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. 

THE GIRLS WENT HOME TODAY

Sandy & Martin went to their new home today.  Susan was so excited to see them & thought they were beautiful.  Unfortunately it started to rain just about the time we got there, so they unloaded in the rain.  As we all know rain makes for grumpy donkeys, but they were more than willing to take treats that Susan had for them.  She also has 2 large goats that thought the treats were pretty good.  The girls have been around goats before & seemed to take them & the dogs all in stride.  Susan said she would call in a few days & let us know how they are doing.  I'm sure they will do just fine, they seem to be very laid back, I never saw them kick, (well except at BlackJack right after they went out of their pen & he was being nosy) bite or even lay their ears back while they were here.  I just hope Susan doesn't spoil them, she seems to be the type.......!!! Ha!  

It has rained here at the house ever since we got home, which of course made for cranky donkeys here.  Quilla figured out if he stood on the feed house porch he was out of the rain.  I think he appreciated me putting his hay bunk up there, so he didn't have to get any wetter.  

For the 3rd time, when we got home from delivering donkeys we had an e-mail about 3 donkeys that are in a starvation situation along with some horses south of Tucson.  The authorities are involved & horse rescues are involved...........but the woman that contacted us was afraid the donkeys might get lost in the shuffle, if & when they are confiscated...............  SIGH,,,,,,,,!!!!!  I guess we really need to start looking harder for good homes for the ones we have that are adoptable, so we have room for just such a situation. 

FOOT TRIMMING VIDEO

 This is a real nice informative video to help owners or farriers with trimming donkey feet.  Longhopes Donkey Shelter received a grant from the Michele & Agnese Cestone Foundation to put the video together.  Kathy Dean the founder & director of Longhopes is allowing other rescues & sanctuaries to sell the video in order to get it out to anyone that needs it. 

If you would like to buy the video, it is $35.00 postpaid

OR

if you have adopted a donkey from us it will be available at a discount price of $20.00 postpaid

It explains how to look at a foot to decide what needs to be done.  It tells about the tools & how they are used.  

A lot of little tips to make the job easier are discussed.  There is one section about trimming extremely long feet using a sawz-all & the results 2 months later.  

And you will get to see Orion, Kathy's personal donkey, show everyone that getting his feet trimmed wasn't what he had planned for the day.  I didn't think he was very bad at all, but Kathy said he was embarrassing.  But she was willing to let the world see him not be real cooperative, so people would know it doesn't always go smoothly even with one that knows the game plan.  

If you are interested, let me know.
hiestand08@dishmail.net

OUT & ABOUT

I almost missed getting a picture of the girls coming out of their pen yesterday morning.  I opened the gate & expected them to come out cautiously.  I opened the gate, stepped back  a couple of steps & here they came, like it was no big deal, even with the other donkeys everywhere.  So I snapped a quick picture & watched them for awhile. 

This is what their pen looked like within moments of them clearing out.  Buddy, Cisco, Justin & Cheyenne were more interested in seeing if the girls left any scraps of food, than welcoming them.  

As soon as they took a couple of kicks at BlackJack, they headed down to where a lot of the donkeys were in the trees waiting for the rain to start, which it did.  Later on in the afternoon I looked out & everyone had migrated up by the house, & right in the middle was the girls...........with Quilla trying to get them to realize what a wonderful guy he is.  He loves  all the girls in a platonic way almost as much as old Pepper does.  He has been hanging around their pen ever since they got here.........."just in case" I guess.  Ha!  

Since Paladin had been in over 24 hours he got to go out last night & all the girls stayed in.  Jenny told us about it almost all night long in her mournful bray. So the girls will get to go out today.  

This morning I looked out & BlackJack was playing with a gray donkey.  I can always tell them apart, but not in the throes of mock battle.  They were rearing & spinning, chasing & in general really moving around.  It was so active I guessed everyone except Chester......which in fact, is who it was.  He was really giving BJ a run for his money.  The improvement in his lame leg since Martha started massaging him about a year ago is amazing.  She thought he might have a paralyzed radial nerve, which had caused wasting of the muscles.  The muscles have filled in & it's been a long long time since I even saw him take a mis-step.  He still has a slight limp & always will probably, but he's come a long way from the 3 legged lame he use to be. 

THINGS ARE MOVING ALONG IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

 

OFF THE INTERNET

Unfortunately Paladin probably doesn't think so.  Because of his testosterone "problem"  & having to be separated from the girls, he's having to stay in his pen more than I'd like.  He was out yesterday, but the girls were out last night.  I wanted to let the 2 new girls out today.................so Paladin will have to stay in until tonight.  He's such a good boy, except for this one little problem.  I guess I'll have to call the communicator again, she didn't call back.  

The new girls are going to go out today for some exercise & prowling around.  I'm sure they are tired of their tiny little pen by now.  They still aren't too thrilled about being touched, but sure know how to face you & beg for goodies.  We had visitors yesterday & they brought a whole bunch of oranges. for donkey treats.  Tried the girls on oranges, yep, more, more, more.  So far I haven't found anything they don't like.  Usually the donkeys are lucky if they get orange rind, so they are really enjoying having access to the "whole" thing. 

So they'll get a few days of roaming around with the other donkeys.  Susan has about an acre I think she said, but they'll have a couple of goats to play with.   They've been with goats before, so hopefully there won't be any problems.  They are very mellow, so I think they will be just fine.  

Of course I thought that about the guineas too until a couple of days ago.  The male guinea has been flying out of the pen for a long time, every day.  I kept telling him a coyote or neighborhood dog was going to get him.  John found him stomped into the ground by donkey feet.  I don't know what happened, he's been doing this for months, so him running around certainly wasn't a surprise for them.  We have no idea who did it, the ground was so tore up there were no readable prints.  

Gus will be going to his forever home the 6th of March, & I just found out last night that Frijolita & Hanna will be going to their new home, with Tio & Jackie & 40 acres to roam on.  Don't know when but probably within the next week or two.  

It's so rewarding when they find good homes, just wish there were more of them out there.  I'm afraid animals needing homes will always outnumber the homes available. 

THE PEDICURE SALON

It turns out the pedicure salon was the stock trailer.  Although it's hard to tell there are 2 men & two donkeys on the other sides of the center gate of our trailer, & the trimmer's wife is standing holding the gate.  Good grief you couldn't have stuck a small goat in there without it getting real crowded.  

The girls did great, much better than we expected.  This morning they hopped in the trailer as soon as we shooed them towards it.  We got to the vet clinic & Tyler was already there & so was Shawn.  Shawn is the cowboy Nancy brought out here when she gelded Paladin a few months ago.  I guess she calls him when she thinks there might be a problem & some muscle might be needed.

I gave Tyler what little info I had on the girls behavior.  So he & Shawn grabbed our halters, opened the trailer & waded into the possible battle.  Next thing I know they have the halters on the girls, & Tyler has a front foot off the ground & is getting ready to clean & trim.  It was the larger brown girl & she really stood very good.  Back feet, not so good.  But after a "happy" shot the backs got done in no time.  Same deal with the little roan colored girl, front feet were OK, back feet not so much until after happy shot.  I don't think it took him more than 30 minutes to do both of them.   

They have some stretched white line, but the feet really turned out pretty darn good, considering how nasty they looked before.  A few good trims & some of that stretching should tighten up.

We had to wait for awhile for their shots to wear off, before we could bring them home.  They were a little too goofy to be trying to stand up in a moving trailer.  But as soon as they would follow me with their eyes, we headed home.

Susan called this afternoon to see how it went.& was quite pleased with my report.  She said all of her neighbors are excited about her getting donkeys.  We will be hauling them next Wednesday, so they can start their new lives. It's so rewarding when they get a wonderful forever home of their own. 

Girl's update

 

These 2 girls are really really sweet.  Although the picture looks like they are the same size the lighter one is actually a couple of inches shorter.   They seem to be very curious & aren't spooky at all.  I do think they would kick if cornered, which is OK, you shouldn't be cornering them in the first place............!!!!  

This is a picture of their feet.  They aren't horribly long, but long enough to be uncomfortable.  With the wet weather these long feet make it easier for white line or abscesses to happen.  Not to mention thrush.  They both now hop in & out of the trailer like rabbits, so they have learned to live with the long feet.  

It took the brown one almost all day yesterday to FINALLY decide if she was going to get hay she was going to have to go in the trailer.  Of course by that time the lighter one had ate most of the hay.  So last night when we fed, going in the trailer was no longer a problem.  Of course tomorrow morning when we make them go in the trailer to go to their "pedicure",  they will probably think we're being predatory again. 

Poor Paladin is having to stay in his pen day & night.  The girl's pen is a mud lolly, so they are getting to be out all the time until it dries out.  I have never used an animal communicator before, but Courtney has suggested I try one with Paladin.  If he would just quit being so rough with the girls, he could be out all the time. But I can't get that thru his thick ADOLESCENT brain.  The only 2 he really chases are Daisy & Frijolita.  And Daisy will run in front of him to get him to chase her, so she doesn't help the situation.  Hanna likes to hang out with him, & if she gets tired of his nonsense, she double barrel kicks him till he quits.  I haven't noticed a problem with Jenny & he ignores Katie.  Actually Katie doesn't spend much time with the other donkeys.  I guess she has been by herself most of her life.  She does seem to be getting more involved in what the others are doing, but she certainly doesn't NEED their companionship. 

I was going to take pictures of the 2 girl's nasty feet this morning.............but.......it is raining even as I type, so I'll have to wait.

The brown girl is the leader according to the woman that had them.  But so far she will not go in the stock trailer to eat hay.  The little roan girl, sees no problem & hops right in so is getting most of the hay right now.  John is upset, & thinks the brown girl is going to starve.  I think she is really too smart to starve herself, especially when she has went in a couple of times, & has stood with her front feet in quite a few times.  She can also stretch her neck to extreme to reach some of the scraps from "roan" girl.  

The woman said they were named Ruby & Pearl, but I don't think they are names that mean anything.  Susan is going to name them after a friend of her that recently died, which I think is wonderful. 

They are very sweet girls that haven't been handled, so I think Susan will have a lot of fun, getting to know them & hopefully teaching them what they need to know, like haltering, leading, & picking up feet.  

THE GIRLS ARE HERE....................!!!

 

I took this before we loaded the girls this afternoon.  They were in a very small pen, so it would be easier to load them in the trailer..........hopefully.  

Today was the first time I had ever hauled the stock trailer, except for a couple of times John insisted I drive in case of an emergency some day.  I guess this was the emergency, since he's still in a sling, & his therapist always asks if he's been using his arm.  So right after his therapy this afternoon off we went, with me driving.  I really had no problems, although once we got there & it was backing up time, I turned it over to the expert.  I would probably still be trying to get it backed up thru the gate & lined up with the pen.  Even with one hand John did it in one try.  

Lined up,  opened the trailer, opened the corral panel, they looked at it for a couple of minutes, the woman & I flapped our arms, made some noise & in they went.  I do believe that is one of the easiest loads of unhandled donkeys we've ever had.  Obviously they didn't know their driver had never driven a trailer with donkeys in it.  But I did just fine, according to John.  I do need to work on stopping at lights & stop signs smoother.  It wasn't too bad, but John is much better at it.  And I'm sure the animals would appreciate a slower stop.  I forget to start stopping sooner than necessary with a car or van. 

When we got home it was feeding time & everyone was milling around in the driveway.  Michael, our neighbor that's been helping with chores was here, so we hit the ground running, & left the girls in the trailer.  Once everyone was busy eating, John & Michael built the pen around the back of the trailer, we put the hay & water in, opened the trailer & out they jumped.   They have no problem with taking treats from us & seem very curious & have even nibbled at my fingers.  So I think they will be very easy to work with.

They have a date with the vet & trimmer this Friday.  I'll try to take pictures of their feet as soon as I can.