Forever Home Donkey Rescue

We are trying a couple of new ideas to see how they work.  Although the rain has quit & the pens have dried up we are still feeding Daisy, Frijolita, Jenny & Hanna out with Quilla, Buster & Lucy.  That way when they get thru eating they can go do what they want rather than wait on us to come & let them out.  It's been working out real good, although Hanna seems to be a "feeder hog" for some reason.  They have 5 feeders for 7 animals, which should make sure there is plenty of room for everyone.  Well, according to Hanna, the other 6 donkeys can share 4 feeders, because one of them is hers.  I never noticed her doing this in the pen with the other 3 jennies, so I'm not sure what that is all about.  The others just ignore her since they know there's plenty of room.  This morning they had to stay in the pen though.  Some people are coming out for a tour & it works out much better with the majority of them in pens.  Buster, Quilla & Lucy are always out, we don't have an extra pen to put them in if we wanted to.  Those three are all very gentle & don't get pushy with the visitors.  Some of the others get too pushy with people even if there is no food offered.  There is no way Gus could ever be out on a regular basis with people.  He's like baby Huey, he wants to be right in your face & he's big enough that can be intimidating to people that haven't been around large animals.

The other "experiment" is Paladin has been out day & night for the last 2-3 days & we thought it was going good.  When I first let him out, the girls & boys were teasing each other & everyone was having great fun.  Old Pepper was even trying to get into the fray, until Buster kicked at him & made him back off.  So when the gate opened he headed for the fun & latched onto Tula, who is more than able to take care of herself. Hadn't seen any problems, like sweaty animals from running, or bite marks or anything like that.  In fact Hanna the one that jumped the corral to get away from him, & ended up hanging upside down, has been staying with him, obviously she like boys that play rough or she has a short memory............!! 

But this morning when John went out Paladin was chasing Frijolita, not in a mean way, but he was keeping her moving.  John broke it up, & while everyone was standing around, Daisy ran in front of him so he would chase her.  So I can only assume that he is not being mean, & everyone is enjoying the game.  We'll watch them for awhile, but it looks like the testosterone level is falling.................YIPPEE!