Update.....!!!

 Cheyenne converting an admirer, thanks Jamie for the picture...!!

Rusty is on the mend, he's been kept in his pen the last few days to not only monitor his intake and out put, but to keep him away from the beans.  

Yesterday morning Rusty had "puddin nose" on one side.  I called Dr. Megan had said call her if there was any changes, so I did even though it was Saturday.  She said start him on Tucoprim, and also said she had thought the "colic" was probably a secondary problem.  She had said his lungs sounded a little noisy, Friday when we took him into the clinic.  

So he's been getting his Tucoprim mixed into applesauce, dumped into his mush.  I was going to just mix the Tucoprim into the mush, but for some reason he isn't eating it very well right now.  Loves his hay, but John had been "chumming" his bermuda hay with a little alfalfa.  Unfortunately the little bit of alfalfa hay we had is now gone, so he'll just have to eat bermuda.  Might let him out for an hour or so before afternoon round-up this afternoon, surely he won't be able to get into too much mischief in an hour.  

Day before yesterday Jill's former Mom called after she got a letter I wrote her, questioning her surrendering Jill to us, without first asking.  I don't think she still sees that asking someone to take care of Jill until they find a new place to board her, and then sending a surrender letter a week later, is a little bit out of the "norm".  She said that when they won the bid for Jill at the local auction, Lisa one of the owners of the auction house came to them and said if they ever wanted to rehome Jill, she would be interested.  I told the woman there wasn't a problem with Jill staying here until we found a home for her, but if she wanted them involved, to have them call me.  

Mike the other owner of Robertson Horse Sales called me and said they had someone that would give her a real good long term home that had been looking for a nice donkey like her.  We talked for awhile and I decided that this would probably be a good home for her, so John hooked up the trailer and we hauled her to them.  I told Mike that we wanted her to come back here if it didn't work out, and he agreed.  So we're again down to only 2 donkeys over our limit.........!!!  

Seems like I spend more and more time every morning doctoring, mostly stable fly damage.  Poor Quilla has polo wraps on all 4 legs as of this morning.  I'd been keeping ahead of the stable flies on his rear legs, but noticed this morning they had battled thru my chemical barriers and drawn blood.  When it's humid it seems like the flies really are bad.  Penny's front legs are bare like Quilla's and at first I thought it was probably fly damage.  But the flies don't bother her at all hardly, although her legs are both scarred.   As "squirrely" as she was with her front legs, when she came, I have a sneaking suspicion someone has roped her front legs, because there are actual wound scars on her legs unlike Quilla's that are just bare.  

Little Jack the mini mule is another one the flies or something seems to love.  He has round swollen places about the size of a dime all over his shoulders, and some on his belly, and of course the usual stable fly bites on his front legs.  Every year I buy 6 jars of Thuja Zinc Oxide to last me thru the summer, but this year I'm going to have to reorder it looks like.  Coquette also has some of the same stuff Jack has, and an added problem that seems to be some sort of skin condition.  It's dry, flaky, and builds up on her neck and behind her shoulders running down into her "armpit".  This morning I combed all the residual build up off and greased her up with zinc oxide.  It doesn't seem to bother her much if at all, but if you run your hands across it, the dry flaky stuff just flies.  Dr. Megan said we could do a scraping to find out what it is, but so far I've been able to keep it under control.  I can use that money to buy more zinc oxide.....!!! LOL  Same thing with whatever Cisco and Boaz  have on their legs.  I'm pretty sure what they have is called jack sores.

Although the experts lump jack sores, summer sores, & habronema all together as one, I'm not really sure they are.  I'm certainly no expert, but I can spot habronema larvae damage at 20 "paces", it looks like it looks.  What Cisco & Boaz have is an area covered with gooey serum, if you pull on the hair it comes right off the skin without leaving an open sore.  It's generally below the knee & above the fetlock, on the outside of the canon bone.  A couple of days of Underwood Horse Medicine and the hair starts coming back in and usually they don't have another break out in that area until the next year.  And what are the little closed circles that Jack the mini mule has?   

BOY, WE'RE HAVING FUN NOW.......!!!

We spent this morning at the vet, with Rusty the big white mule.  He's been rather lethargic the last couple of days, not much interested in eating, unless we bribed him with alfalfa mixed in with his bermuda hay.  

Of course none of them are very interested in eating hay and mush right now because of the beans.  John keeps saying they are about gone, then the wind blows and a new batch blows down, which of course causes a feeding frenzy.

They have become a little bit more cooperative about coming in, although not enough to make it a quick process.  At least Penny and Coquette finally realize that one of us will be dogging them for the rest of their lives if they don't go thru that gate and head for the pen area.  But we have to instigate the movement towards the gate, which means we have to find them.  

Dr. Megan said Rusty was her first official probable mesquite bean colic this season, I doubt if he will be her last.  He had no gut sounds when we went in although he did have some faint ones yesterday.  Decent looking poo, a little dehydrated, relatively perky, and he peed in the trailer.  He got tubed and we're suppose to try to get him to drink this week-end, dehydration can really be a problem.  She doesn't want him eating unless it's a watery mush, which I have a feeling isn't going to be a real big hit with Rusty, he has definite ideas about how food should be served.  

Got an interesting letter yesterday from Jill's family.  They sent a letter of surrender and said they were giving her to us......!!!!   HUH?  Not even a request, guess no good deed goes unpunished.......!!! She is a very nice donkey, big enough to be rideable with very good manners.  Oh! well I'm sure we will be able to find a better home than being in a boarding situation.   

BRATS...........!!!

If anyone in my presence EVER says the best way to exercise your cardio-vascular system is to go to a gym or use a treadmill, I will personally slap them in the face & if they stand still slap them again.......!!!

The last couple of days, round-up has been......well, interesting.  Mesquite beans & access to them, obviously erodes the mental capacity of equines, especially donkeys & mules.  

Each round-up has gotten more involved.  Not everyone participates in the "let's exercise the humans, they look like they need it" games, but the ones that do, have gotten more determined to NOT go in their pens.  

Jill, new kid, bless her heart, goes in her pen when she sees John walk out the door to start the game.  Actually most of them go in pretty good............except for........... Jack & Molly mini mules, Reba & Rusty big mules, BlackJack who knows better, and Coquette & Penny the 2 girls from the Milagros rescue......!!!  All of these animals have gone in their pens like little angels, BJ has been doing it for something like 13 or 14 years without a problem.  He was a little PO'ed at me because I had the audacity of smack his rather broad butt 4 times in quick secession with a riding bat & decided to make us pay.  The others we couldn't get close enough to throw a rock, let alone smack with anything..........Grrr......!!!  

Molly becomes a darting running machine, Jack follows along like he doesn't know what's going on, but is willing to participate.  If you try to get him in the pen by himself, he has to go find Molly, wherever she is.  BlackJack we basically ignored, he's too lazy to invest much effort into being "wild & free".  Reba & Rusty were just trying out their independence, so they weren't that big a problem.  

Coquette and Penny were horrible, so our big problems were 2 groups of two.  Two people trying to control 4 animals on 30 acres, or even 10 acres once we got Coquette and Penny  thru the gate so we could close it isn't easy.  I have no idea how far we walked, ran, tripped over rocks & darted thru the mesquite trees, hopefully ducking when needed, but it took about 1 1/2 hours.  Of course all this time the others are in their pens, yelling when they saw us because breakfast wasn't forthcoming...........!! 

Short term, I guess you could say they won, long term (at least once they went in their pens) the mini mules & the Milagros girls are going to be staying in their pens for a few days, to hopefully remind them of where they are suppose to go, when we ask them to, and to also give us a rest, we're both wore out.......!!! LOL

Courtney came out last night to trim those that needed it.  Cisco has self trimmed for years, but recently he's slowed down quite a bit and I noticed recently that his hooves were getting pretty long.  Not only was he really long, but he had a huge rock caught crosswise in one of his hooves, that can't be comfortable.  Courtney said that if it had been in there a long time he might pop an abscess, so we'll be watching him for the next few days.  

Gus is ouchy this morning, she didn't really do very much to him at all, but I guess it was enough to make a difference.  He is so hard to keep comfortable, he has to be kept longer than normal, but there is a fine line between long enough & too long.  

Wister got a little trimming too.  I think he is over his sore fetlock, except for when he lays down.  When he gets back up he's ouchy & limping for the first few steps.  But in just walking around he's good, even turning is OK.  

Rusty the big white mule even got trimmed for the 1st time in about 7 years, since he came here.  He has been real good about self trimming, but lately he had chunked out a gouge on one foot & the others were all chipping off pretty ragged.  So it was time to get him all tidied up, so he can self trim again for awhile.  Maybe that's why he was being "difficult" this morning, as payback for doing his feet, who knows, I know I sure don't........!!!   LOL

GOOD DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.........!!!

This morning little Wister got to go out with his momma.  He's a little gimpy, but I don't think keeping him in would make a difference.  He was so happy to go out, his little tail was going 90 miles an hour, as he followed Ruthie over to Burroland.  Haven't seen them since.  

Went ahead and let Jill out to explore.  My main concern with her is she hasn't had access to mesquite beans.  She doesn't strike me as the "over the top" type, like Pepper and some of the others are.  Pepper maybe old and may be crippled, but he can hear a mesquite bean hit the ground at 50 yards.  She is very mellow and cooperative in other areas, so I assume she isn't going to go out and immediately start on a bean hunt.  I just don't want her to go out and gorge on them the first day or two and get a belly ache.  We'll see what her poo looks like in the next couple of days.  It would be nice if she would follow Frijolita around, because "Little Bean", leaves no bean behind.  There wouldn't be much left for Jill to eat.  

This morning we had a shock.  Everyone showed up except for Jack the mini mule.  Jack is usually one of the 1st ones here at mealtime, but no Jack.  Molly was standing looking over at the neighbor's place, John went over there, but didn't even find any hoofprints.  I envisioned him laying someplace with a mesquite bean induced belly ache. 

Once we got everyone rounded up and I got breakfast ready, John pressed on with feeding and I went on a mule hunt.  Twenty acres of Burroland is really a lot of fun to cover, hopefully not missing your quarry.  I finally found him walking along the fence line with another neighbor..........!!  They seemed to be having a real nice walk.  I had a halter and lead with me, BUT, that wasn't going to happen.  So I started twirling the lead & making him move.  It took awhile to get him headed in the right direction.  He is a fast little devil and could cover a lot more ground than I could, which didn't help the situation, when he decided to head the wrong direction.  FINALLY he decided I wasn't going to leave him alone and he took off for the pen area.  Went in his pen like it was his idea........!!!   Grrr.....!!!  I didn't really need all that exercise..!!!

I'VE HAD BETTER DAYS.....!!!

 Nigel watching an unhappy male tarantula yesterday

Jill settled in nicely last night, enjoyed her supper and was busy eating her hay when we came in from chores.  When John went out to let everyone out, didn't have to let her out, she had taken care of that little detail herself.  

The 6 panels John used to make her pen were mismatched and it isn't easy to get them put together at the corners, when they have different types of latches & hooks.  

She didn't go anywhere, she was standing beside the pen and came right up to John to see what he was going to do interesting.  He came to get me, I put a halter on her (thank goodness she is a very well trained young lady), we threw Boaz out of his pen.........well he was going out anyway and put her in there for the night.  

I went back in the house and a few minutes later, John came to tell me little Wister was 3 legged lame.  Sure enough, not putting that foot down on the ground, lame......!!!  Since he and Ruthie had been in their pen, and he was just fine when he went in, I think she probably stepped on his fetlock, when he was laying down.  He expects everyone to walk around him when he's "resting", and doesn't bother moving at all.  I guess she miscalculated her step, poor little guy. 

This morning Jill was still in Boaz's pen, which is good, but Wister was still 3 legged lame.  I put a halter on him & checked his leg out better than I could in the dark last night.  There's no swelling but it is definitely sore.  

I wasn't sure about giving him Banamine since he is just 7 months old, but as usual if anyone of them are going to need a vet it will be on a week-end or holiday.  It didn't take very long before he was walking almost normal, which can be another problem.  If it isn't bothering them, life goes on & more damage can happen.......!!!  So he is having to stay in the pen today and for the 1st time in his young life momma isn't with him, we let her out.  She comes by every once in awhile, which stirs him up.  But as long as she is out of sight, he seems to forget about her not being there.  

Remember the 7 donkeys we hauled from the auction area in Buckeye?  One of the jennets has not done well.  She was the one that was definitely PG & had not been eating or drinking much if at all.  Thursday they got her to a vet & she had internal bleeding, infection, high fever really a horrible situation for all involved.  She was euthanized yesterday.  What a sad ending for a very pretty girl, that up until a month ago was running wild & free with her family, until the state decided they knew what was best. 

When the workers were trying to load the donkeys in our trailer, they had them all crunched at the back of the trailer, with a gate closed on them, so they couldn't even move unless it was to jump up into the trailer.  One of them went down on the ground and stayed down for awhile.  I'm wondering if it might have been her and while she was down, she got kicked or stepped on by some of the others?  I was not impressed with the way the state people did their jobs up there and this just adds to my displeasure. 

One little ray of sunshine was Lynn, Jeff and their daughter and grandson came out this morning to groom on the donkeys. They've been coming out about once a month and groom anyone that wants it.  They walk thru the pens with grooming supplies, if the donkeys walk off, so be it.  Most of them not only don't walk off, but will stand really still as long as someone will groom.  BlackJack almost fell over he was so "into the moment"........!!  Tula of course never participates, Penny wasn't interested, but most of the others thought it was great....!!!  They even brought apples & animal crackers......!!!  

Everyone is getting their rations cut, except for Jill, because she's not going out.  The others are all eating mesquite beans like there is nothing else on the planet to eat.  John has cut a pound of hay each day for each and everyone of them, much to their disgust.  Judging from their poo I don't think they are quite as hungry as they would like us to think they are.  Sure don't want to have to pen them. 

JILL HAS COME FOR A VISIT........!!!

We picked up this pretty girl this afternoon in Tucson.  Her family is looking for a permanent place to board her & asked if we could take care of her until they find a place.  What's one more when we're already over our quota.......right?  LOL

She is very well mannered, & really is a nice young lady.  They got her at the local horse auction a couple of months ago, which surprised me.  I hadn't heard that the auction houses were allowing donkeys to be brought in again.  For awhile they wouldn't let donkeys be unloaded, because people were unloading them & if they didn't sell, they would just drive off & leave them there. 

She's about 5 years old & has already had a baby that was with her at the auction.  

As you can see she needs to be on a diet, her neck is crested & has already fell over a little bit, which of course will never stand up again unfortunately.  

We'll keep her in for a couple of days, so all the "looky loos" can gather around & gawk at her.  Most of them have already checked her out.  And hopefully she'll know where her pen is, once we do let her out.  

Of course most of them are more interested in mesquite beans than anything else.  Pepper had to stay in his pen again today, because it looked like rain & we couldn't take a chance on him getting down in the wash & getting drowned.  First thing we did when we got home, was let him out.  He took off like he had someplace to go, probably to the nearest patch of beans..........!!! 

TOMBSTONE'S ANNUAL DONKEY/BURRO RESCUE WALK

Mike & Zeke are going to be doing their walk again this year, unfortunately this might be the last time.  Mike's health isn't the best, but he has wanted to do a longer route & it looks like he's going to go for it. 

If anyone would like to help I'm sure it would be very much appreciated, Teresa & Mike are the best & of course Zeke is VERY, VERY special. 

IT'S GOING TO BE AN "INTERESTING" SUMMER..........!!!

Most people hate the summers here because of the heat.  I can live with the heat, but hate it when we have a bumper crop of mesquite beans, which this year is looking like it's going to be a doozie....!!! 

This is one tree on 30 acres that is covered with mesquite trees.

Not every tree is covered, but a lot of them have plenty of beans, and they are just now getting ripe.  The donkeys are trying to make sure none of them go to waste.  We've already talked about closing Burroland and letting the range cattle in there to clean up the area, but once we do that the donkeys are stuck on the 10 acres around the house for the duration.  

So far no one has 50% of their poo showing up as mesquite beans, which is our absolute cut-off.  Anyone that greedy is going to end up in a pen until fall, which makes for very unhappy donkeys.  Yesterday both John and I had to go to Tucson for appointments.  The weatherman was predicting rain, and rather than worry while we were gone about Pepper laying down in the wash and getting drowned if the wash ran, we left him in the pens.  

Boy you talk about a cranky donkey........!!!!  Of course he can get his "panties in a wad", about lots of things, but having to stay in all day when there are beans out there to eat, really put him in a snit.  When he's in a snit, he uses his head as a battering ram, and is really good at it, I might add.  John opened the gate and he "crippled" out at a snail's pace, headed for the nearest beans.  It probably wouldn't have been quite so traumatic, but a bunch of the donkeys were right next to the pens, munching on beans under one of the more prolific tress.  So he got to stand there in the pen and watch them scarfing up beans.  By the time we got to him, he was really unhappy and made sure we knew it.  He is so much fun to watch, you can almost watch the wheels turn in his head.  Until the monsoon season is over, we will probably try not to go to Tucson together, or if we do he'll have to stay in the pens.  And John can let him out......!!!! LOL 

1ST HORNY TOAD OF THE SEASON........!!!

I've always loved these little guys.  I spent a lot of time when I was a kid, catching them & finding an ant hill for them.  I'm sure they could find ants to eat without my interference, but for some reason I thought it was necessary to "help" them.

We usually only see a few each year, when I was a kid in west Texas they were everywhere.  I would imagine a lot of donkey feet pounding the ground isn't conducive to having horny toads habituating with them.  Very rarely see any snakes either.  

The toads here are different than the ones in Odessa, Texas, ours were more sandy colored rather than an off gray color, & had spines on their backs.  These have spines all around their head, but their body is relatively smooth. 

Everything is going pretty good right now for a change.......well except for cute little Wister & his favorite past time.......removing fly masks from anyone that will hold still.  His poor long suffering Mom, Ruthie pays the price when they are in their pen to eat.  She can't get away from him, & the next thing we hear is the sound of velcro  being ripped apart.

BlackJack has been coming in without a mask for the last few days.  Really didn't think Wister was that brave, but you never know.  The mesquite beans are getting ripe & the donkeys know it.  John caught BJ, sticking his head into the middle of mesquite trees, & shaking the trunk to make the beans fall.  Our thought is, when he pulls his head back, chances are the masks are getting caught & off they come.  I think there's 3 of his out there right now.  

We've already started cutting down on hay because of the beans & watching poo piles with a judgemental eye.  Coquette, Penny, Frijolita & Daisy have already went on short rations.  We have to be careful not to cut too much hay, because they need to eat hay to make sure the beans don't go thru their system in a ball.  The local rancher said he has found cow skeletons with a ball of beans as big as a basketball,  they couldn't pass.  I hope we don't have to put any of them in pens until the beans are gone.  Poor little Buddy usually has to spend the summer in the pens, letting us know how mistreated he is every time he sees us go out of the house. 

DENTAL DAY.........!!!!

Dental day is always "interesting",  & this time we knew we had some nasty mouths.  Both Reba & Penny have let us know their mouths had problems.  And of course we had others that had not been here the last time Bert came thru.

First of all I have to compliment all the mules & donkeys, they really did great, even Penny.  I had warned Bert that she is a fear kicker, but she didn't kick once.  She's really so much better than she was when we got her about a month ago.  

 

 PENNY WATCHING COQUETTE'S APPOINTMENT

 

 OOPS.....SHOULD HAVE DISAPPEARED WHEN SHE HAD THE CHANCE

 

 LITTLE CHEYENNE & TALL, TALL, SIMON

EVEN JACK BEHAVED HIMSELF

Out of 22 animals, only 5 needed work.  Tula was not checked because the only way you can work with her is to put her in the squeeze.  Then if she did need teeth work, the corral panels would be a real obstacle to try to work around.  Bert said the reason their teeth are in such good shape is because they are out here eating brush, mesquite beans, (Yes tiz the season we're starting to find a few beans here & there in poo)  & chewing on sticks & tree trunks.  So I would imagine her teeth are just fine.  And Wister won't need to be checked until he's about 15 months old Bert said.  His teeth are perfectly aligned, unlike Tucker's were.  Tucker had a significant overbite, although his molars all lined up like they were suppose to.  Don't know as he has gotten older if his lower jaw has grown longer or not.  I'll have to ask his Mom next time I talk to her. 

Reba the big red mule had some nasty hooks & waves, Quilla needed a little bit of work.  Little Cheyenne, has been having trouble eating, even though her teeth had been done by a vet not long ago.  Two of her molars were enlarged & deformed.  Welcome to the world of minis, the smaller they breed them (she's only 32 inches tall) the more problems they have.  Simon took off some of the deformity so she can move food more easily around in her mouth.  The way it was, the teeth were up against the inside of her mouth & it was trapping the food.  That is probably why she has been turning her head in an odd way when she eats.  

Lynn had some sharp points & then there was Penny.  I doubt if she has ever had her teeth done.  She had hooks & displaced teeth, ramps, steps, waves. almost a perfect example of all the things that can go wrong in an equine mouth.   Dr. Weaver had said her mouth smelled that she probably had some abscessed teeth.  Bert said the teeth were fine, but all the hooks had chewed into her cheeks & he could even feel the back of the hair follicles, it had eroded that deep & was infected, poor little girl.  Got her all cleaned up, so hopefully once the inside of her cheeks heals, she won't have anymore trouble.  I can't say she appreciated all the attention, but she really was pretty good.  

Bert is a teacher in a equine dental school in Idaho, when he's not on the road.  He goes from Oregon to Texas on a circuit & has for years.  He said he spends about 2 weeks at home out of 2 months.  He doesn't ever tie them up & uses no drugs.  A lot of dentists work at with a vet & the vet automatically gives them drugs, whether they need it or not.  The animals all love Bert, he said he has a camel that is in love with him, that throws a fit as soon as he sees Bert..........how funny. 

Some vets still float teeth & I assumed that when they are in vet school they might get a week or two of training on doing teeth.  Let's face it, vets learn a little bit about a lot of things in school, & probably don't spend a lot of time on any one subject.  I'm sure they are expected to fill in the blank spots of their education on their own as best they can.  Bert said they usually spend about 8 hours on dental, & that includes dogs, cats, equine, etc...........!!!  Wow....that's not much when you figure they are actually learning about different species in that 8 hours.  

Some vets resent equine dentists, I guess they don't want the competition...........BUT.......... I would think there is enough work out there for all.  I certainly can't call a vet & have them show up immediately, whether it's for medical or dental, it's going to probably be days before I can get an appointment, unless it's an emergency.  So I don't understand the logic, they should appreciate the dentists & what they do, I'm sure some do, but some don't. 

MONSOON HAS ARRIVED.......!!!

But so far we haven't gotten any rain, just wind, lightening & thunder......oh & about a dozen raindrops here & there.  There are areas around Benson, that had cars washed away in running washes & people having to be saved.  

They got enough rain at the track yesterday, the races were cancelled last night.  We got a call from a friend that said the edge of the track was under water & the infield was pretty much covered with water.  Since that is where our little track is, I can't wait to see how they manage to get rid of all that water in time for us to race tonight.  Even though today is bright & sunny, that doesn't make the water magically disappear, it has no place to go, since it's low ground in the middle of a banked race track.  

Nicki, one of our dogs is frantically afraid of thunder.  His answer to the problem is to run out the door when we try to go into the feed room.  We've told him going outside isn't going to make it better, & may only make it worse.  We use to wrestle him back into the feed room, but lately we've just ignored him.  It only takes one more clap of thunder to make him decide he wants back in the feed room.  Anubis the other dog pretty much looks at him like we do, as she lays on her bed in the feed room.  

The donkeys usually don't react to loud thunder.  But they don't like to be rounded up in the middle of a "light" show.  They would rather hunker down with their butt turned to the weather.  John had his work cut out for him to get them into the pens.  This was all going on before we found out the races were cancelled, which if we had known we could have just left them alone until normal time to round them up.  By that time the storm was over. 

 

ANOTHER GRAND ADVENTURE......!!!!

Our morning started at 3:15AM yesterday.  First of all let me say, I'm not a morning person, at a decent hour, so this was really testing the waters......!!!  John got everyone rounded up, we fed, got Mother taken care of & hit the road by 5:30.  

Met 3 other trailers in Tucson & up the road we headed for Buckeye, yippee, I finally found out where we were going.  I've noticed the older I get the less involved I get in "details", like "where are we going".  My position is, as long as one of the group knows what's going on, I'm probably better off not to clutter up my mind with unnecessary information.

We were in the 3rd slot & noticed pieces of tire flying around on the highway.  John commented on "hopefully it wasn't one of ours"

IT WAS......!!!

THE GUY IN THE ORANGE SHIRT IS ADOT RETURNING CAROL'S FENDER

We never even noticed the fender flying off, it's a wonder someone didn't run over it.  What is the chance of an ADOT guy coming by at just the right time, seeing the fender fly & being able to pick it up & return it, & it being in good shape?  

So after a slight delay we were back on the road again, headed for Buckeye.  The place where the donkeys were being kept was right off the highway, so it was really a pretty easy trip.  

Got there & Agriculture was there, running around with paperwork, & a bunch of donkeys in a couple of pens.  What this means is, they have not bothered to separate out the 17 that we were suppose to pick up.  I have become resigned to the fact that anytime you have to deal with bureaucrats, it's going to be a "learning" experience, & each time it takes me LESS time to learn all I need to know about the situation.  

Holding Pens, Buckeye

The group we were taking were pretty easy.  They were actually by themselves, so it was just a matter of getting the sorting pens & gates organized to get the donkeys to the back of the trailer.  There were 7, one fairly PG jenny, 3 jacks one older (probably poppa), a yearling & a weanling & 3 other jennies that are probably PG.  They  look like peas in a pod, all close to the same color, just different sizes.  

I hate to have animals loaded by people that don't give a damn & Agriculture seemed bound & determined to show us how to do it.  Rather than take the time to let the donkeys look the trailer over & decide it wasn't going to eat them, the workers started yelling & rushing them & once they were to the back of the trailer, closed a gate on them.  One of the jennies was so scared she laid down & wouldn't get up.  They were all headed away from the trailer, & the workers were still pushing, shoving & hitting to get them to back into the trailer I guess.  

Finally one went in & the others pretty much followed.  Got the rest of the trailers loaded & we all headed for our destinations.  We originally were going to take them to Sonoita, but things change & we ended up taking them to Oro Valley, which actually was better for us.  

 They came out & started exploring

This is a foster home, & should be a real good spot for them to get use to their life style change.  They are feral, in fact, if not all of the 90 donkeys were wild, it looked like most of them were.  Jo & Sam have never had donkeys, but seem willing to learn.  Not sure how much "gentling" they will get, 7 wild ones at once could be a little overwhelming for anyone.  But Jo & Sam seemed excited at the idea, & donkeys are usually willing to "go along to get along", so they should all have fun. 

OFF WE GO ON AN ADVENTURE......!!!

Well tomorrow is going to start early......!!!  We are suppose to meet horse and/or stock trailers on the NW side of Tucson at 6:45 AM........!!!   Yes AM..........do you realize what time we will have to get up, to get everyone rounded up & fed, so we can spend about an hour on the road getting there?  I don't even know for sure where we're going, up by Phoenix maybe?  Kingman has the holding pens for Arizona, maybe we're going there.  If so, it's REALLY going to be a long day. 

The state of Arizona auctioned off a bunch of burros Monday, that had become wards of the state for one reason or another.  They said most of them had come across the border of Mexico & of course the state wants to get rid of them as soon as possible, so they don't have to invest any money in taking care of them.  

Karen at, Equine Voices got in touch with us & asked if we could help with moving some of the burros they bought at the auction.  We're suppose to haul 6 of them to Sonoita, which isn't too far from us, at least as the crow flies.......!! We are more than happy to help haul donkeys for someone else, because that doesn't add to our herd.....!!! 

Thank goodness Lysa will be here tomorrow morning to clean pens & she will let everyone out before she goes home.  I'll set Mother up with lots of junk food, so she'll be happy.  That's the 2 major things to be done, as hot as it's been lately, the donkeys will just go find a tree to stand under for the day.  I doubt that we'll get home very early, so their supper might be late.  That's always good for a bunch of grumpy donkeys, they've never figured out, it is in their best interest to not try to make us pay for being late.  Their best option would be to go in their pens immediately, when they see us drive in the driveway.........but that's not what happens.  They would rather mill around in a disorganized mess, pretending like they have no idea where their pen is.  

Sunday we had Jamie Williams a Tucson photographer out to take pictures.  We were in the middle of rounding up donkeys when she & Charlie showed up.  Everyone did pretty good except for Molly & Jack the mini mules.  They had not a clue as to where they were suppose to be, they spent 30 minutes milling around in the way of getting everyone else in their pens.  That's John job to get them in the pens, so I stayed out of it, until they were the only ones left.  I got the bat, a little saddle whip with a flat popper on the end of it.  Came out of the feed room, swung that bat a couple of times to whistle thru the air, & off them went at high speed, bucking a kicking like crazy.  It's amazing, they went right into their pen.  I've told John that it's much easier to make them do what they are suppose to do, than to wait for them to do it.  They have no concept of time & really don't care if you do......!!!! LOL