoria Berry

The race track is suppose to have an Easter egg hunt for the kids tonight. I certainly hope the weather takes a turn for the better. Right now the wind is blowing, it's spitting rain & the temperature in late morning is 52 degrees.

Needless to say the gang isn't very happy with the weather right now. We are waiting for some people to come out for a tour, so the donkeys are still in their pens, which adds to their displeasure. I wouldn't be surprised if the people don't show up, it's certainly not a typical spring day in the desert.

I guess Sha'ba is thru eating hay for good. We have continued to put hay in his pen & would change it out every 2 or 3 days. That means we'd leave his gates open & let the "cleaner-uppers" have access, & replace with new hay. But he's shown no interest in weeks. We stopped putting hay in & as far as we can tell, he hasn't missed it. I've upped his mush just to make sure he doesn't get hungry. He doesn't polish his bucket, so I assume he's eating all he wants.

Besides massaging Chester every morning, I'm also doing Pepper now that Martha showed me where his problem with his rear leg is. When I rub my hands down the front & back of his leg, I hear a clicking sound up in his hip somewhere. It will click everytime I rub his leg. I have no idea what that is about, but he seems to like it, so I guess it feels good.

With this cold snap it's probably a good thing, we hadn't gotten around to clipping Daisy yet. I have to get in touch with Katie & see if she can work us into her schedule one of these days.

Thanks Sherry for the Video.......!!!

Rocky & Harley or Harley & Rocky, I'm not exactly sure which is which. They really do look a lot alike, although Harley is built a little more drafty than Rocky. But you have to look real close to tell the difference. Sherry said Rocky was doing most of the chasing. Harley hasn't been with other donkeys for who knows how long, so he has some catching up to do. Rocky spent a lot of time while he was here, trying to get someone to play with him. Buddy Brat & Pepsi were his 2 best playmates, & he'd pick at Buster until he'd finally play a little. But if this video is any indication of how much they are going to run around & play fight, they are going to be busy. This is just one video Sherry sent, she took quite a few others, so they played for quite some time.

I was in Tucson today & John got a call from the Oasis Exotic Bird Sanctuary. Today was quite windy & about 1/4 of their winter cover for the birds that live outdoors came loose. It needed to be repaired & they needed all the hands they could find. So John went up to help. He said the wind was a real challenge, every time they would try to get the cover up & over the framework, the wind was really fighting them. They finally got it under control & were using wire ties to attach some of the cover to the cages. John said he was doing real good, & was down to the last wire tie. He was watching the cockatoo in the last cage, that was on the other side of the large walk in cage. John said he figured it wouldn't be any problem for him to poke the wire tie around the inside with his finger. WRONG.......!!!!!!! I guess a determined cockatoo is much quicker than a guy that doesn't know how fast a cockatoo can move if he wants to. The bad news is, he learned just how much power they have in their beaks. The good news is, he still has his finger. When he went whining & bleeding to the "real" bird people, they said they never go in with that particular bird without protection...............!!!! I would imagine that finger is going to be REALLY sore in the morning, it looks like it's been rather badly abused.

SHOT DAY......!!!!!

Pile of individual shots awaiting their fate

I HATE SHOT DAY...........!!!!!! Some of them don't mind, some mind a little bit, some have a 6th sense about what is happening & Jack & Rusty, both mules don't even get shots, because they are such brats about it.

It actually went pretty good. We even put Tula in the corral panel squeeze we "designed" & shot her for the first time. She's been here 3 years & we had never even attempted to shoot her. She did better than some of the others, although she wouldn't take the ginger snap we always give afterwards until I went to the other side. She'll have to get a booster in 3 weeks, hopefully she will be at least as cooperative as she was today.

Years ago Buddy Brat had a reaction to a rabies shot, that caused a lot of panic & John driving like a maniac to the Vet's office for a shot. Since then we keep Recover & epinephrine on hand, just in case. Haven't had to use it so far, & hope I never do, especially the epinephrine. The instructions are..........2 cc's in a vein or the tongue.................!!! I've never done a vein, & sure don't want to do a tongue.................!!!! UGH! I know I should learn to shoot a vein, but hate to practice on my guys. I have a couple that have had so many shots, that they no longer react at all. But it doesn't seem right to poke them unless there is a reason. I don't want to know how Vets learn to do procedures.

Yesterday Cisco was almost 3 legged lame. Except for his immune problems he's usually healthy & no problem. I checked him out & couldn't find anything warm, swollen, sore or reactive in any way. One time John saw him & he wasn't putting any weight on it at all. Gave him bute last night & this morning he's walking fine................!!!!! I sure wish I knew what makes these guys tick, they show me every day how little I know.

I shaved a spot to give Daisy her shot. As much hair as she has, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to tell if I had it where it needed to be or not. She was a good girl, once she led John on a merry chase to put the halter on. They all seem to know that he isn't real quick with putting on a halter & take advantage of him. She turned away from him & walked right up in front of me & stopped. But I didn't have the halter, he did. She stood there until he caught up, & handed over the halter, & stood still while I put it on her. You think they don't have a sense of humor.......?????

Speaking of hair Judy is actually shedding some of her long hair, not in great gobs, but it's a start. The pergolide is helping to control the Cushings, but doesn't help with the shedding as much as the herb Chasteberry (Vitex) . I've ordered some, although as picky as she is about what I try to put in her feed dish, I don't know if she will eat it or not. It has a pretty strong smell. I gave it to Pepper for years, but he isn't exactly a connoisseur when it comes to food & will eat just about anything...........if he feels like it.

TRIM & MASSAGE DAY............!!!

Courtney & Martha were out today to work on those that needed it. Martha worked on Max the horse & Chester's crippled leg. She also checked Pepper & Judy. I noticed the last few days Judy had a hitch in her git-a-long on her right rear. I didn't understand all Martha's explanation, but there's a little round bone in the rear leg that can get a tendon caught on the wrong side. She said it will fix itself, but will take awhile. She's not lame or anything like that, just a little "hitchey".

Pepper has a sore spot on the bone above his hock. He is so scrawny with very little muscle he could have hit it, slipped or who knows what. He still pushes to get out & roams around, so hopefully it will get better with time.

Martha was quite pleased with Chester & how well he is walking. He loves for her to massage him, but when he's done he's done. He tells her by turning his butt around to be "massaged". She is so taken with him, she says her next equine will probably be a long ear...............!!!!! Yea! that's how we sucker in the horse people, one at a time.........!!! (G)

Max isn't doing too good, he doesn't really know where his hind legs are most of the time. The last few weeks he's really went downhill. It's been 7 years since his neck was broken, & since it wasn't treated at the time, arthritis has taken over. He could also have nerve damage. He's a big horse over 16 hands, 1200 pounds. So if he gets to the point where he falls, we will have to evaluate his quality of life.

Today was a milestone for Chester. This is the first time Courtney has been able to lift his good front leg to work on, while he stood on his bad leg. When he first came here, we had to have the vet put him on the ground to trim his feet, because he couldn't stand even to get the bad foot trimmed. These little miracles are what we look forward to.

This was Daisy's first trim since she came here. She was no problem, she's such a good girl. Martha knows how to clip, she use to work in show barns. So if Katie can't help me give Daisy a haircut, Martha said she could. As with all of us, getting the time to do it is a big concern. I don't want to do it all at one time, I'm sure even though Daisy is a easy going type of gal, that might be a little much.

Not the greatest picture, but this is Rocky in front with Harley behind him, trying to figure out why there is another donkey in his pen. They almost look like twins.

We stayed around for awhile & they seemed to be getting along really well. A few feints here & there, Rocky spent quite a bit of time, rolling in Harley's dusting areas, but for the most part a very low key meeting.

Tonight I got a worry call from Sherry. She said we hadn't hardly got out of the driveway & Harley did a Dr. Jekell & Mr. Hyde personality change. He probably saw the trailer leave & figured out Rocky wasn't leaving in it. From her description it sounds like typical getting use to each other. But they were shocked that their darling sweet little Harley had decided to behave like a real ass..............!!!!!!

Rocky isn't a shrinking violet type of guy, so I'm sure after a day or so of getting familar with his new home, they will buddy up. He's already thumped Harley in the ribs, & is comfortable enough to lay down & roll so I don't think he's too worried about the situation.

I'm always glad when they get a wonderful forever home of their own, but I still miss each & every one of them.

THE SPRING WINDS ARE HERE FOR AWHILE

Much to everyone's disgust....!!!!! I keep telling them I can't fix it, but I swear they still give me dirty looks, like it's my fault.

Tomorrow Rocky will be going to his new home. It's still suppose to be windy, & hauling a trailer isn't much fun in wind. It's only down to Sierra Vista so hopefully poor little Rocky won't get flopped around too much. John is a great "trailer puller", so he'll do everything he can to make it a good trip for Rocky. I've ridden in the trailer, & it has a real good suspension system.

Once Rocky goes to his new home, we will try feeding Daisy out of her pen with Buster, Lucy & Frijolita. There's no reason for her to have to eat in a pen. Once she figured out we would let her out of the pen, after she had eaten her hay, she picked up the pace on getting rid of that hay, ASAP. Then she stands by the gate, & chortles at us to let her out.

The other 3 eat at about the same pace, & aren't chow hounds. If that works out she won't have to go in a pen at all. She has really gotten into this roaming around routine. She hangs around where Lucy & Buster is a lot of the time, & they would be perfect friends for her. So hopefully if they all eat together they will develop a little herd. Frijolita likes to hang with Tula & whatever group is running with her at the moment. Usually when she finishes eating she will go stand by Tula until we let her out.

A friend is going to help me trim Daisy's long hair for summer. Her Mom said she does lose most of the long thick hair, but we'll help her "shed" out a little sooner. It's warmer down here than it is around Prescott, so I'm sure she will appreciate having a "buzz" cut for summer. Not sure when we can do it. Katie's a vet tech, so we'll have to work around her schedule. I doubt if we will do it all in one session, it depends on how Daisy takes this new experience.

DAISY'S MOM CAME TO VISIT TODAY

Lynne & her friend got here this afternoon to visit with Daisy, & of course everyone else. We let the equines out on the 10 acres, so we had to go "find" them. Wasn't too difficult, most of them were right by the driveway, & Lynne saw Daisy when she drove in. Daisy seemed happy to see Lynne, & I know Lynne was happy to see Daisy. They visited for quite sometime & most of the other donkeys came by to get petted, & make sure there wasn't any food being offered. Lynne wants to come back in a few weeks to visit again, which is great. It's not often we have owners that stay involved in the donkeys lives. In fact I can count on one hand the owners that have called or e-mailed even once. Daisy is a very lucky girl to have such a caring family.

When Lynne & Daisy were visiting Rocky was trying to horn in. Daisy kept feinting kicks in his direction. I haven't noticed them having any problems, so I guess she was just telling him to stay away, while she visited with her Mom. He's still a kid in a lot of ways & likes to have his nose in everyone's business. He will be going to his new home Sunday, so he'll have to spend some time learning to get along with Harley & his new family. He'll do just fine, he doesn't have any negative issues that have to be dealt with, life is just a lot of fun from his point of view.