Forever Home Donkey Rescue

 DAISY RESTING UP FROM PLAYING WITH THE BOYS

We let Honcho out of his pen yesterday & everything seemed to be going well, no one paying attention to anyone else & life is good.  

Last night right after we went to bed, we heard the thundering of hooves, grunting, braying & in general lots of commotion going on.  Got out of bed, put on enough clothes to survive in the mesquite brush, grabbed some flashlights & went out to see what was going on.  

Good grief, almost EVERYBODY was running as a group, some of them running from & others chasing.  Boaz & Honcho were running as a couple, & when I flashed a light on Honcho's forehead I noticed it looked rather rough, like he'd ran into a tree.  (I've seen this type of wound before from crazy boys)  No one, & I mean no one was paying the least bit of attention to us, they were too busy, trying to escape or having fun, depending on their involvement in the "party".  We finally got Honcho trapped in his pen, & then it was fairly easy to get Boaz to go into his.  

Once they were corralled everyone else stopped & stood around looking confused, they aren't use to seeing us at midnight unless we're coming home from the races.  

Honcho was overheated, dripping sweat & breathing so heavy I was afraid he was going to collapse.  I grabbed a rag & started soaking him with cool water, much to his disgust.  Donkeys are NOT fans of water.  It was hard to tell who was the aggressor, so we left both of them in for the night & I finally got Honcho cooled off.  

We also tried to find Pepper, Jenny & Tucker to make sure they were OK, & hadn't gotten in the line of fire, but in the dark unless they want to be found you could walk within a few feet & not see them.  

Went to bed, got up this morning & I told John to let the warriors out before feeding to see what they would do.  Next thing we know we're having a repeat performance, but in the daylight we could figure out what was going on.  This time Honcho was chasing little Tucker & Mocha was trying to protect Tucker.  Honcho was ignoring her like she wasn't even there.  Boaz was trying to engage Honcho, but everyone was moving too fast.  So I would imagine last night Boaz was trying to protect Daisy who was leading the pack when we went out.  I guess he sees everyone as part of his herd, & Honcho is an outsider.  It took awhile to get them separated, but once Honcho was in a pen, everything slowed down.  

Tucker was just fine, & so was Pepper & Jenny.  I have no idea what is going thru Honcho's little brain, but he's going to have to stay in a pen until we get it figured out.  I also have an appointment for blood tests for both him & Buddy.  I need to find out where Buddy's numbers are for Thyroid & also Insulin Resistance.  He has always had a real problem with weight & with the numbers maybe we can figure out something that will work.  Honcho will be tested for testosterone.  He was gelded at the age of 5 by a vet, so I wouldn't expect him to be proud cut, but I guess stranger things have happened. I wouldn't say all his behavior is stud like, a lot of it is just Honcho.  Maybe coming into a situation where there are so many donkeys, just got him all excited, who knows.  We'll find out.