NEVER COUNT THE OLD GUYS OUT........!!

Cisco is somewhere in his 20's.  He was one of original 5, when we started thinking about doing rescue in the late 90's.

I had put an ad in the paper to take free donkeys and a roping school called.  At first they wanted us to buy him, which we weren't going to do.  So then they said just come and get him.  He was out in a field standing with his head down, not reacting to anything or anybody.  We got him in the trailer, brought him home and he stood that way completely uninvolved in life for over 3 years.  The only way roping donkeys can try to protect themselves is to shut down emotionally.  I've heard stories of them being hit with a HotShot and not even reacting.  Very sad. 

He wouldn't react to the donkeys or anything going on around him.  When the summer fly season started we found out he had horrible skin problems and was a fly magnet.   We had lost the 1st Cisco from the same problems and I swore we would not lose this one.  It was a long hot summer, I ended up just about living in the corral with him, trying to keep him from biting itchy places till they bled, which drew flies, which caused the problem to just get worse.  

At one time a local woman made him a "suit" to protect him, especially his very venerable sheath.  

This is what his sheath looked like after a couple of years.  This was surgically removed and the vet couldn't tell us what it was for sure.  It looked like lard inside, very few blood vessels inside, a couple of big ones outside, that caused a lot of excitement in the operating room as blood shot up in the air.  

His legs have never been very strong, very rarely would he move quicker than a slow ramble.  A few years ago he started choking when he ate.  We had a barium x-ray done of his throat and the esophagus looks just fine.  So we think that the muscles in his neck might have been damaged during his time at the roping school.  The students were allowed to take him home to practice on.  Who knows what they did with him.  Since the x-ray, he has eaten a mush and John cuts his hay up with a leaf shredder and then wets it, so it's easier to swallow.  He does really good, occasionally we'll hear him coughing, but it's been a long time since he actually choked.  

As he's gotten older the legs have gotten less steady.  Gus has done so well on Previcox, I decided to see if it would help Cisco be more comfortable.  He's been on it for a little while and we thought he might be walking a little easier.  

Yesterday when we came in from town, we noticed Coquette was "entertaining".  For anyone that has never seen a jenny when she is cycling, it can be quite a show......LOL  Coquette was giving it her all and I thought Boaz was seeing if he might be Mr. Right.  On 2nd thought, Cisco was trying to be Mr. Right, was in position and after 3 or 4 abortive attempts manage to climb aboard.  That was about all there was to it and he dropped back down to earth.  Then they both just looked at us like, "what are you two looking at?"  I swear I saw a gleam in his eye thru the fly mask.  I gave him a high five and told him what a good boy he was.  Who knew, he has never shown any interest in any of the jennies...........never.....!!  After all these years it's got to be the Previcox.  I'm so glad we found something to help him be more comfortable.  Obviously he's feeling pretty good, Courtney doesn't even lift his feet very high, when she trims his feet because he always acted like it hurt.....!!